General T&T, Media, Opposition Party, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, THA, Tobago, TOP, UNC

Gambling on bare Jack

21 Comments

By Raffique Shah
January 19, 2013

Raffique ShahTHE ferocity with which the two main parties, the PNM and the People’s Partnership (yes, the PP!), fought the 2013 THA election, suggests that they see this battle for an anticipated 25,000 or so votes as a life-and-death struggle. Maybe it is, although I venture to add that this prognosis applies more to the Partnership than the PNM, as I shall argue. The intensity of the campaign, the media, ground and cyberspace advertising and propaganda blitz, which must have cost at least $50 million, certainly surprised me.
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Africa, Books, Health, Passed on

Professor Tony Martin Dies at 70

75 Comments

UPDATE – JANUARY 28, 2013

Prof Tony Martin's Send-Off
Prof Tony Martin’s Send-Off — January 25, 2013
A Celebration and Thanksgiving Service for the life of Professor Anthony Martin
21st February, 1942 – 17th January, 2013.
Service on Friday 25th January, 2013 at 9.00 a.m.
St. Theresa’s R.C. Church, Woodbrook thence to the St. James Crematorium for 11.00 a.m.
More photos here

UPDATE – JANUARY 23, 2013

The funeral of Professor Tony Martin will be held on Friday 25th January, 2013, at 9:00am at St. Theresa’s R.C. Church, 50 De Verteuil Street, Woodbrook.

Trinicenter.com Reporters
January 17, 2013 – www.trinicenter.com

Professor Tony MartinDr. Tony Martin, former Professor Emeritus at Wellesley College, has passed over tonight, January 17th 2013 in Trinidad & Tobago at West Shore Medical Hospital. Trinidadian-born Dr. Martin taught at the University of Michigan-Flint, the Cipriani Labour College (Trinidad), and St. Mary’s College (Trinidad). He has been a visiting professor at the University of Minnesota, Brandeis University, Brown University, and The Colorado College and also spent a year as an honorary research fellow at the University of the West Indies, Trinidad.
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Caribbean, General T&T, Haiti, International, Politics

How the International Community Failed Haiti

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Hundreds of Thousands Homeless in Haiti Three Years After the Earthquake Despite Billions in Aid Funneled to NGOs, Contractors and Internationals

By Bill Quigley and Amber Ramanauskas
January 17, 2013 – counterpunch.org

Aid?Despite billions in aid which were supposed to go to the Haitian people, hundreds of thousands are still homeless, living in shanty tent camps as the effects from the earthquake of January 12, 2010 remain.

The earthquake devastated Haiti in January 2010 killing, according to Oxfam International, 250,000 people and injuring another 300,000. 360,000 Haitians are still displaced and living hand to mouth in 496 tent camps across the country according to the International Organization of Migration. Most eat only one meal a day.
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General T&T, Opposition Party, PNM, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch, Tobago

Race Politics in T&T: Afri-centric Analysis

10 Comments

By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
January 15, 2013

Dr. Kwame NantambuOne of the ultimate, stupid, insipid, divisive, dysfunctional, Euro-centric variables that has reared its ugly head is the issue of race in the upcoming Tobago House of Assembly elections.

At the outset, it must be emphasized categorically that the public “Calcutta ship” no-brainer, rubbish, diatribe vomited by Mr. Hilton Sandy only speaks volumes as to his utter myopic, ignorance and Euro-centric mis-understanding of Euro-colonial history; that is, the relationship between the European colonizer and the colonized in the Caribbean.
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General T&T, Media, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch, Tobago

Race in our politics

18 Comments

By Raffique Shah
January 13, 2013

Raffique ShahHILTON Sandy’s Calcutta ship gaffe may well sink the stalwart’s personal political pirogue—after the elections, not before. The furore his Freudian slip has triggered would hardly influence the outcome of the THA election. Battle lines were drawn long before polling day was named, and I sense that the “swing votes” in Tobago hardly make a difference. So Sandy’s punishment for a thinly veiled racial innuendo must come from his party since the electorate, at least a significant number of them, are not offended by it.
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General T&T, Opposition Party, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch, Tobago, TOP

District split over Sandy’s Calcutta statement

38 Comments

By Andre Bagoo
January 13, 2013 – newsday.co.tt

Hilton SandyRESIDENTS of the polling district of Belle Garden East/Roxborough/ Delaford, which PNM candidate Hilton Sandy hopes to win in the Tobago House of Assembly elections come January 21, appear to be split right down the middle over the question of whether his chances in the election have been hurt because of his controversial “Calcutta ship” remarks.
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Court, Crime in T&T, General T&T, Law, Media, Politics

Expert qualification doesn’t depend on registration

By Dana Seetahal
January 11, 2013 – trinidadexpress.com

Dana SeetahalLast weekend’s headlines screamed “Fuad: Autopsy doctors not qualified” a reference to statements attributed to the Minister of Health in the wake of what were said to be conflicting autopsy findings on the cause of death of soldier Curtis Marshall. The minister was quoted as saying that neither Prof Daisley nor Dr McDonald-Burris were qualified as forensic pathologists as far as the Medical Board was concerned. He claimed that only Dr Alexandrov was so registered.
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General T&T, Media, Opposition Party, Parliament, People's Partnership, Politics

Choosing a president

4 Comments

Newsday Editorial
January 6 2013 – newsday.co.tt

President Professor George Maxwell RichardsThere will be much speculation until next month as to the identity of the government’s nominee for the next president of Trinidad and Tobago. With a nomination deadline of February 5, a new president will be elected on February 15 ahead of the March 17 end of the five-year term of President George Maxwell Richards.
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Culture, General T&T, Media, Religion

Make poverty history

18 Comments

By Raffique Shah
December 23, 2012

Raffique ShahIF there were tabloids at the time, two thousand and however many years ago, their editors would have delighted in the heart-rending story that would sell their newspapers, headlines screaming, “No room at the Inn!”. The drop-head, “…woman gives birth in manger”. The text might read, “A very pregnant Mary of Galilee, accompanied by her husband, Joseph, rode into Bethlehem last night on the family’s ass and immediately sought accommodation because there were signs that Mary had gone into labour.
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Africa, General T&T, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

Real Truth about Jesus’ Birth: Afri-centric Analysis – Updated

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By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
December 20, 2012

Dr. Kwame NantambuAs Trinbagonians gear up to celebrate the Christian religious event of Christmas, it is apropos to disseminate the real, historical truth about the birth of Jesus.

Indeed, if one looks at the first three hundred years of Christianity, it is in many aspects, a derived Afrikan religion.

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