By Raffique Shah
May 28, 2011
WHEN discussions on Indian Arrival Day first surfaced sometime in the 1970s, United Labour Front (ULF) founding ideologue Lennox Pierre insisted that I should intervene in the debate over a public holiday to mark the Indian presence in Trinidad. At the time, the Indian Review Committee, led by Ramdath Jagessar, vociferously argued in favour of marking the arrival of Indian immigrants in 1845.
Continue reading I arrived in 1946
Blatter cleared, Bin Hammam and Warner suspended
FIFA has suspended executive committee members Mohamed bin Hammam and Jack Warner after investigating accusations they bribed voters in the presidential election campaign. FIFA cleared its president Sepp Blatter of ignoring the alleged bribes.
Full Article : forbes.com
Jack in bribe probe, Blatter too
FIFA summons its vice-president to Zurich following allegations
Continue reading FIFA Suspends Warner, Bin Hammam
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 25, 2011
Almost invariably, nations, parties and individuals possess different narratives of themselves some of which they present to the world; others that they keep quietly to protect themselves from the world and others. Some of these narratives are wrapped in perfumed sweetness while others are left to petrify, hidden from the public gaze, until their stink pollutes the nation and the self.
Continue reading Does She or Doesn’t She?
By Analysis by Rickey Singh
May 15, 2011 – trinidadexpress.com
LAST WEEK, while the United Nations humanitarian aid chief, Baroness Valerie Amos, was pleading for at least a pause in hostilities in Libya to help “ease the humanitarian crisis”, NATO’s Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, was arrogantly boasting — amid continuing bombing strikes — that President Moammar Gadaffi’s “days are numbered… There is no future for him or his regime…”
Continue reading Question for Caricom on Nato’s ‘war’ in Libya
By Raffique Shah
May 08, 2011
IT was inevitable, of course, that Osama bin Laden would have met his death at the hands of the “Great Satan”. That he survived the hunt for some 15 years, eluding the world’s best intelligence agencies and killer-squads, is testimony to the man’s ingenuity, his survival skills. Little wonder he evolved from an ordinary freedom fighter to being a legend in his lifetime, a hero to many, a demon to others. Like him or hate him, few will deny that Osama has carved his name in history.
Continue reading Osama’s death gives Obama life
By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
May 03, 2011
Within recent times, issues of ethnicity versus race have been discussed and bandied about in T&T without any clear, professional/intellectual/historical delineation.
The fact of the matter is that official 2000 census figures reveal that about 42 per cent of T&T’s population is of Indian descent while 38 per cent is of African descent.
Continue reading Ethnicity versus race in T&T
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 27, 2011
It is true generally that citizens of nation states are emboldened by the relative power their original homelands enjoy in the world’s council of governance. Jews all over the world are emboldened and strengthened by Israel’s power as Indians all over the world are strengthened and empowered by the growing international importance of India which is why not one East Indian demurred when India offered citizenship to Indians in its diaspora after our government allowed Indian and Russian business people to enter Trinidad and Tobago without a visa.
Continue reading Africa’s Global Importance
By Raffique Shah
April 23, 2011
FORTY-ONE years ago, almost to the week, tens of thousands of mainly idealistic young people thought we had killed and buried the “race bogey” in this cussed country. We had grown up knowing that race-tension lay beneath the veneer of peaceful co-existence that those in authority had proclaimed. Too often, we had heard the epithets “nigger” and “coolie” bandied about, suggesting that after almost 150 years of living together in this melting pot, our people of different races and cultures were clinging to prejudices of a distant past.
Continue reading A full circle
Race Talk in House: Jack, Rowley square off
The People’s Partnership has achieved better ethnic balance in the appointments of boards, Works Minister Jack Warner stated yesterday. He was speaking in the House of Representatives on the motion filed by Dr Keith Rowley, asking the House to reaffirm its collective commitment to the principles of fairness and meritocracy in public affairs in the light of the “reckless and divisive statements” made by the former Police Service Commission chairman Nizam Mohammed.
Continue reading Race Talk in the House
By Stephen Kangal
April 20, 2011
The Police Service is singularly the most unique and powerful institution of the state. The establishment of that service cannot be honestly and usefully compared with and justified by the ethnic composition of the establishment of any other public and private sector institution. At the same time the entry requirements for this service is academically minimal. Brawn was accorded overriding importance at the early stage of the then Police Force. Accordingly studying law, medicine or the professions was never an alternative to being a police man.
Continue reading Police Service Is Unique and Powerful