By Andre Bagoo
September 12, 2012 – newsday.co.tt
THE PARLIAMENT sits today to urgently pass legislation to repeal a section of a new law, after the Government’s decision to proclaim the law opened the door to a wave of applications to the Supreme Court which could see businessmen Ishwar Galbaransingh and Steve Ferguson, as well as several others accused in the Piarco corruption inquiries, walk free without trial.
Continue reading SCANDALOUS
By George Alleyne
August 29, 2012 – newsday.co.tt
The argument has often been put forward by politicians and would be politicians that persons of Indian descent own a far greater degree of property in Trinidad than people of African descent, because they had saved and used their money wisely.
It is an attempt to create misunderstanding between the two major ethnic groups. What led to today’s disparity in land ownership is well documented and rooted in Trinidad’s colonial past. The end of slavery in 1838 and the movement by freed slaves to urban and suburban areas and away from the sugar estates, with which they had for so long identified with their suffering, meant that the sugar planters had to source new labour.
Continue reading No compensation for slaves
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
August 22, 2012
I do not envy any of the honors or pecuniary rewards Keshorn Walcott received. He deserves them all. It is an extraordinary achievement to bring home a gold medal to a country of 1.3 million persons when countries as large as Nigeria and India with a combined population of approximately 1.6 billion persons did not win a gold medal. Keshorn should be showered with our congratulations and our prayers for a long life and continued success. The government should be congratulated for recognizing his contribution to our national pride.
Continue reading Keshorn Walcott
By Raffique Shah
August 19, 2012
I EXPERIENCED déjà vu last Monday, a feeling of “been there, seen that” as I watched the Prime Minister and her Cabinet colleagues milk golden boy Keshorn Walcott for all he was worth, and then some. Politicians can be merciless in extracting their mileage from achievers. Walcott, having endured two extensive world-class sporting events with all the in-built tension, not to add energy- sapping hours of travelling, was forced into an ultra-marathon homecoming to satiate the political appetites of the powers-that-be. In what should have been his hour of glory, I felt sorry for the boy.
Continue reading No political blight
Keshorn Walcott at welcoming ceremony, Piarco International Airport
A nineteen year old, with no international senior experience, who is not on the Grand Prix circuit, who is not in college, who has not participated in Commonwealth Games or World championships, goes in one month less one day from being the World Junior champion to being the Olympic champion in his first major international outing.
Continue reading A nineteen year old from Toco
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
August 14, 2012
Just about when Kamal Persad Bissessar was celebrating the achievement of Trinidad and Tobago athletes who performed at the Olympics 2012 in Great Britain, I received an email from an African sister from Brothers Road. About ten years ago she had created a small company in that remote part of the country and was trying hard to make the best of herself. She wrote:
Continue reading Against All Odds
By Stephen Kangal
August 03, 2012
Patriotic Trinbagonians, including the ESC must show their outrage and disgust against the statement made by The President of Nigeria, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, at the Emancipation Day Celebrations when he accorded racial precedence and exclusivity to Afro-Trinbagonians in our national quest for attaining the good life (The Promised Land). This unfortunate statement was made at a function organised by the Emancipation Support Committee (ESC) that received a Government subvention of $4m and at which the Indo- T&T Prime Minister of T&T and Cabinet Ministers were in attendance.
Continue reading Introducing A Black Supremacy Agenda into T&T/Nigeria Relations
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 18, 2012
You work at an institution for ten years; you begin to like that institution. You grow to admire the intellectual caliber of the men and women who work there and you embalm those precious memories. Ultimately, you reverence that institution as a place where standards matter and excellence is the order of the day. You read Terrence Farrell’s Central Banking in a Developing Economy: A Study of Trinidad and Tobago, 1964 to 1989, you appreciate the origin of central banking in the nation, pre and post-independence. You realize the stature of the men who served this nation as governors (sadly there are no women) and you feel a sense of pride in your nation’s achievement. You realize that no matter what its limitations are, it tries to reward excellence signaling to the nation’s young men and women that achievement matters.
Continue reading When Race Trumps Reason
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 11, 2012
I have been in London for the past few days and will be here for several weeks. I am not here for the Olympics even though one can’t help getting caught up in the hype. I have taken a B&B within walking distance of the National Archives and will camp out here to get some work done on the biography of an important Trini.
Continue reading Countries, Citizens, Identity
By Raymond Ramcharitar
July 4, 2012 – guardian.co.tt
I could be mistaken, but it seems that the Highway Re-Route Movement activists are using their protests as a medium to deploy a Hindu-centric protest language to address the national community, and (presumably) the Government. Since, looking at the visual statements, a new vernacular is making its debut in the national conversation/cussout, it might be important to point out that we’re not really sure what they’re saying.
Continue reading Hello, Hindutva