…at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s
By Anna Ramdass
January 14, 2011 – trinidadexpress.com
The grand piano has been found —in the very place it was alleged to have been missing from. National Security adviser to the Prime Minister, Gary Griffith, told the Express by phone yesterday that the piano was found after checks of the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s.
Continue reading PIANO FOUND!
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 12, 2011
I regret I was not in Trinidad to share in the national grief when Sir Ellis Clarke died. My visit to Ghana over the past two weeks prevented me from attending his funeral. Michael Harris described Sir Ellis and those of similar ilk as Afro-Saxons. I disagree with such a characterization since it neither captures the essence of those gallant men and their contribution to our society nor does it tell us much about their location within the national landscape. Even in our grief we should resist a tendency to mischaracterize our patriots and set up false notions of who they were or what they ought to be.
Continue reading On Afro-Saxons and Trinbagonianism
By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
January 10, 2011
For many decades, the notion has been bandied about that a “Black Power Revolution” occurred in T&T between February – April 1970; however, the purpose of this article is neither to posit a definitive critique of the events of 1970 nor to question its historic legitimacy.
Continue reading Legacy of 1970 events: Revolution, what revolution?
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 10, 2011
Ah never hear Becky vex so yet. “Uncle Selwyn,” she said, you know Rambachan and dem people (meaning the Foreign Affairs Minister and the People’s Partnership) just letting dem Indian people and dem come into Trinidad jus’ so. Dey ah even need a visa to come into the country now.”
She was referring to the unilateral decision of the People’s Partnership to allow Indians and Russians to enter the country without visas.
Continue reading Conceiving the Inconceivable
By Raffique Shah
January 08, 2011
THE industrial relations climate in the country seems poised to take us into a long, hot dry season. Last week’s “double whammy”, protest action by a number of trade unions and a strike by maxi-taxi operators, signalled the start of what may well be a year of turmoil. Government seems to be unwilling to offer more than five per cent in salary increases to public servants. Should there be no compromise, other public sector and State enterprises’ employees would be forced to accept this as a benchmark for the 2008-2010 period.
Continue reading A long, hot dry season?
Newsday Editorial
January 6 2011 – newsday.co.tt
The current dispute between the operators of maxi taxis and the Government, represented by Minister of Works and Transport Jack Warner, will have no winners. Even if the maxi taxi operators prevail, and prevent in some way, the proposed “regularisation” of PH taxis, the travelling public will end up losing a form of transport upon which many people depend. The operators will have lost their earnings for Wednesday, and for any other days which they decide to withdraw their services. PH drivers, many of whom are honest (outside of their “PH breach”) hard-working individuals, may lose the opportunity to become a legitimate part of the economy. And the travelling public is suffering.
Continue reading Another lose, lose situation
By Raffique Shah
January 02, 2011
BARRING being victims of unpredictable natural disasters or another global economic “meltdown”, Trinidad and Tobago seems set to enjoy an encouraging 2011. There will be no boom similar to what we wallowed in from 2005 to 2007. The crime rate will not drop precipitously because of a change of heart among heartless criminals (surely an oxymoron), or a significant improvement in the policing and justice systems. Poverty will not disappear. The nation’s roads won’t be transformed into highways to heaven.
Continue reading A year pregnant with possibilities
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 30, 2010
[This essay was written by Joy Clarke, a student at Wellesley College. I thought I would share it with my readers. It has been edited for purposes of length]
If literature is a signification of the emotional conscious of a people then V.S. Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas is a literary masterpiece. It traces the life of Mohun Biswas, a man of East Indian descent living in Trinidad following the end of Indian indentured servitude. Mr. Biswas’ life is one of struggle, pain and his longing to find a place to call home. The reader is taken on a journey to locate home on several levels. On the surface is Mr. Biswas’s profound desire to own a home while the subtext suggests that a search for a national homeland for a people who were removed from their natal homeland of India.
Continue reading Home Bound
On December 31, 2010, TV6 News reported that the Greens requested not to have dark-skinned doctors and nurses attend to Mrs. Green at the Mount Hope Hospital.
Continue reading Greens to get $$ – No Black Staff Please