Category Archives: International

Crime in T&T, General T&T, International, Law, People's Partnership, Police, Politics, Security, Sports

Jack’s lawlessness and Corruptibility

11 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 03, 2012

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeLife in T&T is very funny business. Yo know way yo going; yo don’t know where yo’ likely to reach. The government declares a state of emergency, arrests over 8,000 black young men under the guises that they are/may be criminals. No charges made, no apologies offered and no compensation paid. In fact, we are told by the AG that if dey tink dey go make any money off the state for these illegal arrests, dey lie. He waiting for them. He would release the legal power of the state against them. They had better not even think about seeking compensation.
Continue reading Jack’s lawlessness and Corruptibility →

corruption, Finance, General T&T, International, Politics, UDeCOTT, USA

Fake Society

4 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
June 19, 2012

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThere was a time I would be hurt whenever V. S. Naipaul called us mimic men and a false society. I used go after him mercilessly saying how wrong he was and why we were a young society, trying to get things together. When, at the end of From Columbus to Castro, Dr. Williams endorsed Naipaul’s view of our world, I was crushed. I felt betrayed.
Continue reading Fake Society →

Education, General T&T, Hindu, India, Race and Identity

Rekindling the Bhadase Maraj Legacy

6 Comments

By Stephen Kangal
June 19, 2012

Stephen KangalI wish to congratulate the Hindu Prachar Kendra for using their Indian Arrival Day function to remember and re-kindle the outstanding and unparalleled legacy bequeathed to posterity in T&T by the late Bhadase Sagan Maraj — trade unionist, religious leader, parliamentarian, land-owner and philanthropist par excellence.
Continue reading Rekindling the Bhadase Maraj Legacy →

Caribbean, corruption, Law, USA

Conman of the Caribbean

3 Comments

By Raffique Shah
June 16, 2012

Raffique ShahI SUPPOSE most people digested the news that a US judge jailed conman Allen Stanford for 110 years, yawned, burped and moved on to the next item. Except for victims of the Texan’s multi-billion-dollar swindle, among them a few thousand from the Caribbean who lost their savings chasing a crooked shadow, Stanford’s life sentence for a crime that is commonplace is of little more than academic interest.
Continue reading Conman of the Caribbean →

General T&T, Hindu, India, Opposition Party, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, UNC

Thanks, But No Thanks

4 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
June 10, 2012

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeWhile I thank Ralph Maraj for his advice, I am not inclined to accept many of his formulations about the People’s National Movement (See Express, April 14 & June 5, 2012). Although he may be generous in offering his suggestions, the party should say thanks but no thanks to what comes over as a disingenuous plug for the People’s Partnership. Keeping in mind Maraj’s political history—his grasshopping tendency to jump from one party to another—dedicated members of the PNM should think twice before they accept what he has to say.
Continue reading Thanks, But No Thanks →

General T&T, Hindu, India, Race and Identity

The Cowshed Fable

28 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 30, 2012

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI want to congratulate my East Indian compatriots for the achievements they have made over the 167 years they have spent in Trinidad and Tobago and the enormous efforts they have made to carve out a space in these two beautiful islands in the West Indies. I also wish to congratulate Sat Maharaj for the herculean efforts he has made to improve the educational standards of his people and his determination to ensure that his people receive their rightful share of the national pie. When the history of the second half of the twentieth century is written I am certain he will take his place as one of the more outstanding Trinbagonians of the era.
Continue reading The Cowshed Fable →

Culture, General T&T, Hindu, India, Race and Identity, Religion

167 Years of Indian “Arrival”: Are Indians Still Arriving?

8 Comments

By Alana Lalman
May 30, 2012

lettersI was well poised to begin writing for an article on Indian Arrival Day in Trinidad and Tobago when I coincidentally stumbled over Satnarayan Maharaj’s commentary about Indian Arrival in the Guardian newspaper that day. Sat Maharaj is the secretary general of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS) organization which is the major Hindu organization in Trinidad and Tobago. It operates 150 mandirs and over 60 schools. It was formed in 1952 when Bhadase Sagan Maharaj merged the Satanan Dharma Association and the Sanatan Dharma Board of Control.
Continue reading 167 Years of Indian “Arrival”: Are Indians Still Arriving? →

General T&T, Hindu, India, Race and Identity, Religion

Emergence of Indian Arrival as a Vehicle for Mobilisation and Cultural Assertiveness

5 Comments

By Stephen Kangal
(Address delivered at the MTS Indian Arrival Day Function
on Monday 28th May 2012)

Mr. Chairman, The PS/PM and Head of the Public Service, Mr. Reynold Cooper,
Mr. Dhaniram Ramkissoon, Vice- Chairman of MTS,
Members of Board of MTS,
Mr. Lennox Rattansingh, CEO of MTS
Divisional Managers and Members of the Staff of MTS
Ladies and Gentlemen- Namastay, Assalam Alaikum, Good Evening

Stephen KangalI thank the management of MTS for inviting me to speak at this IAD function and congratulate the Staff for the effectiveness of the décor that emphasizes the theme of Indian Arrival.

IAD is a celebration of the cultural impact of the distinct Indo-T&T personality during 50 years of Nationhood and One Hundred and Sixty-Seven Years of contributing to T&T.
Continue reading Emergence of Indian Arrival as a Vehicle for Mobilisation and Cultural Assertiveness →

Africa, General T&T, India, Race and Identity

Indian Arrival Day — Afri-centric Analysis

19 Comments

By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
May 20, 2012

Dr. Kwame NantambuThe historical truism is that Indian “indentured servants” came from India to Trinidad on 30 May 1845. They did not come from Indo. Ergo, the descendants of these original Indians are Indian-Trinbagonians. They are not Indo-Trinbagonians. This label is totally Euro-centric, ahistorical and must not only be relegated to the ash heap of T&T’s cultural/ethnic history but must also be expunged from T&T’s societal lexicon.
Continue reading Indian Arrival Day — Afri-centric Analysis →

General T&T, USA

Obama’s Challenges

3 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 09, 2012

Barack ObamaNow that Francois Hollande has shattered the consensus around the virtues of austerity, the real question is this: what will American voters do when their turn comes to make a judgment on Barack Obama’s stewardship over the last four years. Too many Americans seem to have forgotten the mess that Obama inherited when he took over from George Bush and the unrelieved opposition he has encountered from a Congress and a Senate who are hell-bent on ensuring he fails. It is almost as though the Republicans want to punish Obama for not recovering the jobs that Bush lost in the first place.
Continue reading Obama’s Challenges →