General T&T, Politics, UNC

Kamla Persad-Bissessar: Change

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UNC Political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar
UNC Political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar

Address by newly-elected Political Leader of the United National Congress (UNC), Kamla Persad-Bissessar at the inauguration of members of the new UNC National Executive at Rienzi Complex, Couva, on January 27, 2010.

“Behold they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. [Genesis 11:6]”

Today we start a new phase in our journey to return good governance to Trinidad and Tobago.
Continue reading Kamla Persad-Bissessar: Change →

Caribbean, Haiti, International, USA

Focus on Haiti – The Politics of Rice

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By Al Jazeera English
January 25, 2010 – aljazeera.net

HaitiIn 2008, in the midst of the global food crisis, we travelled to Haiti to look at the politics of rice – how such a fertile country became dependent on food aid.

In the wake of this current disaster, that dependence is – initially – going to deepen.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics, UNC

Defeated Basdeo Panday Holds On

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Defeated UNC leader Basdeo Panday
Defeated UNC leader Basdeo Panday

Mr Panday must step aside now
Sunday night’s victory by Kamla Persad-Bissessar, placing her as the new political leader of the opposition United National Congress (UNC), is tantamount to a political earthquake in T&T. And while the political shake-up may not leave anyone dead, there are likely to be many careers that end up being badly wounded. Mrs Persad-Bissessar has done what many men before her have failed to do: she toppled the man whose name has become synonymous with post-independence opposition politics in T&T—Basdeo Panday. Although the election machinery was clearly stacked against her and her slate with a large number of voters being disenfranchised, the huge margin of Mrs Persad-Bissessar’s victory for the post of political leader of the UNC was a clear indication that almost every member of the party wanted change.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics, UNC

PM: PNM does not wash dirty linen in public

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by Michelle Loubon
January 25, 2010 – guardian.co.tt

PM Patrick ManningThe PNM does not wash its dirty linen in public. Prime Minister Patrick Manning made this comment during the party’s 54th anniversary celebrations interfaith thanksgiving rally at Balisier House, Port-of-Spain, yesterday. Its theme was “We’ve come this far by faith.” Although he maintained the PNM did not interfere in the politics of other political parties, Manning boasted that the PNM model was the best with regard to internal organisation and discipline. “We take careful note of what goes on in other political parties…We want to know what not to do,” he said. He then waded into the practice of washing dirty linen in public. “If you find dirty linen being washed in public, it has to do with the method of selection,” Manning said.
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COP, General T&T, Politics, UNC

Kamla is new UNC boss

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Kamla Persad-Bissessar is new UNC Political leader
Kamla Persad-Bissessar is new UNC Political leader

KAMLA IS UNC BOSS newsday.co.tt
Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar last night won by a landslide to be elected the new UNC political leader, while Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner is the party’s new chairman, displacing Basdeo Panday, who founded the party 20 years ago. Panday was the party’s leader and chairman.

Kamla crushes Bas guardian.co.tt
Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar has put a sound licking on her two rivals to become the new leader of the United National Congress (UNC). In the process, she became the first woman to become the leader of a major political party in Trinidad and Tobago. Although results were trickling in at UNC headquarters at Rienzi Complex, Couva, Persad-Bissessar was clear in the lead in most of the 28 polling stations. Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner was also heading for a landslide victory against St Augustine MP Vasant Bharath.
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General T&T, Politics, UNC

Kamla is new UNC Political leader

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Kamla is new UNC Political leader trinidadexpress.com
Kamla Persad-BissessarJoining Persad-Bissessar in the leadership rung is Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner who has won the chairmanship, also by a landslide. The triumph of Warner, who was essentially on his own, attests to his personal strength within the party.

Ready to work with opponents
Excoriated as a weakling incapable of leading and hiding a drinking weakness, Kamla Persad-Bissessar proved last night she had the political strength to beat two political legends.
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General T&T

UNC Election Day

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Basdeo Panday, Kamla Persad-Bissessar and Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj
Basdeo Panday, Kamla Persad-Bissessar & Ramesh Maharaj

D-Day for UNC
Political mud-slinging. Nightly public meetings. Walkabouts. Picong. Intrigue.

Election Day
By midnight tonight, T&T will know whether United National Congress loyalists, who have stood steadfastly by their leader, Basdeo Panday, through his travails over decades, will finally turn their backs on him, ushering in a sea of change in the political landscape and forcing him to ride out into the political sunset.
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Caribbean, CARICOM, Haiti, International, USA

Haiti: Another American Annexation?

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By Raffique Shah
January 24, 2010

HaitiWHAT surprised me about my column last week was the number of people, mostly local, who knew little or nothing about Haiti’s history. But what should I have expected in a country and an education system in which history has been deemed irrelevant? Or when students study the subject, the focus is on lands and civilisations afar? Let’s face it: we know more about America and Europe than we do of Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean.
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Caribbean, Haiti, International, USA

Haiti: the real looters are sitting in Washington

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By Viv Smith
Socialist Worker

HaitiFOUR DAYS AFTER the disaster in Haiti, the media shifted its attention from images of suffering to those of looting.

Talk has turned to keeping “law and order”. Haitians are increasingly depicted as savages.

But the real savages and looters are the US ruling class.

Instead of helping to rebuild Haiti’s infrastructure to meet people’s needs, the US is ensuring that the rich who have plundered Haiti for 200 years get even richer.
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Caribbean, France, Haiti, International, USA

The hate and the quake in Haiti

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By Sir Hilary Beckles
January 23, 2009 – nationnews.com

HaitiTHE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES is in the process of conceiving how best to deliver a major conference on the theme “Rethinking And Rebuilding Haiti”.

I am very keen to provide an input into this exercise because for too long there has been a popular perception that somehow the Haitian nation-building project, launched on January 1, 1804, has failed on account of mismanagement, ineptitude and corruption.
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