Monthly Archives: March 2020

General T&T, International, Parliament, Politics, Schools

Full statement of PM on covid19

Dr Keith Rowley
March 13, 2020 – newsday.co.tt

Full statement of PM on covid19Madam Speaker, I have been authorised by the Cabinet of Trinidad and Tobago to make the following statement.

Colleagues, fellow citizens, it is in times like these that we define who we are as a people. We are currently facing two global phenomena that affect us directly and are both largely outside of our realm of control. The first is the widespread presence and deleterious effects of COVID 19, commonly known as the Coronavirus. The second is the serious global disruption in the prices of oil, gas and energy-based products that the international market places are facing and responding to in ways that are, in many instances, unprecedented.
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General T&T, Health, International

What Is Covid-19 Trying to Teach Us?

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By H. Bruce Franklin
March 13, 2020 – counterpunch.org

What Is Covid-19 Trying to Teach Us?Some people see the world as an infinite number of prize fights, each with one winner and one loser. For them life is an unending series of these zero-sum games. Unfortunately, one of these people is the President of the United States.

One example of something that is not a zero-sum game is a global pandemic. Someone else’s sickness is for me not again but a threat. No nation gains from the toll in another nation. To fight against the contagion, the main weapon is cooperation, on all levels, from interpersonal to international. On the international level, sharing resources and information is essential, because any vulnerability of any nation threatens the people of all other nations.
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General T&T, NJAC, PNM, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

Missing out on national unity

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By Raffique Shah
March 10, 2020

Raffique ShahLast week, as I noted the absence of Indo-Trinidadians from the Black Power Revolution of 1970, I made a grave error for which I apologise to readers and to persons who may have been aggrieved by it.. I don’t know how I forgot that Winston Leonard, an Indian, was prominent in National Joint Action Committee almost from its inception—and he was not window dressing. He was vice-chairman of the organisation, a frontline speaker on its platforms, and he remained a member long after the dust from the upheavals of 1970 had settled.
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Caribbean, Elections, General T&T, Guyana, PNM, Politics

T&T’s Foreign Policy on Guyana Elections in Shambles

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By Stephen Kangal
March 10, 2020

Stephen KangalIn the absence of Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley from T&T the foreign policy position and posturing on Guyana today seems to be in total shambles, nonsensical if not very contradictory and inconsistent at worst.

Its policy of detached non-interference that gained traction in the Maduro political crisis in Venezuela cannot be applied willy -nilly to the current stalemate in finalising the official results of the Guyanase elections for three unique reasons:
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Elections, General T&T, PNM, Politics, Racism Watch

Black betrayal

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 09, 2020

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeAFTER my article appeared in the Express last Sunday I received the following note: “Gd Mr Cudjoe. I have been reading your articles in the newspapers for a while and I want to invite to come and take a look at East Port of Spain where we live. My name is Aaron St John. I am 41 years old and was born in this city. It has not changed for all my life. It remains the same dirty, nasty undeveloped, unprotected and it’s only getting worse and more dangerous. Our lives are not improving and a deep sadness covers every home and everyone in and around the city.
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Education, General T&T, Racism Watch

Responding to the  Alleged Conspiracy Against  African Students

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By Stephen Kangal
March 04, 2020

Stephen KangalQuestions and Legitimate Concerns for the High-Powered Authors of the Statement on the Education of Children of African Origin
(First Published in the Express of 24 and 25 January and 5 and 6 February 2020 in the Newsday)

The foregoing list of questions and concerns is geared to be succinct in my reply. I cannot address all the mentioned points in full in the interest of brevity. These authors dealt with cosmetics and were unfair to the thinking community of T&T.
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General T&T, Labour, Protest, Race and Identity, Racism Watch, Trade Unions

An incomplete revolution

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By Raffique Shah
March 02, 2020

Raffique ShahFifty years after the Black Power Revolution shook Trinidad and Tobago’s foundation, many people, mostly older folks, are trying to quantify what benefits, if any, were derived from those tumultuous events. In contrast, younger people have no idea that anything significant happened in 1970, nor are they interested in our history. Hell, they have little or no interest in history as a subject, far less in local history.
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