Archive for the 'UNC' Category

Permission Please, Sir

Published on April 3, 2018 in General T&T, PNM, Politics and UNC. 6 Comments Tags: , , .

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 3, 2018

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOn Monday I attended UNC’s Monday Night Forum. Nothing out of the ordinary, I thought. I have always attended political meetings of every stripe to understand the political currents of my society and the world. I never supported Tapia, but Lloyd Best and I remained the best of friends. We attended the same primary school.

In 1972 David Abdullah contested the Tunapuna seat as a candidate for the ULF. I voted for the PNM. We remain friends. I was never a fast friend of Basdeo Panday but nothing stopped me from attending ULF meetings at Mid-Center Mall and other places. In August of last year, Nicole Dyer-Griffith was contesting the leadership of Congress of the People. I attended a meeting at the Tunapuna Community Centre to hear what she had to say.
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Arresting the Decline Into HDC Madness

Published on February 22, 2018 in General T&T, PNM, Politics and UNC. 8 Comments Tags: , , .

By Stephen Kangal
February 21, 2018

Stephen KangalToday Friday 16 February 2018 I made my third visit for this week to the fabulous and awesome natural ambience of St Augustine Nurseries located West of Southern Main and Farm Roads in Curepe.

I have agonized at the potential and real destruction and bull-dozing of the beautiful natural and plant assets domiciled here for over one hundred years in this part of our landed patrimony that was in fact a workshop of nature generating flowers and food to all who visited.
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Contradictions & Counterfactuals – Pt 3

Published on February 20, 2018 in General T&T, PNM, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch and UNC. 5 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 20, 2018

“…a state could never have been born without surplus.” —Yanis Varoufakis

PART 1 — PART 2 — PART 3

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeReading Ralph Maraj and Kamal Persad’s contributions, one would think that Eric Williams and the PNM were the worst things that ever happened to Trinidad and Tobago (T&T). They seem to suggest that if only Badase Sagan Maraj and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) had won the 1956 general election T&T would have been a paradise.
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Contradictions & Counterfactuals – Pt 2

Published on February 13, 2018 in Africa, General T&T, Labour, Law, PNM, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch and UNC. 10 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 13, 2018

“…a state could never have been born without surplus.” —Yanis Varoufakis

PART 1 — PART 2

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIn the nineteenth century Trinidad saw the first massive giveaway of lands and bonuses to the Indians in lieu of their passages to India. Those options were never available to Africans. This was the first step in the systematic dispossession of Africans in the land to which they had been brought. Few of us seem to remember it.

Fast-forward to one hundred and thirty years (around the year 2003) when a PNM government engineered another massive giveaway of lands, which is taking place in front of our eyes under the faulty premise that Indians had the first preference because they farmed the lands. This was/is strange logic since these lands belong to all nationals.
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Bad omen for new President

Published on January 24, 2018 in General T&T, PNM and UNC. 4 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

By Raffique Shah
January 24, 2018

Raffique ShahThe passing of former President Max Richards, coinciding as it did with the unanimous vote by parliamentarians to elect retired Justice Paula Mae Weekes as the first female and new President of the Republic, seems to have triggered a measure of hope among some citizens that the nation can be rescued from its downhill slide by the eminence of the Head of State.
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Big Dawgs and Ass-Kicking Time

Published on December 31, 2017 in General T&T, PNM, Politics and UNC. 4 Comments Tags: , , , .

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 31, 2017

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeA democracy was always meant to be a big boisterous place where all citizens come together to share their ideas about what constitutes the ideal state. In recent time radio talk shows and social media are serving that role-the exchange of ideas-but such avenues are not necessarily the most efficacious ways of soliciting/eliciting citizens’ views.

How we behave in society and the courtesies we extend to others are also important for building social cohesion. A country expects its leaders to lead exemplary lives and conduct themselves in ways that are worthy of emulation. In our society, things have been slipping for a while. We need to see where we have gone wrong.
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Sunset or sunrise, no support from Kamla

Published on December 13, 2017 in Crime in T&T, General T&T, Parliament, PNM, Politics and UNC. 23 Comments Tags: , , , , .

By Raffique Shah
December 13, 2017

Raffique ShahIf there was anything shocking about the opposition United National Congress members voting to scuttle the so-called anti-gang legislation in Parliament last week, it was the seemingly shocked expressions on the faces of the Prime Minister, the Attorney General and other members of government.

I was shocked that they were shocked by the opposition vote. Did Dr Rowley and his ministers really expect Kamla Persad-Bissessar and her colleagues to support the Government in any bid to fight crime? Any street-smart Trini could have told the PM long before the Bill came up for debate that the UNC would not allow it to be passed in the House.
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Riding a wave of discontent

Published on December 6, 2017 in Crime in T&T, General T&T, PNM, Politics, Recession and UNC. 23 Comments Tags: , , , .

By Raffique Shah
December 06, 2017

Raffique ShahMany people, among them the anointed political pundits, seem to think that the widespread discontent among large sections of the population over what they see as lame governance by the Keith Rowley-led administration, and a depressed economy that shows no sign of recovery, could erupt into a violent political upheaval such as this country has experienced on several occasions in its pre- and post-colonial history.

In fact, I sense that many politicians are hoping for an eruption that would force the Government out of office by one means or other, thus creating a vacuum that would be filled by those who appear to be best organised at the critical point in time.
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Only in Trinidad

Published on November 23, 2017 in corruption, Crime in T&T, General T&T, Oil and Gas, PNM and UNC. 6 Comments Tags: , , , , .

By Raffique Shah
November 23, 2017

Raffique ShahUntil such time as persons in public life who are criminally responsible for stealing from the public purse, or for abusing their powers to enable their friends or associates to unfairly, maybe even illegally, acquire state lands or subsidised housing, are thrown into jail like the common thieves they are, this society will continue to decay, to fall apart, hurtling towards a failed state, a dubious title that we seem hell-bent on attaining, as if it were an achievement we can be proud of.
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JEARLEAN FOR DEPUTY

Published on November 16, 2017 in Elections, General T&T, Media, Politics and UNC. 9 Comments Tags: , , , .

Fired HDC head on Kamla’s slate

By Stacy Moore
November 16, 2017 – newsday.co.tt

Jearlean JohnFired Housing Development Corporation (HDC) Managing Director Jearlean John yesterday filed nomination papers to contest the post of UNC political leader in the party’s November 26 internal election.

At first it was thought John, who was Transport Minister during the Basdeo Panday administration, was merely supporting UNC political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar by walking with her as she (Persad-Bissessar) entered the party’s Couva headquarters to file nomination papers shortly after 3pm. However, John presented her own nomination papers to the party’s election officer Dr Rampersad Parasram.
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