Category Archives: Politics

Crime in T&T, General T&T, Politics, Racism Watch

“The gentleman doth protest too much, methinks.”

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
October 15, 2018

“Gold? Yellow, glittering, precious gold? No, gods, I am no idle votarist!…Thus much of this will make black white, foul fair, wrong right, base noble, old young, coward valiant.”

—William Shakespeare,”Timon of Athens”

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeTwo weeks ago, I made a case for “reparative justice.” Drawing on “Slavery, Abolition and the University of Glasgow,” a report that was coauthored by Dr. Stephen Mullen, a well-respected scholar, I challenged the national community to think about this concept. I did not chastise anyone. I simply stated facts as I saw them.

Mullen’s report was important because it drew on my work, The Slave Master of Trinidad, to demonstrate how Burnley’s profits and the capital he bequeathed to his son, William Frederick, subsidized the development of the University of Glasgow (UG). UG launched a program for reparative justice because of Mullen’s report. (See “Glasgow University to make amends over slavery profits,” London Guardian, September 11, 2018).
Continue reading “The gentleman doth protest too much, methinks.” →

General T&T, PNM, Politics

Ah bus ah cuss on the PNM

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By Raffique Shah
October 10, 2018

Raffique ShahIt’s a huge problem that adversely affects more than half of the population every day, costs the country billions of dollars a year in lost production, adds substantially to our mental and physical health bills—yet no government has had the testicular fortitude to confront it head-on, thus improving the quality and length of our lives.

Traffic jams, traffic congestion, call it what you will, will one day bring this country to a complete halt…full stop. And I dare argue that other than sitting in the now-mandatory air-conditioned comfort of their “rides”, music jamming, mankind “steupsing”, no one would even wind down his vehicle window to complain about this madness.
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General T&T, Labour, Oil and Gas, PNM, Politics, Trade Unions

Missing Their Mark

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
September 17, 2018

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeDr. Keith Rowley and the PNM came through the Petrotrin debate looking much better than Ancil Roget and the OWTU. Moreover, Rowley’s rationality and levelheadedness triumphed over Roget’s tentativeness and impulsiveness. Initially, I thought Rowley and the PNM would have won the battle and lost the war. I am not sure this prediction still holds. It’s a pity though Roget did not outline his refinery-saving proposal before (Express, September 14).

My neighbor, a shop steward of OWTU, has another view of things. He believes the strike was “partially successful. It was supposed to demonstrate to the political leaders that we need to change how we do things and to remind them that the people are still in charge.” “The union,” he said, “used the day to protest the selling of our national assets to foreigners.”
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General T&T, PNM, Politics, Racism Watch, UNC

PNM: Kamla must apologise

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By Corey Connelly
September 16, 2018 – newsday.co.tt

Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Keith RowleyUnited National Congress (UNC) political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar is likely to pay a hefty political price is she does not apologise to the nation for labelling Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley an Oreo biscuit, outgoing People’s National Movement (PNM) chairman Franklin Khan stated yesterday.
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General T&T, Oil and Gas, PNM, Politics

Killing the Goose That Laid the Golden Eggs

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
September 03, 2018

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeAesop, an enslaved man from Ethiopia, once told a fable, “The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg.” It goes like this:

“A man and his wife owned a very special goose. Every day the goose would lay a golden egg, which made the couple very rich.

“‘Just think,’ said the man’s wife, ‘If we could have all the golden eggs that are inside the goose, we could be richer much faster.'”
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General T&T, Politics

Relocate the Capital from Earthquake- Sinking PoS

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By Stephen Kangal
August 31, 2018

Stephen KangalIt is now compulsory that tribal politics aside, the capital of T&T must be removed in the medium term from its present earthquake- susceptible location in POS to one that is less vulnerable to the damaging effects of a seven and more seismic event that is nearer and less deeper than last Tuesday’s traumatic wake-up call.

This must be a first step of any natural disaster mitigation/avoidance strategy because were a strong above seven earthquake to strike again, POS will sink as proposed by the UWI seismologist, Dr Illias Papadoupoulos.
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General T&T, Law, PNM, Politics

Hinds should have stood his ground

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By Raffique Shah
August 22, 2018

Raffique ShahFitzgerald Hinds made several fundamental errors in judgment that could have turned fatal when he ventured into the flooded Beetham Gardens last week Monday.

The first was to have gone there as the Member of Parliament for the area when there was nothing he could have done for residents whose homes were flooded out, except perhaps commiserate with them. I don’t understand why politicians believe their presence in such situations is obligatory. What the victims require is relief as far as that is practical, which means attention from the relevant regional corporations and disaster-management agencies.
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Flooding, General T&T, Politics, Recession

Poor People Fed Up

By Danielle Frederick
August 21, 2018

MP Fitzgerald Hinds on the runAs I watched the assault on the Member of Parliament for Laventille West and the Local Government Councillor for the area by their constituents on August 14, 2018, I was saddened by the knowledge that what was playing out was a culmination of long unaddressed social and political factors that none of the actors, on either side, would acknowledge long enough to address. Let me be categorical in my condemnation of the actions of some residents of Beetham Gardens towards their Member of Parliament and Local Government Councillor. These men, Minister Fitzgerald Hinds and Councillor Akil Audain, represented the entire political class, and those chasing them represented the underclass created and sustained, in part, by the political class.
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Gender, General T&T, PNM, Politics, Racism Watch

Selective Apology from PM Rowley on Sari Skit

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By Stephen Kangal
August 21, 2018

Stephen KangalI find that there is a disturbing dysfunctional disconnect between what the PM Rowley said initially in cheap and embarrassing defence of the Sari Skit, the several reasons for his retraction/backing down of those ill -thought out statements, his conditional but confusing apology directed to a deliberately selective audience/aggrieved party and his continuation of his diatribe on associated matters against so-called saboteurs.
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Flooding, General T&T, PNM, Politics

Floodwaters, People Power and the Legacy of Misdevelopment

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By Tye Salandy
August 18, 2018

Poor people fed up to how yuh system set up
Well, everyday the ghetto youths dead up
Mi ask the leader, him a di arranger
Fi mek poor people surround by danger
Fly and the roach and giant mosquito
Sewage water whey fill with bacteria
Unno ever take a look down inna di Riverton area
Bactu, and Seaview, Waterhouse, Kentire
Long time the MP him nuh come near yah
And the other one whho claims sey she a counsellor

—Bounty Killa: Poor People Fed Up

MP Fitzgerald Hinds on the runThe words by Bounty Killa, also known as the ‘poor people’s governor’ is relevant to every single Caribbean country, where the type of leadership after independence has failed to be sensitive to the experiences of those who have most been disadvantaged by social structures. So when I saw Beetham residents dousing MP Fitzgerald Hinds and councillor Akil Audain with dirty flood water and chasing them from the area, this was the first song that came to mind.
Continue reading Floodwaters, People Power and the Legacy of Misdevelopment →