On the death of Ramcharitar “Bull” Lalchan – OWTU stalwart

Ramcharitar LalchanLife can be strange sometimes. Last Sunday, while searching through a memory stick, I bounced-up upon some photos of Bull. I had taken them during an interview done with him in 2008. His eyes were as clear and as bright as ever. Everybody talks about his trademark beard, but his eyes were bright. Monday evening, I am driving down the highway and Comrade Gerry calls. As we say in Trinidad in our understated way, he told me “Bull gone through…”

We all know Bull the fighter. But I want to share a reminisce starting with my knowledge of him as a little boy right through to knowing him as a fighter for workers in Trinidad and Tobago. As little children he was part of the community of elders, in the sense of adults. Pointe-a-Pierre residential consisted of Hill, the two lanes, Poui and Railway avenue and later on Plaisance Park. Beaumont Hill was 10 minutes walk from Plaisance Park. You had to pass the lanes/avenues to get there and Auckington was the main playing ground.
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Warner a one-man wrecking machine

By Raffique Shah
December 11, 2010

Raffique ShahTHE closest I ever got to a football World Cup finals was in London in 1966. No, I was not in Wembley Stadium where England beat West Germany 4-2 in a match that was mired in controversy. My friend, the late Joey Baksh, and I, watched the match on television from a flat near Brixton. That was so close to Wembley, yet beyond the reach of students who could not afford tickets.
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Cudjoe’s Indian Time Ah Come

Cudjoe’s Indian Time Ah Come Part 1

By Sat Maharaj – December 02, 2010

Secretary General of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, Satnarayan MaharajWhen my friend Prof Selwyn Cudjoe invited me to deliver the feature address at the launch of his latest publication, Indian Time Ah Come In Trinidad and Tobago, my first response was that this was a set-up. Was Selwyn attempting to portray Sat Maharaj and Indians in general as a group glorifying in the political success of the People’s Partnership in a boastful way?
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Who Is In Charge Here?

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 09, 2010

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIt is one thing to win an election. It is quite another thing to govern a country. It’s good to rule by consensus but disastrous when no one is in charge and the leadership functions by vaps. It is exciting when a leader is guided by a sense of good will. It is frightening when such a leader is not guided by any core principles and the ship of state is adrift and rudderless.
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Split in the PNM?

PNM Walkout

Newsday Editorial
December 08 2010 – newsday.co.tt

PNMOpposition Chief Whip Marlene Mc Donald may shut her eyes to reality, play word games and deny her parliamentary bench is split, but Friday’s partial walkout of the Chamber can leave few in doubt of the power struggle that is confusing the PNM side. Friday’s division of the bench showed TT what it has for six months suspected: since losing office, there has existed a tug of war in the Parliament between MPs loyal to new Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley and representatives sympathetic to their former chief, Patrick Manning. Friday was a physical manifestation of the current PNM political reality.
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An act of gross betrayal

By Trevor Sudama
December 07, 2010 – newsday.co.tt

Basdeo PandayI was astounded by Panday’s lack of concern for the future of the sugar workers when he was the leader of the Government.

I myself was involved in the struggles of sugar workers in the sixties and early seventies. I was a candidate of the United Labour Front in the 1981 General Election in a sugar growing constituency.
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Big Sister is watching you

By Raffique Shah
December 05, 2010

“Virtually all countries of the world…have secret CIA tracking stations.”
—Intelligence expert and author Alexander Kolpakidi (Daily Mail, November 15, 2010).

Raffique ShahTHE scandal—allegations that US agents spied in (and on) sovereign states, allies like Norway, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Iceland—broke around the same time the SIA mess hit the fan here in Trinidad and Tobago. American agents conducted surveillance activities against “suspected terrorists” on foreign soil. They did not inform the host countries of what they were doing, which included monitoring, photographing and filming people around their embassies and others taking part in protest rallies.
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A Presidential Challenge

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 01, 2010

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeWhat does the president of a country do when he is asked to break the law? He responds firmly and comes down on the side of the law knowing that political leaders are always more concerned about gaining partisan advantage than respecting the laws they were elected to uphold. The Cabinet of Trinidad and Tobago has sent a letter to the President of the Republic demanding that he revokes the appointments of the non-executive directors of the Central Bank before their respective terms expire.
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Separating fact from fiction

By Kevan Gibbs
November 28, 2010 – guardian.co.tt

Patrick ManningIn the past six months, many political know-it-alls claimed former prime minister, Patrick Manning’s silence was part of a master plan. After all, what was becoming an uncomfortable silence from the San Fernando East MP must have been because he fancied himself a comeback kid that would reclaim the leadership of Patrick’s National Movement.
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