SUSPENDED
Manning sanctioned for being in contempt of Parliament
“Mr Patrick Augustus Mervyn Manning is accordingly suspended from the service of this House with immediate effect,” declared House Speaker Wade Mark last night.
Mark did not state for what period of time but a suspension cannot cross a session of Parliament, which is the maximum threshold for a suspension. This session ends on June 18.
Continue reading Ex-PM Manning suspended
The appointment of Minister and Senator Mrs. Mary King was revoked, today, 10th May, 2010 by the President, His Excellency George Maxwell Richards on advice of the Prime Minister. Mrs. King held the portfolio of Senator and Minister of Planning, Economic and Social Restructuring and Gender Affairs from May 28th, 2010.
Continue reading Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar Fires Mary King
By Raffique Shah
April 23, 2011
FORTY-ONE years ago, almost to the week, tens of thousands of mainly idealistic young people thought we had killed and buried the “race bogey” in this cussed country. We had grown up knowing that race-tension lay beneath the veneer of peaceful co-existence that those in authority had proclaimed. Too often, we had heard the epithets “nigger” and “coolie” bandied about, suggesting that after almost 150 years of living together in this melting pot, our people of different races and cultures were clinging to prejudices of a distant past.
Continue reading A full circle
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 13, 2011
Sometimes I don’t understand why so many false dichotomies pervade the thinking of my compatriots, Africans as well as Indians. If I write about how East Indians think (I call it an Indian narrative) I am accused of being racist. If I support the aspirations of Africans it suggests I am anti—Indian. If I favor the candidacy of a particular PNM member for the chairmanship of the party, my friends respond that I am out of touch with the thinking of those on the ground and so it goes ad infinitum.
Continue reading Stop ‘Sampating’ Africans
By Gerry Kangalee (NWU National Education and Research Officer)
April 12, 2011
The National Workers’ Union (NWU) condemns without qualification the acceptance by the President and Executive of the Public Services Association (PSA) of the 5% wage offer of the Government.
The situation smells to high heaven and is quite rightly being labelled as a sell out by all and sundry. It is rather suspicious that it came when resistance to Government’s wage suppression policy was once again, gaining momentum, after the high point public servants had taken it to last October.
Continue reading NWU Condemns Signing of 5% Deal
Emergency meeting, Duke takes pounding, accused of ‘Sell out’
By Corey Connelly
April 10, 2011 – newsday.co.tt
Several executive members of the Public Services Association (PSA) are said to be crying betrayal following Friday’s surprise signing of a five percent wage agreement between the Government and the union for public servants.
Continue reading Duke accepts 5% …accused of ‘Sell out’
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 06, 2011
The racial inanity that gushed out of Nizam Mohammed’s heart ought not to be seen as an aberration; the unfortunate comments of an ill-informed man. It can and should be seen as a part of what I call the Indian narrative that informs the behavior of many East Indians in our society; the reflection of a view that lay in abeyance while they were out of political power only to reveal itself once they came into power.
Continue reading The Indian Narrative
THE EDITOR: Politicians in Trinidad and Tobago have always used cultural (ethnic) differences among our people to gain office, power and wealth. This ethnic baiting strategy is most notable at election time and goes back to colonial times.
Continue reading Nizam’s Race Comments Lack Historical Perspective
THE EDITOR: We must pay close attention to what our political leaders say, sometimes casually, sometimes not. In an interview with the BBC Caribbean Service (before it was shut down) while in London, our Prime minister said that replacing the Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice was not a priority for her government.
Continue reading Replacing Privy Council with CCJ Not a Priority?
By Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 09, 2011
Oh what a difference an election victory makes. For time immemorial we were told by some that the steelband could never be considered as the national instrument—there was always the dholak—and that carnival was not really the national festival. They always sought to convince us that devali was comparable to carnival and emblematic of the national consciousness; hence the need to promote devali in the same way in which carnival is promoted. Somehow carnival was too black.
Continue reading Plebian Carnival