By Raffique Shah
Sunday, March 29th 2009
Let us forget for a moment the “spring cleaning” exercise the Government has undertaken in preparation for the Fifth Summit of the Americas. True, we all tend to put our best faces forward when we invite visitors to our homes. But one cannot live in an unholy dump year-round and clean up only for Christmas or for visitors-it’s stupid. Trinidadians, more so than Tobagonians, have descended into a kind of nastiness that is difficult to understand.
Continue reading Summit for neglected majority
In light of the devastating effect that AIDS is having on the continent of Africa, it is unconscionable that Pope Benedict XVI should condemn the use of condoms as a way to reduce the spread of HIV and AIDS. In a recent visit to the continent where 22 million people are living with the disease, Pope Benedict XVI stated that, “condoms are not the answer to the AIDS epidemic in Africa and can make the problem worse”. This begs the question, “How many more of Africa’s sons and daughters must suffer and die before this hood wearing demon places human life ahead of religious dogma?” Indeed, contraception is not the panacea that would put an end to this scourge, but it will do much to curb the alarming rate of infection.
AFTER you overcome the initial shock you feel angry, very angry. Then a feeling of sadness overwhelms you, followed by stark reality that the sports you so enjoy, the sportsmen and women who give you such pleasure, who are seen as symbols of sanity amidst a sea of madness, are being destroyed before your eyes. Those are but a few of the emotions that ran through my mind as I watched the carnage that erupted in Lahore last week.
In countries where people often face persecution because of race, ethnicity, religion and a myriad of social constructs intended to divide and rule, I often wonder how many brilliant minds have never come to blossom. Historians bemoan the knowledge that was lost when unenlightened foreigners invaded ancient lands burning books and reducing to ash what had already been known about the universe and about our progress as a species.
Contrary to the view expressed by Foreign Affairs Minister Gopee-Scoon the time is most propitious and ripe for the Inter-American System to be initiating dialogue with the regime of Raul Castro. President Barack Obama has signaled in clear, unambiguous language that US rapprochement with Cuba is on the cards especially with the closure of the Gitmo Detention Centre. He has also relaxed travel restrictions to Cuba by Cuban-Americans.