The screening of The Challengers by the UNHCR at the IMAX facility in POS last week offered as much from the film itself as did the actual hosting of the event.
As is often the case at such events, the unspoken is as
important as what is said and absentees as noteworthy as those who turn up.
Estimated that way, the entire experience is capable of
vastly exceeding the sum of the parts of such an occasion.
So, we can virtually reflect on the screening without
necessarily reviewing the nuts and bolts of a 20-minute film.
It was a production comprising modest filmic values but
containing enormously important personal insights into one of the more critical
issues of the day – this country’s awkward embrace of its obligations as a
member of the global community, and some of the tragic outcomes of our failure
to satisfactorily do so.
The Challengers is thus rich with opportunity as a tutorial
on challenge, opportunity, and success and as a guide to some of the key
features of the migrant story in T&T.
Here is a production that in 1,200 seconds introduces the
myriad elements of an issue being confronted the world over - in as many
different ways as there are countries involved. You see, nobody seems to have
got this entirely right.
This is also difficult diplomatic terrain for an agency such
as the UN Refugee Agency, for whom the use of words and phrases can serve as
triggers for intemperance and ignorance
– “migrants”, “asylum seekers” and “refugees” consequentially stretched
to the cautious limits of technical correctness.
True, the event could have ended on the point of a cohesive
Venezuelan volleyball team, but the organisers sensed the need for more. And
here is where things got even more interesting.
For example, the lead story by any journalist could have
come from when UNHCR National Office Head Miriam Aertker asked why the children
of Venezuelan immigrants weren’t accommodated at our schools. In vain, I
scanned the crowd for a designated plant from the ministry of education, or any
related agency, for a response/excuse/explanation.
Yet, the denial of the right to an education for children is
an acknowledged responsibility of every single state on the planet. Our country
has boasted of a commitment to achieve the goals of the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child while wilfully ignoring Article 28 which explicitly calls
for compliance “no matter who they are.”
The “close the borders” crew who were either not invited
(though they should have been) or chose to be absent ought to have been there
to offer an opinion or answer. Their main political sponsors also appeared to
have been absent.
As one of the stories of the day, there is also the headline
regarding legal status – somewhat settled by an enlightened but deficient
“registration” process in 2019 that effectively imposed a pragmatic cap on
inflows - not tidily accommodated under international law but viewed in some
places as a sensible thing to do.
There is indeed a case to be made for small, resource-scarce
spaces such as ours. But this has to be nuanced against humanitarian obligations
at law and through conscience. I had hoped for a response to that elephant in
the room, but there was no one there to substantially do so. Where was the
ministry of national security?
Is it that such a question is asked and answered in discreet
spaces? I do not know. But not at last week’s screening.
There is, as well, the discomfort of having to address a
problem involving neighbours who also happen to be friends. They beat their
spouses every day and hang dirty underwear out the window facing you.
But “good morning” and “good evening” are what good
neighbours do … and there’s also the question of an overhanging mango tree.
So, this is no easy transaction – though you need to call
the police on them for the beatings and find a way to attend to the underwear
question without jeopardising the opportunities mango season brings.
I listened to the minister of foreign and Caricom affairs
being interviewed on Sunday. He sounds like the informed, polite neighbour who
can pull this off. Yet, I looked for him last week and he wasn’t there.
People cannot be everywhere at every time, but this is one
of the stories of our time and filmmaker, Rhonda Chan Soo, found ways to
creatively ask all the pertinent questions. Too many remain unanswered because
there were those who chose not to be there. What a shame.
