By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
October 31, 2023
When 85-year-old Israeli citizen Yocheved Lifshitz was released after spending 16 days as a Hamas hostage, she commented: “They didn’t break my ribs, but it hurt a lot, making it difficult to breathe.”
“Hamas,” she said, “took good care of the wounded,” referring to one person whose arm and legs were injured during their kidnapping (FT, October 25).
Continue reading Allow Palestinians to breathe
By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
October 24, 2023
As Americans have already celebrated Columbus Day, this article presents the real Afri-centric truth/analysis in regard to the so-called ‘Discovery’ of the West Indies/ New World by the Euro-centric historical criminal, Christopher Columbus — real name on his Spanish birth certificate is Cristobal Colon from whose surname are historically derived European systems such as Colonialism, Colonizer, Colonized and Colony.
Continue reading Christopher Columbus Exposed: HIS-STORY
By Raffique Shah
October 24, 2023
We know him only as Andre. Never asked for his surname, nickname or other identification marks or details, the way you might be tempted to scrutinise a banker before you deposit $100 in his sanitised surroundings, what with their propensity to magically make money disappear, according to recent media reports.
With Andre, what you see is what you get: a six-foot-plus whacker-man, walking erect almost with pride, one might say. With his weed-cutting equipment sloped on one arm, and his strides even, much like a soldier’s, one might see him any day in communities around Claxton Bay, where he lives.
Continue reading Andre, a walking exemplar
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
October 23, 2023
The following is a lecture delivered at the Pa Gya! A Literary Festival in Accra, Ghana.
First of all, I wish to thank the hosts of this marvelous festival for inviting me to participate in it and for allowing me to share my ideas of how literature, art, and culture have helped in understanding, achieving and reimagining the histories that link West Africa and the Caribbean. This is an enormous assignment. I will speak of how the West African culture, literature, and the arts helped to shape the identity of my Caribbean people. I will pay special attention to what transpired in Trinidad and Tobago, and then relate those experiences to the larger whole.
Continue reading Art and culture in West Africa and the Caribbean
By Raffique Shah
October 17, 2023
A few days ago, I awoke from an afternoon nap to the sound of Indian music literally filling the house. I was somewhat disoriented transitioning from sleep to wake but also, because of the volume at which the music was being played. We hardly ever turn the volume up lest we disturb our neighbours. As I walked to the living room where our small music player is housed, I saw my wife sitting, tapping away her fingers to the rhythm of the music, and my daughter going about her normal schedule for the day. All doors and windows in the house were shut tight so nobody could complain about noise coming from our house.
Continue reading Music, a universal language
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
October 17, 2023
Two Fridays ago Chief Justice Ivor Archie offered his thoughts at the opening of the 2023/2024 law term. He complained of “the need for meaningful public sector reform as the current system with its structural and systematic deficiencies ‘is crushing us all’”.
He said he made a similar call during his 2019/2020 address but “up to now it seems as though the right people have not listened… Unfortunately, little has changed since 2019 in that regard… One should note that many of the frustrations that we experience are common to ministries and departments of the Executive and I know that some senior public officials are quietly chafing”. (Saturday Express, October 7.)
Continue reading Eloquent excuses
Al-Nakba: The Palestinian catastrophe – Episode 1
Al-Nakba: The Palestinian catastrophe
Continue reading Al-Nakba: The Palestinian catastrophe
The Israel-Gaza war has been raging for a week, resulting in thousands of casualties in Gaza and Israel.
Continue reading Are Israel and Hamas guilty of war crimes?
By Raffique Shah
October 12, 2023
Finance Minister Colm Imbert is too experienced in Cabinet to not know when he fixed the new minimum wage per hour—TT$20.50—he was, in fact, proclaiming a not-so-new maximum wage.
During my years as an active trade unionist, I became all too familiar with this legitimate, lawful reaction of many employers, mostly in the commercial, agricultural and some heartless manufacturers, stating to anyone who seeks employment with them, “You will be paid government’s rates…that is, $20.50 an hour, $164 a day for daily paid and roughly $3,300 for the month.”
Continue reading Trinis can, must, do this