Tag Archives: Selwyn R. Cudjoe

General T&T, Politics

A leader of destiny

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 09, 2022

PART I

Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe“The greatest supporter of the movement is / A young barrister who has made the workers’ struggle his / I’m referring to Adrian Cola Rienzi / Undoubtedly a leader of destiny / Who is working the workers to agi­tate / To eradicate and co-operate.”

—Attila the Hun, “Trade Unionism”

Last week I concluded my article by highlighting that Independence brought us many challenges. They included fusing the many ethnic groups together, bridging the increasing gap between the rich and poor, and the spectre of corruption in our midst. I hadn’t yet heard Karen Tesheira’s comments on the possibility of the Government’s corruption so I couldn’t comment on it.
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General T&T, Parliament, PNM, Politics

The price of progress – Pt II

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 02, 2022

PART I — PART II

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThe general election of 1946 ushered in a new phase in Trinidad and Tobago’s political development, in that it was the year in which universal suffrage was introduced into the island. In that year, Patrick Solomon formed the West Indian National Party with Dr David Pitt, which later became the Caribbean Socialist Party.

Between 1950 and 1956, Albert Gomes, who considered himself “the logical successor to Captain Cipriani”, formed the Party of Political Progress Groups to contest the 1956 election. Owen Mathurin argues, “Gomes’s outstanding ambition was to outdo Cipriani and replace him as the hero in the hearts of the black working class.” Although the Colonial Office saw Gomes as their “blue-eyed boy”, he was not regarded as the champion of the working class, as he had seen himself.
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Elections, General T&T, Politics

The price of progress

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 25, 2022

A lecture given at The UWI History Fest 2022—April 20.

PART I

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI have been asked to speak about the “price of progress”, which the organisers of History Fest 2022 suggested should explore some aspects of the political formations of the pre-independence Trinidad and Tobago. While I am not too sure what the price of progress was, I can try to point out a few signposts along that journey and offer a few personal reflections on them.
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Africa, Christianity, General T&T, Religion

The Slave Bible

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 18, 2022

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIn 1970 while I was a faculty member at Fordham University, New York, I taught a course on the development of Afro-American literature. One of the books I used was William Wells Brown, Clotel or the President’s Daughter: A Narrative of Slave Life in the United States, published in England in 1853.

The novel told the story of Clotel, a daughter of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, who fathered three children by his slave, Sally Hemmings. Although the white power structure denied this incident for two centuries, in November 1998 the truth of this claim was authenticated by DNA evidence.
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Agriculture, General T&T, PNM, Politics

I am the State!

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 11, 2022

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOne is always flabbergasted by how democracy functions (or malfunctions) in Trinidad and Tobago. Recently there was a Cabinet reshuffle in the Government. Clarence Rambharat, the Minister of Agriculture, resigned. He expressed his desire to return to Canada to be closer to his family and yet one week later he was named or, as the Express describes it, “rocked back” into power. (Express, April 3.)
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General T&T, PNM, Politics

The Political Leader as a Man of Culture

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 04, 2022

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeA few weeks ago, Express journalist Ria Taitt asked PNM political leader and Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley whether he would be presenting himself as a candidate for the leadership of the party. He responded: “I was elected in a general election for the term 2020 to 2025. I have a responsibility to complete the mandate that the electorate gave me, but I can only do so by being the PNM leader. My term of office as PNM leader ends this year so there will be an internal election, and to serve out my mandate as Prime Minister I am obligated to seek an extension of my term as political leader of the PNM.”
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General T&T, Passed on

Selwyn Ryan and T&T’s intellectual tradition

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 28, 2022

“Death is not an interruption of Being, but a necessary part of it, and the condition of our immortality… We shall die, but we shall not perish.”

—Charles W Warner, “The Fear of Death”

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIn the preface to his semi-autobiographical Beyond a Boundary (1963), CLR James informs his readers that his book poses the question, “What do they know of cricket who only cricket know? To answer involves ideas as well as facts.” (James’ italics.)

I have always interpreted this injunction to mean that the significance of cricket to West Indian people lies in our over-standing (to use a Rastafarian idiom) of the social and cultural milieu out of which this inspiring game comes, and how well it speaks to our possibilities as a people.
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General T&T, Passed on, Politics

‘The Other Selwyn’

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By Selwyn Cudjoe
March 22, 2022

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeWe fondly called each other “The Other Selwyn”, in terms of friendship and endearment. Although I never knew Selwyn Ryan, the other Selwyn, as well as others did, over time we grew to admire and respect each other’s work, and genuinely liked each other a lot. Sadly, he died a week ago.

I suspect our mutual admiration came from the fact that we both received our doctorates from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. When I arrived at Cornell in 1972, I could not get over the fact that another Trinidadian had attended Cornell and wrote his dissertation on nationhood in Trinidad and ­Tobago.
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Culture, General T&T, Media, Politics

Escalante’s escalating falsehoods

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 15, 2022

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI do not know Jean Claude Escalante but I am glad Prof Bridget Brereton pointed out his falsehoods with regard to Dr Theodore Lewis and his allegations that Trinidadians do not respect Fr Anthony de Verteuil’s work.

Brereton noted that over the past five years she “reviewed books by Fr de Verteuil and consistently and constantly called him a national treasure” (Express, March 10.)
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General T&T, International, NATO, Russia, Ukraine, USA

Putin’s crime; Europe’s shame

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 07, 2022

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeSometimes a conflict shapes our views of the world in ways that we never knew were possible. We think we have a good understanding of how the world works, and then we come up against a situation for which we do not have an accurate answer. Although some important thinkers saw the Ukrainian disaster coming, neither the US nor the European Union (EU) took the Russians seriously. Today, Ukraine is paying for it.
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