General T&T, PNM, Politics

Please read, Excellency

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By Raffique Shah
March 27, 2023

Raffique ShahOnce in a while, when the nation’s ruling elites are summoned to put on display their airs and wears, we at the lower rungs of the social ladder get opportunities to view how those who consider themselves the upper castes parade like peafowls in the finest garments their TT dollar can buy. Fortunately for us lesser mortals television cameras are just about everywhere, especially when ceremonies, rituals and often times plain bad manners come under close scrutiny of the ordinary citizens who look on with expressions of disgust at these pseudo-elites. The installation last week of Christine Kangaloo as president of the republic steered pretty clear of pomp, splendour and those delightful breaches of etiquette that set off gossip among those not invited, those invitees who chose to deliberately stay away and the public who, for entertainment from the upper classes, would otherwise watch ‘Keeping up Appearances’.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics, UNC

Is Trinidad a real place?

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 20, 2023

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeLast Sunday, Terrence Farrell, one of our premier public intellectuals, sought to explain why some people say that “Trinidad is not a real place”. Speaking of the mess in which Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard found himself when he dismissed the Piarco airport corruption case, Farrell observed that it is these failures that prompt our frustration and “give weight to epithets such as ‘Trinidad is not a real place'” (Sunday Express, March 12).
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General T&T, PNM, Politics, UNC

A Wasteland of Hubris

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By Raffique Shah
March 20, 2023

Raffique ShahYou will think that a political party anywhere in the world that commands the lead stories in at least two national television newscasts per week; add for measure twenty-plus radio stations, most of which are ethnically weighted in favour of the party’s support base; three daily newspapers that go the extra mile to be fair to you, with even your lies making the cut, unlimited social media posts on the various sites, again in your favour… The party stages at least one public meeting per week that is also broadcast live on radio and at times, on television; flavor the above with, on balance unlimited parliament broadcasts that you control, if only by the volume, antics and other eye-catching tricks; sundry anti-government public meetings, often staged or influenced by the party’s activists that sometimes generate their own free media access, and so on…
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China, General T&T

Eugene Chen: a forgotten Trinidadian

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 13, 2023

PART III

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeWalton Look Lai has written an indispensable book about the life of Eugene Chen and the important role he played in Chinese history between the 1920s and 1940s, the full flowering of Chen’s career. Chen, a shrewd diplomat, possessed a superior command of the English language which he used as a weapon against his internal antagonists within the party and external foes.
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Court, Crime in T&T, General T&T

Wuss dan dat

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By Raffique Shah
March 13, 2023

Raffique ShahSurely, we deserved better than that, Leila sighed audibly as she aside the device on which she had been reading a news report. I thought I knew what report it was, but I felt in the baiting mood, so I asked ‘What are you upset over? Who deserved better?’

‘I’m talking about the twenty year old corruption matter involving the state vs Basdeo Panday and others. The state under which heading the DPP must fall, withdrew one of the corruption matters yesterday.’
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China, Chinese, Education, General T&T

Eugene Chen: a forgotten Trinidadian

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 06, 2023

PART II

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeBetween 1921 and 1925, the year of Sun Yat-sen’s death, Eugene Chen was on top of his game. He was described as “Sun Yat-sen’s personal representative and spokesman in Shanghai” while the US Consul General in Shanghai described him as “one of the ablest, if not the most able, of Chinese political writers”. (Look Lai, West Meets East.)
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Elections, General T&T, PNM, Politics, THA, Tobago

Manufacturing Dictators

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By Raffique Shah
March 06, 2023

Raffique ShahThe dizzying pace at which politicians who have promoted themselves as contenders for top positions in government, see things fall apart around them, is an ominous collapse of a political system that seems to have been built to secure the ruling elites. The relics of a post-colonial era that guaranteed the grandchildren of the favoured ones is being battered every-which-way leaving many of them who now hold strategic positions in governments, unsure of their future, and quite likely afraid of what tomorrow may bring.
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China, General T&T

Eugene Chen: a forgotten Trinidadian

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 27, 2023

PART I

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIn 1944, when news reached Trinidad that Eugene Chen had died from neurasthenia in China, Chien Chiao (the Chinese homonym for Trinidad), a Trinidad Chinese community journal, made the following announcement: “Eugene Chen (1879(sic)-1944), Trinidad’s greatest son and for many years Chinese Foreign Minister, died from a heart attack in Shanghai this year. Born of humble parentage in San Fernando, he practiced as a solicitor in the courts of the colony before going abroad.” (December 1944).
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Carnival, Entertainment, General T&T, Music, Sex

Porning our Carnival

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By Raffique Shah
February 27, 2023

Raffique ShahIf anyone in the country was surprised by the minimalist style that almost all the designers opted for in outfitting female masqueraders, such poor folks have either detached themselves from Carnival for some time, or ceased to be bothered by the near nakedness of thousands of adults, whose gyrations and simulations of sex, could one day erupt into an orgasmic explosion, the effects of which might send some uncontrollable individuals into uncharted dimensions, something akin to never-ending euphoria on steroids.
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Carnival, Entertainment, General T&T, Music

Cro Cro: our warrior king

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 20, 2023

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeA few days ago, businessman Inshan Ishmael issued a pre-action protocol letter to Cro Cro (Weston Rawlins). He demands Cro Cro respond favourably to his letter within the next 28 days or face legal action in the High Court. Ishmael says he is the subject of Cro Cro’s calypso, “Another Sat Is Outside Again”.

Attorney Richard Jaggasar, Ishmael’s lawyer, says, “In the trial it will be contended that it was immaterial whether Cro Cro intended to cause harm or was careless in making his statements, as the tort of defamation is one of strict liability.” (Express, February 14.)
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