Tag Archives: Selwyn R. Cudjoe

Elections, General T&T, International, USA

President Trump and the Black Blowback

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 22, 2017

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeLast Friday Donald Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States of America. As in so many other offensive things he has tweeted since November, Trump began this year by trying to besmirch (unfortunately one dictionary defines the meaning of this word as “to blacken”) the reputation of John Lewis and his courageous actions in turning the USA away from its segregationist past and setting it on a path to achieve its founders’ dreams.

Here is a man, with no sense of history, dismissing an icon of America’s attempt to redeem its past, with a silly phrase “All talk, talk, talk-no action or results.” Such disparagement led David Remnick of the New Yorker to ask: “Who would have the impoverished language to dismiss the whole of John Lewis as “sad”? To which he answers: “As it happens, the President-elect of the US.”
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Gender, General T&T, Sex

Poor Rolph, Brilliant Rolph

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
Jamuary 16, 2017

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoePoor Rolph, or should I say, brilliant Rolph. I do not wish to denigrate Dr. Rolph Balgobin’s name or rush to judgment about any of the charges that have been made against him. I expect justice to run its course since Balgobin has hired the best legal minds to defend his innocence and sustain his reputation.

This is my dilemma: I cannot understand why any society would want to pile so much responsibility on one man or woman even though it does seem as if our women are so favored. Balgobin’s public profile is a thing to behold. Andy Johnson described him as “one of the country’s more connected and powerful men” which is why so many persons feared to interfere where he trod.
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General T&T, International, Russia, USA

Do so eh like so

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 08, 2017

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIt would be hilarious if the issue were not so deadly serious. President Barack Obama accuses the Russians of undermining the US presidential election and the Senate Armed Services Committee holds intelligence hearings to discover why President Vladimir Putin tried to sabotage the will of the American people. Such treachery, President Obama suggests, throws us back into a past from which American citizens have turned their gazes.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics, Schools

A Brek-UP, Brek-DOWN Society

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By Dr. Selwyn Cudjoe
January 01, 2016

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeWHEN I was a boy I wanted to go to Queen’s Royal College (QRC), not because of its academic standing but because I loved the khaki jackets its cadets wore.

I thought it was cool as I imagined myself in that uniform.

Years later I learned about its academic excellence when Eric Williams returned to Trinidad as one of its most famous graduates.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, Murder

Sleep in Heavenly Peace

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 25, 2016

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIt’s Christmas Day. All are gathered at home with their loved ones. You may have started your day by going to church, calling friends to wish them “Merry Christmas,” or even getting over a hangover, the product of too much partying.

As we come together on this holy day we remember the virgin birth; shepherds walking in the fields at night, following a star to the manger in which the Christ child, symbol of peace and love, lay.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch, UNC

Race and Tribal Consciousness

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 18, 2016

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI wish to continue the discussion Keith Subero started in his two excellent articles of December 5 and 12. I agreed with many things he said. Some points are worthy of closer examination.

Subero interpreted the UNC’s performance at the local elections as a coming together of “tribal members, anticipating a threat, or an economic opportunity, to make it a moral duty to band together” (“T&T Caught in-Betweenity”).
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Africa, Caribbean, Cuba, General T&T, International, South Africa

The Challenge of Ideology

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By Dr. Selwyn Cudjoe
December 11, 2016

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeNo one who has followed Caribbean history over the last century could miss Fidel’s important role in helping Caribbean people to access their condition. Fidel had his faults.

However, his achievements surpassed his shortcomings and that is the salient point.

Fidel was to the 20th century Caribbean what Toussaint was to the 18th and 19th centuries. CLR James noted: “Castro’s revolution is of the 20th century as much as Toussaint’s was of the 18th…West Indians became aware of themselves as a people in the Haitian Revolution.”
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Elections, General T&T, PNM, UNC

No longer blinded by our eyes

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By Dr. Selwyn Cudjoe
December 04, 2016

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThe People’s National Movement (PNM) ought to chill; ask what it is doing wrong; recharge its battery; and then take it from there. It lost the local government election and people are losing confidence in its leadership.

This is one situation in which loud talking and grand charging are unlikely to solve the problem at hand. The situation calls for calm, cool and reflective thinking. The election results are clear: The PNM won seven corporations (down from eight in the last elections); the United National Congress (UNC) won six. The PNM and UNC received four seats each in Sangre Grande. PNM lost about 12 seats to the UNC.
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Crime in T&T, Elections, PNM, Racism Watch, UNC

Roti Diplomacy

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
November 28, 2016

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeTomorrow is Election Day. It is the first time the populace will have an opportunity to express their views about their new government. Although one expects the PNM to triumph in this campaign, it has not evoked the same passions of the last election, nor for that matter, the same urgency. Whatever its outcome, it will be a referendum on the prime minister’s leadership.
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