General T&T, PNM, Politics, UNC

Forgetting and Remembering

4 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
August 28, 2017

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOn August 31, Trinidad and Tobago will celebrate fifty-five years of independence. As per usual, there will be an inspection of the members of the armed forces, perhaps a fireworks display (I really enjoyed this as a boy); and many people will troop off to the beaches.

We will also witness the passing of venerable tradition: the conferral of national honors on deserving citizens on Independence Day. Our President has decided he could get more bang for the buck by honoring deserving citizens on Republic Day. Dr. Robert Williams argues: “Handing out national awards on Republic Day is truly symbolic and more meaningful in building and strengthening nationhood” (Trinidad Guardian, August 23).
Continue reading Forgetting and Remembering →

General T&T, Politics, Tobago, Tourism

Gluttons for political punishment

13 Comments

By Raffique Shah
August 24, 2017

Raffique ShahAmidst the cacophony that has erupted over the inter-island ferries fiasco, the calls for official enquiries of one kind or other into the leasing of the Ocean Flower II convince me that as a nation, we are gluttons for political punishment.

The Prime Minister, yanking our collective chains with perverse delight, names business magnate Christian Mouttet as sole investigator into circumstances surrounding the Port Authority’s (PATT) decision to lease the Ocean Flower II and the aptly-renamed Cobo Star cargo vessel from a seemingly mysterious company, and to hand in a report to him within 30 days.
Continue reading Gluttons for political punishment →

General T&T, PNM, Politics, THA, Tobago

Incompetence and Bad Judgment

11 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
August 20, 2017

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI had promised that I would not involve myself with the Ferry Imbroglio (an extremely confused, complex and embarrassing situation, full of trouble and problems) if only because the situation was/is so uncalled for and revealed such extraordinary incompetence on government’s part. The longer the problem persists, the more the government’s incompetence and the uselessness of its bureaucrats displays itself. I had hoped the government would remedy this situation by letting sunlight shine into the darkness.
Continue reading Incompetence and Bad Judgment →

General T&T, PNM, Politics, Tobago

Ferries fiasco symptom of systemic societal problem

18 Comments

By Raffique Shah
August 15, 2017

Raffique ShahIt is incomprehensible to me how two boards of directors at the Port Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (PATT), two line ministers responsible for the operations of the ferry service between Port of Spain and Scarborough, and a battery of senior public officers in the employ of the PATT and Government, could make such an unholy mess of the sea-bridge, culminating with the acquisition of a defective old tub that failed to even arrive in the country.
Continue reading Ferries fiasco symptom of systemic societal problem →

General T&T, Recession

In Solid Support of Ancel Roget

6 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
August 13, 2017

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI am a child of labor. In any struggle between labor and capital, I locate myself solidly on the side of labor, since my family labored on the Orange Sugar Estates, Tacarigua, for almost two centuries. Their labor power was exploited ruthlessly by the owners of capital, which is nothing more than dead labor accumulated through the suffering and emasculation of millions of laborers. In Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 (first translated into English from German by C. L. R. James, Raya Dunayevskaya and Grace Lee Boggs) Karl Marx pointed out capitalism estranges or alienates the laborer from the fruits of his labor.
Continue reading In Solid Support of Ancel Roget →

General T&T, Oil and Gas, PNM, Politics, UNC

Remembering Malcolm Jones

4 Comments

By Raffique Shah
August 10, 2017

Raffique Shah“I’ll share with you a personal secret…I. Don’t. Like. Pone!” said Malcolm Jones, emphasising every word he uttered. I couldn’t believe what he revealed: a Trinidadian who did not like pone, that cassava sweetbread whose taste and texture are sinfully irresistible to natives of this country? We eat pone by the slabs, not slices. “Malcolm,” I responded, “what kind of Trini are you?”
Continue reading Remembering Malcolm Jones →

Crime in T&T, General T&T, Media

Gary Aboud hits back at Ancel Roget: Success is not a crime

12 Comments

By Marlene Augustine
August 07, 2017 – newsday.co.tt

Gary AboudOWNER of Mode Alive Gary Aboud says success is not a crime.

Aboud was commenting on statements made by Oilfield Workers Trade Union (OWTU) President- General Ancel Roget during the union march on Friday last, in which Roget called on citizens to boycott Syrian-run businesses.
Continue reading Gary Aboud hits back at Ancel Roget: Success is not a crime →

General T&T, Race and Identity

Beautiful Are the Souls of My Black People

3 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
August 06, 2017

Ara romi o
My body is in pain
Ara romi Shango
Shango, my body is in pain
Ojo romi e e
The rain is falling on me [I am experiencing hard times]
Ojo romi Shango
Shango, the rain is falling on me [I am experiencing hard times.]

— Ella Andall, “Ara romi o”

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI want to modify the title of Jeanne Noble’s book (Beautiful, Also, Are the Souls of My Black Sisters) to describe the wondrous display of African couture (exquisitely designed African dresses, elaborately textured head wraps, and intricately woven male fashions) that graced Port of Spain streets on Tuesday as black people wound their way from the Treasury Building to the Queen’s Park Savannah to celebrate the 179th year of their emancipation from slavery.
Continue reading Beautiful Are the Souls of My Black People →

Africa, Barbados, Caribbean, Finance, General T&T, International, Racism Watch

Timeo Beckles et Dona Ferentes

14 Comments

By Stephen Kangal
August 06, 2017

Stephen KangalThere can be at least three reactions to the question of lumping Indians and Africans together by Sir Hilary Beckles for advancing his money-based regional CARICOMesse reparations agenda:

1. One cannot trust Afro-Caribbean intellectuals to sincerely look after the interests of Caribbean Indians after they have been excluded in the first instance by CARICOM.
Continue reading Timeo Beckles et Dona Ferentes →

Africa, Education, General T&T, International

MOST OF US ARE ALREADY EMANCIPATED, UNFORTUNATELY

1 Comment

By Corey Gilkes
August 01, 2017

EmancipationNo, I haven’t gone completely mad, just thought I’d try to grab your attention and so make you understand the importance of understanding what power words have.

Today is Emancipation Day, celebrating the ending of the enslavement of African people. You will hear the usual platitudes and speeches about how great we are and how we “broke the shackles of slavery”….and so on. Now as cynical as I’m sounding, those are important words to hear. So too are the sights of people walking around dressed in African or African-inspired attire, all that is praiseworthy.
Continue reading MOST OF US ARE ALREADY EMANCIPATED, UNFORTUNATELY →