Kamla: Emancipation about struggle, triumph
PRIME MINISTER Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday urged the nation to not only see Emancipation Day as merely a public holiday but rather to reflect on the struggles of the ancestors of Afro-Trinbagonians who rose up from the chattel of slavery to take their rightful place in a free society.
Continue reading Emancipation: When Freedom Come
Professor George Maxwell Richards
On the occasion of Emancipation Day 2010, I send greetings to all citizens of Trinidad and Tobago, as we consider what this day means to us.
Continue reading President’s Emancipation Day 2010 Address
Fellow citizens. Today our nation commemorates the 172nd Anniversary of Emancipation in Trinidad and Tobago. That historic act on August 1, 1838, destroyed the moral and legal basis of a system, which allowed human beings to be classified as chattel and denied the most basic human rights.
Continue reading Prime Minister’s Emancipation Day 2010 Address
THE EDITOR: Possible points of confluence, and of departure between the ‘Ganges and the Nile’?
As Emancipation, T&T ’10 approaches, and considering possible choices for ongoing nationhood, three prescient thinkers, one in each of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, are worth citing. One is William Faulkner, the Nobel prize-winning American author; the other, George Santayana, the 19th century Spanish philosopher; and T&T’s David Rudder.
Continue reading Emancipation 2010: ‘Ganges and the Nile’?
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 23, 2010
Part I
Gerard Besson’s The Cult of the Will seeks to challenge the historical orthodoxy that undergirds Dr. Eric Williams’s analysis of the causes of the abolition of slavery and the slave trade and the cruelty he perpetuated against the entire society although whites seems to come out worse in the bargain. According to Besson, Williams sought “to facilitate the stigmatization of Caribbean people of European descent, or those who appear so, through the projection of negative concepts of ‘slave master’ or ‘colonial master,’ to modern-day individuals for political and ideological purposes.”
Continue reading Besson’s Cruel Accusations
Emancipation celebrations this year, I suppose, will have added significance for those of the African diaspora who consider that their spiritual navel strings are buried on the continent of Africa, especially as the World Cup venture was a spectacular international success. Incidentally, the football extravaganza was conceivably Mandela’s parting gift to Africa as well as Africa’s final tribute to him.
Continue reading Identifying with Ancestral Home
July 01, 2010
I don’t know who you are supporting for the World Cup but I have picked Brazil although Joel Villafana and some of the Wakka Wakka boys on Channel 6 are rooting for Argentina. When Trinidad and Tobago participated in the last World Cup my second pick was Brazil. Now that we are not there I have no qualms about supporting the samba magicians. As I marvel at the grandeur of the game and its international reach, I also rejoice at the marvelous job South Africans are doing to pull off this world event.
Continue reading Africa’s Decade
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
June 22, 2010
(A Lecture delivered at the Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards)
I wanted to thank my friend Brian Moore for inviting me to address you as a part of the educational lectures that are being offered by the Bureau of Standards to acquaint workers about common trends in the society that are likely to make them more efficient in what they do. I also wanted to remind them that anytime they reduce their work to its mere technocratic dimensions they set themselves on a road that misses the essence of the jobs they perform for their society and their constant evolution as informed workers. Therefore, it is good thing to be here today to share with you my sense of what transpired over the last month in the society and why I believe that Trinidad and Tobago has arrived at another level of its social and political development.
Continue reading The Changing Social and Political Landscape of Trinidad and Tobago
Continue reading The Indo-Afro Political Dynamic
June 10, 2010
The victory of the People’s Partnership (PP) with the assistance of African people, has changed the face of Trinidad and Tobago’s politics. In spite of its rhetoric, 2010 may prove to be a pivotal year in the relationship between Africans and East Indians. In years to come it may be seen as the year in which Indian ascendancy consolidated itself and the decline of Africans commenced. One only has to look at Sat Maharaj’s new prominence to understand where much of PP’s power lies and why his function, in many ways, may be analogous to that of the Priestess in the last administration.
Continue reading Indian (Hindu) Time Ah Come