Category Archives: Passed on

Caribbean, Cuba, General T&T, International, Passed on

Castro: colossus of the Caribbean

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By Raffique Shah
November 28, 2016

Raffique ShahIN response to a request from one young reporter for me to comment on Fidel Castro after the legendary Cuban leader died last Friday, I blurted out: he was a colossus of the Caribbean who walked the world stage tall like a giant.

I don’t know if my one-sentence summary of the complex character that was Fidel was original, but I certainly think it was accurate. Never before in the history of the Caribbean had we seen a leader of his stature. And, like him or loathe him, the titans who straddled the world stage during his 50-year tenure at the helm of Cuba dared not ignore him, with many of them grudgingly respecting him.
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General T&T, Passed on, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

On the Chief Servant Makandal Daaga….and latent ignorance

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Makandal DaagaTHE EDITOR: To any young person under 25 who may somehow be reading this, please look carefully at those of us over 40 and kinda pattern your life doing the exact opposite of whatever it is you see.

Because, listening to some callers to Power 102 and i95.5fm the morning after the passing of Makandal Daaga, one has to wonder why we bothered changing flags in 1962.
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General T&T, Passed on

My Friend, The Late Karl Case

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
August 07, 2016

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThis week I want to talk about my friend Karl “Chip” Case and his greatness in the same way Rudyard Kipling talked about its manifestations in the following lines: “If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,/ ‘Or walk with Kings-nor lose the common touch.” For the past thirty years I have walked with a king but did not know it. But then again, if I knew it, I may not have treated him as just another person.
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General T&T, Passed on, Politics, Religion

Sacrilegious!!!

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 17, 2016
Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeNo one can explain with absolute certitude why the nation poured out so much grief at the death of Patrick Manning. While it had much to do with the part he played in our nation’s development, it also has to do with a nation mourning itself, saddened by how coarse its sensibilities have become; a feeling of helplessness at its own futility and its uncertainty about where it’s going and how it intends to get there. It matters little (it may even be inconsequential) that the PNM is now in power.
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General T&T, Passed on, PNM, Politics

Preserving Historic Memory

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 10, 2016

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeBy the time you read this article you will have heard everything about the life of the late Patrick Manning: the good, the bad and the ugly. Many of his admirers (and non-admirers alike) will have told us about his numerous accomplishments. Mrs. Hazel Manning has asked us to “know” Mr. Manning’s legacy while Prime Minister Keith Rowley has assured us that “he will continue in our history” (Newsday, July 3).
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General T&T, Passed on, PNM, Politics, UDeCOTT

An accidental leader

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By Raffique Shah
July 07, 2016

Raffique ShahThe end, when it came, brought relief from some five years of suffering, and pre-empted additional torture from treatment for cancer, which many have described as being worse than the disease itself.

Patrick Manning’s sister, Petronella, who is a medical doctor, said as much in her grief-stricken state. And his wife Hazel, who stood solidly at his side during the worst of times, both physically and politically, absorbed the shock of his death with aplomb.
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General T&T, Passed on

Don’t Mourn for La Borde Now

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lettersTHE EDITOR: Last weekend I looked at a photo of Coast Guard ratings bearing the body of Harold La Borde and wondered if I was the only one who felt it was just a shallow, hypocritical charade.

I mean it’s not like the La Borde’s amazing achievements of sailing around the globe in a litte yacht he built right here meant anything. In other countries – y’know, those where self-contempt does not run as deep as it does here – what Harold, Kwailan and Pierre La Borde did would have been held up as models of inspiration for fellow countrymen and women. There was so much they did that spoke to the power of imagination and perseverance.
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General T&T, Health, International, Passed on

Professor Dave Chadee has died

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By Akilah Stewart
June 22, 2016

Professor Dave Chadee and postgraduate student Akilah Stewart at the closing ceremony of the 23rd Annual Caribbean Water and Waste Water Conference (CWWA), Bahamas, October, 2014
Professor Dave Chadee and postgraduate student Akilah Stewart at the closing ceremony of the 23rd Annual Caribbean Water and Waste Water Conference (CWWA), Bahamas, October, 2014

Known by various titles, “The Mosquito Man” amongst others, Professor Dave Chadee, 62, has died. He succumbed to a massive heart attack yesterday, June 21st, at around 4:30 p.m.
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General T&T, International, Passed on, Protest, Racism Watch, Sports, USA

Peerless and fearless: simply The Greatest

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By Raffique Shah
June 11, 2016

Raffique ShahIn death, as in life, he straddled the world like a colossus. All the major international news networks suspended regular programming to pay homage to Muhammad Ali, the greatest boxer ever, the supreme sporting figure of the 20th Century, the defiant one who sacrificed a successful career on the altar of principle.

Just four years older than me, Ali symbolised the rebelliousness of so many of my generation, it was almost as if we knew him, grew up with him, that when he spoke out, confronted what we had dubbed “the establishment” in those heady days, his was our voice.
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