Category Archives: International

Africa, General T&T, International

Africa’s Global Importance

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 27, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIt 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.
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Africa, Complaints, General T&T, India, Media, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch, UNC

A full circle

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By Raffique Shah
April 23, 2011

Raffique ShahFORTY-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.
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Africa, General T&T, India, Media, Opposition Party, Parliament, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

Race Talk in the House

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ParliamentRace 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.
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General T&T, India, People's Partnership, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

Police Service Is Unique and Powerful

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By Stephen Kangal
April 20, 2011

Stephen KangalThe 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.
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Africa, General T&T, India, Law, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

Is the Problem Really Race?

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lettersTHE EDITOR: Within recent weeks the country has been engaged in a lot of dialogue on the issue of race relations in T&T; the many different names that this issue is called demonstrates our dilemma in having a genuine debate on the state of relations between peoples of different ethnic origins domiciled here. The situation is further compounded by those who lead the discussions and their agenda, explicit and implicit.
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General T&T, International

War on wastage

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By Raffique Shah
April 16, 2011

Raffique ShahRECENTLY, I posted on a popular local blog an article that purported to show Germans’ intolerance for wastage. Although the report was dated, as a few respondents pointed out to me, its contents are as applicable today, maybe more so, than they were in post-World War II Germany. The article spoke of a group of Americans visiting Hamburg, ordering food at a restaurant, eating little of what they paid for, and leaving much “waste” uneaten.
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Complaints, corruption, Culture, General T&T, India, People's Partnership, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

Stop ‘Sampating’ Africans

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 13, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeSometimes I don’t understand why so many false dichotomies pervade the thinking of my compatriots, Africans as well as Indians. If I write about how East Indians think (I call it an Indian narrative) I am accused of being racist. If I support the aspirations of Africans it suggests I am anti—Indian. If I favor the candidacy of a particular PNM member for the chairmanship of the party, my friends respond that I am out of touch with the thinking of those on the ground and so it goes ad infinitum.
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Africa, General T&T, India, Police, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch, Security

About that Imbalance

21 Comments

By Corey Gilkes
April 08, 2011

PoliceSo finally the President revoked Nizam Mohammed’s appointment. About bloody time as far as I’m concerned since he should have been sent packing the minute he crossed swords with those two police officers. So we clear one time me eh have no sympathy for he.
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Complaints, corruption, Culture, General T&T, India, People's Partnership, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

The Indian Narrative

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 06, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThe racial inanity that gushed out of Nizam Mohammed’s heart ought not to be seen as an aberration; the unfortunate comments of an ill-informed man. It can and should be seen as a part of what I call the Indian narrative that informs the behavior of many East Indians in our society; the reflection of a view that lay in abeyance while they were out of political power only to reveal itself once they came into power.
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General T&T, India, Law, People's Partnership, Politics, Protest, Security

Race issue still to be addressed

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April 5 2011 – newsday.co.tt

Member of the Police Service Commission (PSC), Martin GeorgeTHREE members appointed to the Police Service Commission (PSC) yesterday admitted that the issue of racial imbalance within the ranks of the Police Service is an issue that must be dealt with. But just not now.
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