The African continent has been under European siege for 600 years. The current form of white men telling Africans to shut up and do as they are told are called “sanctions”. Listen to Rutendo Matinyarare explaining the origins and effects of the illegal US and European sanctions on his home country, Zimbabwe. Rutendo is a leader of the Zimbabwe Anti Sanction Movement (ZASM) and an expert on the country’s foreign policy.
Continue reading Zimbabwe And Other African Nations Are Fighting Back. Stop Illegal Sanctions
See No Evil, Hear No Evil
By Raffique Shah
June 26, 2023
I am convinced that the problem with politics and governance in this country, the fact that we never seem to get it right, that having wavered between PNM in control for thirty consecutive years to the party losing in 1986 33-3 then complaining about every government having freely elected them, maybe we need to look at ourselves, not the politicians.
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All voices must be raised in LGBTQ+ debate
Guardian Editorial
June 23, 2023 – guardian.co.tt
The issue of lesbian and gay rights has been knocking on our door for some time now. Today, the LGBTQ+ community is banging on the front door demanding attention. A feeling of blissfully secure, or indeed silently angst from within the presumed safety of our previously secured places, will not protect us from facing an issue that is present everywhere in our world.
Continue reading All voices must be raised in LGBTQ+ debate
Cradle of corruption
By Raffique Shah
June 20, 2023
I haven’t given much thought to the local government election due to be held in August, nor have I paid much attention to the ongoing debate on reforming local government, a cornerstone of PNM’s vision for new governments.
In the first instance, besides creating three new boroughs, the Government is seeking to instil the decentralisation of governance, the precise details of which I have not studied. However, I am aware that the contentious issue of property tax which the PNM sees as not only a source of revenue, but more importantly a source of power to the local government bodies, remains a gap between the Government and the Opposition UNC, which is totally against property tax.
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Shame on you, FCB!
By Raffique Shah
June 11, 2023
I never thought the day would come when I would find it necessary to write a column like this—coming down like the proverbial tonne of bricks on a financial institution that thousands of patriots like me breathed life into well before it was born, and certainly before the people who currently occupy its management chairs were even ideas, far less born.
But after my experiences over the past few weeks, and listening to other customers complain, I felt compelled to raise the issues in the public forum.
Continue reading Shame on you, FCB!
Living While Black in America
By Dr Kwame Nantambu
June 08, 2023
The violent, brutal beating/murder of the 29-year-old black man Tyre Nichols on January 7, 2023 by five black Memphis police officers immediately pushes to the fore the inherent, insecure and dangerous existence of black life in America today.
Indeed, there was a time when blacks were considered “three-fifths of a person”, but it seems that that evaluation has now totally been relegated to zero.
Continue reading Living While Black in America
Life after Parkinson’s? Maybe.
By Raffique Shah
June 06, 2023
Leila found it hilarious when an interviewer, who is chronicling the lives of ‘prominent people’, asked his penultimate question: What’s next on the radar for you, Mr. Shah? He had covered much of the multifaceted life I’ve lived. He found, as I had done, that my life had indeed been intriguing especially upon reflection since having been struck with Parkinson’s Disease thirteen years ago. Except for my weekly columns in this space, and I have been trying to complete a few books that are mostly written, I’ve done little else in what many might see as an important periods in my life’s journey. I could not help but laugh out loudly, though, at the question about my future at age 77, stricken with this debilitating disease that can be crippling several times a day, every day without fail. What next for me? Death, I responded, laughing raucously. Everyone within range, joined me. I have that infectious effect when I talk about mortality.
Continue reading Life after Parkinson’s? Maybe.
A special victim
Newsday Editorial
June 06, 2023
MANY are the reasons why a victim of sexual assault may not come forward.
Some fear they will not be believed. Others are daunted by a criminal justice system plagued with delay. All of this is made worse when the perpetrator is a member of the protective services.
Continue reading A special victim
‘Informed’ voters will decide election
By Raffique Shah
May 30, 2023
Not for the first time in its 67-year history, the People’s National Movement goes into a local government election as the underdog. In 2019, as I recall it, the main opposition United National Congress, and some other parties with which it had forged alliances of sorts, seemed confident they would flog the PNM in the wake of a sluggish national economy, job cuts and its failure to secure support for local government reforms that intended to increase the powers of the municipal corporations.
Continue reading ‘Informed’ voters will decide election
MASSIVE CORRUPTION
20 years later: Piarco airport commission of enquiry report finally unwrapped…
By Ria Taitt
May 28, 2023 – trinidadexpress.com
It has remained under wraps for two decades.
The Sunday Express has however obtained a copy of the report of the commission of enquiry into the Piarco Airport Development Project, a subject which has poisoned the political bloodstream of Trinidad and Tobago with allegations of corruption on a grand scale and counter-allegations of political witch-hunting.
Continue reading MASSIVE CORRUPTION