Category Archives: General T&T

Culture, General T&T

Celebrating Our Bards

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By Raffique Shah
January 09, 2023

Raffique ShahUpon rereading my column last Sunday, I thought I did grave injustice to Leroy Calliste, the Black Stalin, by attempting to evaluate his immense contribution to calypso, the art form, and culture as a whole in Trinidad and Tobago, or indeed in the Carribbean, by summarizing his works in a few paragraphs. My apologies to the late bard who passed on and was given one of the most impressive funerals I’ve witnessed in my lifetime.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics, Racism Watch

Pride in our origins

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 02, 2023

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeTwo weeks ago I cautioned the People’s National Movement about the Prime Minister’s desire to foist Stuart Young upon the party as its next political leader. I also asked party leaders to recognise how important black people are to the sustenance of the party.

In his response, Minister Young accused the editor of the Express and me of being racist for publishing my observation. He commented: “The Express editor has taken a conscious decision to use racism as the foundation for an attack against me and I reject this… It is important at moments like this when media and others attempt to attack persons based on race, and a promotion of racism, that we, the citizens, reject them and their messaging, and I do so.” (Express, December 19.)
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Carnival, Culture, General T&T

Black Stalin: calypsonian, crusader

By Raffique Shah
January 02, 2023

Raffique ShahBy a strange coincidence, last Tuesday, the fourth day of a very long Christmas weekend, I set up my music system around two in the afternoon, inserted a USB “stick” on which I have, over many years, collected hundreds of tracks from CDs I had bought or recorded music that was freely available for download from several sites on the Internet, and prepared for a treat I had not enjoyed for quite some time.
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General T&T, Politics

Attributes of the Incoming President

By Stephen Kangal
December 30, 2022

Stephen KangalI express the hope that our new President will not be exclusively politically correct.

T&T needs a nominee who is above the fray of ethnic-driven domestic politics who understands and appreciates the Constitutionally constricted challenges of presiding over a multicultural diverse society. The incumbent cannot adopt a one -size- fits- all that has become the norm lately.
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General T&T

Landscape, family and memory

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
Submitted: December 25, 2022
Posted: December 27, 2022

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeToday is Christmas Day. Let us give thanks and praise to the birth of a wonderfully well-researched book, Via the Round About, written by Beverly Scobie. It traces one part of Scobie’s family, beginning with Joseph Arthur, the patriarch, who was “enslaved for all of his formative years”.

Scobie is ambitious. She wishes to tell of “The Scobie Family’s Story of Resolve and Resilience from 1819 through Emancipation, the Colonial Era, and Beyond”. Although this is quite a bit to chew, Scobie keeps our interest all along this magnificent journey, entertaining and enlightening us as she tells her story.
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General T&T

A healthy, happy Christmas

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By Raffique Shah
Submitted: December 24, 2022
Posted: December 27, 2022

Raffique ShahEver since I became an adult, while I marked Christmas with maybe a special meal, a generous helping of Rosina’s delicious fruit cake (slices did not apply there) and some quality confectionery, I have held that Christmas is for children to enjoy.

The story of the Christ-child, the nativity, the seasonal songs and all the mystery, the excitement that are standard for the festival (if it can be so classified) stir strong “I must have that!” desires among consumers, and in turn target the pockets, wallets and debit-and-credit cards of adults, encouraging them to spend on their loved ones, especially children, what they could ill-afford.
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Caribbean, General T&T, International, Spain

To be or not to be a national hero

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By Dr Kwame Nantambu
December 22, 2022

Dr. Kwame NantambuAs a new year approaches, it is indeed a sine qua non to delve deeper into history in order to ascertain what it really takes to be a real national hero of T&T. At the outset, a review of the literature indicates that one of the most fundamental, basic inherent qualities/criteria of any nation’s hero is that person’s overt ability to be a dynamic, forceful agent for radical, structural, even violent change in an imposed oppressive system.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics

Unravelling of a nationalist party

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 19, 2022

PART II

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeWhen the People’s National Movement started its mission in 1956, its primary responsibility was to uplift all members of the society, particularly the underclass, and to ensure that each party member was treated fairly. It also held out the promise that each member could rise to the highest levels of the party.

Although the founding members understood that genuine democracy implies one-man-one-vote, they also recognised that equity (the quality of being fair and impartial) should be the base of the party’s mission rather than the ubiquitous notion of formal equality. They believed that the promulgation of formal freedoms is an empty gesture if the necessary political structures were not in place to achieve them.
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General T&T, Politics, THA, Tobago

Duke of democracy or demagoguery?

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By Raffique Shah
December 19, 2022

Raffique ShahI shall not be at all surprised if elementary Watson, the Duke of Roxborough, Tobago, fulfils his ambition to become the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago by 2025, or maybe before the due year for the next general election, should he use unconventional means to pursue power.

Duke, who has made no secret of his medium-term objective, has established offices of his Progressive Democratic Patriots party in Trinidad, even as he moves to force yet another election for the Tobago House of Assembly, which he expects will result in him being proclaimed King of Tobago.
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Africa, General T&T, Politics, South Africa

Unravelling of a nationalist party

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 12, 2022

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThe advent of nationalist parties in developing countries in the late 19th and 20th centuries demonstrated the desires of the struggling masses that yearned to control their own affairs and to develop their nations. In this context, the goals of the People’s National Movement (the word “national” is important) were no different from those of the Indian National Congress in India, the African National Congress in South Africa, and the People’s National Party in Jamaica. These parties were all steeled by the impetus to empower the struggling masses and to democratise a system ruled by colonial powers.
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