By Andre Bagoo
November 11, 2012 – newsday.co.tt
THE ARGUMENTS over the last two weeks over the Government’s request to use media air- time for its own programmes have been going around in public circles without reference to what exactly is said in licences granted to media houses under the Telecommunications Act 2001.
Continue reading Time to revisit broadcast law
By Raffique Shah
November 03, 2012
SOMETIMES the eternal optimist in me is severely challenged by a nagging pessimism in my mind, and I ask myself, is there any hope that this country would become the paradise so many think it could be, or are we condemned to the purgatory of mediocrity or worse? The thought that we might remain trapped in the netherworld of the latter depresses me.
Continue reading Changing the face of power
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
Published: October 23, 2012
First of all I would like to thank Professor Linda Heywood for inviting me to participate in this wonderful program. I am particularly delighted to be on the same panel with Professor Orlando Patterson, Professor Emmauel Akyeampong, and to have the opportunity to view the screening of “Akwantu: The Journey” since strictly speaking the journey for independence in the Caribbean began when these gallant brothers, incidentally led by Captain Cudjoe, began to fight for our liberation from bondage. Ever since then, the citizens of the British Caribbean have struggled to control their internal and external affairs, culminating in national independence for most of these territories in the 1960s. In Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica, we gained our national independence in August, 1962.
Continue reading Celebrating Fifty Years of Trinidad and Tobago’s Independence
By Raffique Shah
October 20, 2012
MOST times I stay silent when I listen to people in authority or those who think they know it all say the wildest things. But there are times when I feel compelled to intervene, mostly when I think too much is at stake. This is one such intervention. For many years, but more so since the global food crisis of 2007-08, politicians and governments would vow to put this country’s food production on a growth path that would take us to full food security.
Continue reading Food for Thought
By Bukka Rennie
October 07, 2012 – guardian.co.tt
Why History? In recent times history as an academic subject has been given a bad name by students at elementary, secondary and tertiary levels. Students tell you that it is boring and from their perspective it seems utterly purposeless and have little bearing on their careers. What I have discovered is that the problem lies in how history is presented to students.
Continue reading In support of History and Dr Samaroo
By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
October 15, 2012
At the outset, it must be stated quite clearly that we Afrikan people, are the original, majority people with original ideas. Europeans are only an inherited, transmitting, global minority people. Europeans did not invent, create or discover culture or civilization; they just inherited them and in some cases, stole them. Afrikans never lived in caves and in the icebox during the Ice Age for 20,000 years.
Continue reading Columbus & the Falsification of History: Updated
By Raffique Shah
October 13, 2012
RECENTLY, as I mused on the state of “permanent politicking” that citizens of this country have been victims of for decades, I thought, why not elect a government for ten or 20 years? Before readers condemn me to the gallows for instant execution, or cart me off to the lunatic asylum to spend what is left of my miserable life, hear me out. Over the past 21 years, we have had—what?—seven general elections. We have changed governments four times and faces in government at least ten times.
Continue reading Ten years and a ‘po’
By Raffique Shah
October 07, 2012
LAST Tuesday, one of this country’s great labour leaders and patriots, Joe Young, made his exit from life. Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note, as this gentle giant was hurried to some morgue, unmarked and indistinguishable from others. Not that he would have wanted otherwise. It was his final interaction with the ordinary man with whom he lived and mingled freely, for whom he fought many a battle. At age 80, Joe must have endured more than he could in this cussed country that he so loved. He was ready to join his ancestors, to re-link with old comrades.
Continue reading Joe Young: last man standing
Finance and Economy Minister Larry Howai
By Clint Chan Tack
October 02, 2012 – newsday.co.tt
PEOPLE who drive vehicles fueled by premium gasolene will pay higher prices at the pump from today. A wide range of hefty tax increases was imposed on the local gaming industry as of yesterday and land and building taxes will return.
However orphans, retirees, special reserve police officers and persons involved in home construction are just some groups in society who will benefit from the country’s largest ever budget which Finance and Economy Minister Larry Howai presented in the House of Representatives yesterday.
Continue reading $58B Budget, TT’s Largest Ever
By Raffique Shah
September 29, 2012
I WAS privileged to have known and spent some invaluable time with one of this country’s great thinkers, CLR James. He was in his winter years, mostly lying in bed, but his mind remained razor-sharp. A conversation with “Nello”, as he was fondly called, was worth several high-level lectures at any university, so I extracted the most I could from him during what would be his final sojourn in the land of his birth. Today, I remember him more for his wit than his wisdom.
Continue reading Tell me something good