Crime in T&T, General T&T

A time to kill

By Raffique Shah
August 17, 2024

Raffique ShahIt was the Freeport address that piqued my interest. Six bandits (the police did not use “alleged”) shot dead in Freeport. Normally I would pay passing attention to such reports since the killing fields of criminals operating in this country can be anywhere, given our small size.

I paid closer attention now as I sat talking with my brother, Feroze, trying to figure out if we knew any of those who were killed by the police earlier that day, as we’d spent most of our lives in what I call “Greater” Freeport. As the television presenter continued with what was little more than a routine story, I realised the culprits did not belong to Freeport. They had, in fact, rented the house in a district that had expanded way beyond what I knew it to be. For all we know, one could be from Cedros and another, Toco.
Continue reading A time to kill →

General T&T

Hear ye; hair ye: listen and be enlightened

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
August 16, 2024

Part III

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThe revolt of October 1, 1849, one of the most momentous occasions in our history, was led by women of the lower order. They took the initiative in fighting one of the most oppressive pieces of colonial legislation that was designed to prevent their economic enterprise and dignity as a proud people of colour. In fact, they berated the men for not having the testicular fortitude to fight this injustice.
Continue reading Hear ye; hair ye: listen and be enlightened →

General T&T, Passed on, Sports

Relief from grief

By Raffique Shah
August 10, 2024

Raffique ShahI thought I would never get over her. That night when everybody had left and just a few members of the family remained to keep us company, comforting words from my dearest relatives and friends hardly helped. I was just seeing her face everywhere.

Rosina must be laughing wherever she was: I feel sure she was in our room because I heard her laughter, her voice, and even saw her face smiling at me. Readers might become bored with this 78-year-old geezer who has just lost a wife. That happens almost every day to someone or several people worldwide, and when people read this column they’d probably laugh at me pining away after Rosina.
Continue reading Relief from grief →

Africa, Books, General T&T

An ideologue’s pirouette

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
August 07, 2024

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIn his address to the nation on African Emancipation Day, the Leader of our Grief called upon his distraught citizens to focus on Afro-Trinbagonians who have made outstanding contributions at home and abroad.

He urged the universities of the West Indies, of Trinidad and Tobago, and the Southern Caribbean “to research further, then highlight and promote the African heritage in the country’s art, literature, music, religion, drama, fashion, cuisine, technical and empirical skills”. (Express, August 1, 2024.)
Continue reading An ideologue’s pirouette →

Culture, General T&T

Hear ye; hair ye: listen and be enlightened

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 31, 2024

Part II

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThe Council meeting began shortly after noon on October 1, 1849. Charles Warner, the attorney general, moved that the Board go into committee to give further consideration to the Gaol Regulations. He also informed the Council members that Governor Harris had received a delegation of citizens prior to the meeting and he assured them that he would alter the offending clause to which they objected.
Continue reading Hear ye; hair ye: listen and be enlightened →

General T&T, Passed on

Passing of a beautiful soul

By Raffique Shah
July 31, 2024

Raffique ShahOn July 18 I lost my life partner, the woman whose beautiful face was the first thing I saw when I awoke, and the last thing I saw as I drifted off to sleep at nights. I must have had a hard day the day before, because for some reason on the morning she passed, I was lying next to her between sleep and wake, as close relatives of hers drifted in and out of our room, praying for her in between sobs and whispered words. If the last few weeks have been tough on my family, the last few days leading up to her death and funeral were sheer torture.
Continue reading Passing of a beautiful soul →

Africa, Education, General T&T, Schools

Hear ye; hair ye: listen and be enlightened

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 24, 2024

Part I

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI wanted to add my two cents to Oke Zachary’s comments about educators freeing themselves from mental slavery as it related to the SDA dragging two students from their graduation because they cornrowed their hair (Express, July 14).

Zachary gave us an informative history lesson about the important role that hair plays in the lives of African people. He started with Bob Marley who had one of “the nappiest dreadlocks” and worked his way back to the inception of the cornrow style in 3,500 BCE before going to China “with the staircase braid from 1644 straight to the Caribbean with modern cornrows from the 1970s”.
Continue reading Hear ye; hair ye: listen and be enlightened →

Crime in T&T, Education, General T&T

Discoursing about crime and education

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 17, 2024

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeJust think of the contradictions. One opens the Express of Tuesday, July 9, and is greeted with the blood-splattered headline “Bloody Monday”. Then comes the sub-headline: “Triple murder rocks Tobago” and “Carlsen Field home invasion: son killed, father critical”.

One then ventures to page three and the horror of the crimes: “Hangings must resume in this country. So said a relative of Anslem Douglas, one of the three murder victims shot multiple times on Sunday night. The triple murder, the first of its kind to rock the island, took Tobago’s 2024 murder toll to 15, one more than the whole of 2023.”
Continue reading Discoursing about crime and education →

Caribbean, General T&T, Guyana

All praise for President Irfaan Ali

By Raffique Shah
July 17, 2024

Raffique ShahIt did not take me long last Friday night to switch gears, in a manner of writing, and focus this column on a politician to whom I owe at least an apology, Guyana President Dr Irfaan Ali. If he does get around to reading this, he will wonder why an apology from me: I haven’t written or said anything about this young man ever since he came to office in November 2020, and with good reason.
Continue reading All praise for President Irfaan Ali →

General T&T, International

As the world turns

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 10, 2024

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOn June 25, 2016, I wrote in this space: “Nine days ago when I arrived in London I had hoped the UK (United Kingdom) would remain within the European Union… There was some nostalgia there but my wish wasn’t to be…

“Xenophobia won out in the end although there were other concerns. There was the split between the metropolitan heartland and country; the disconnect between the elites and the masses; those who saw themselves as global citizens and those who prized the bulldog, isolationist identity and more conservative England.”
Continue reading As the world turns →