By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
August 25, 2010
In April or May of 1888, my former wife and I were having dinner with two colleagues when the phone rang. My nephew called from the upper part of the house: “Uncle Selwyn, Mr. Naipaul is on the phone.” A tense silence came over the room. I took up the phone.
Continue reading Naipaul in the House
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
August 18, 2010
When Kamla Persad Bissessar took her oath of office she swore on the Bhagavad Gita, one of the holiest scripts of the Hindus. As a Yoruba man, I am not as acquainted with the Gita as I should but true to my bifurcated beginning I was taught something about the Holy Bible. I like the King James Version of the Bible and receive great spiritual sustenance there from.
Continue reading The Sun Also Rises
By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
August 17, 2010
This analysis is a critique of the following articles: Prof. Selwyn Cudjoe, “The Crisis of Black Youth” and Joel Mohan, “Cudjoe Right About Afro Male Youth”, Trinidad Guardian, 12 August 2010, pp. 32-33.
At the outset, it is necessary to issue the following caveats. Firstly, Prof. Cudjoe has uitilized a Euro-centric Americanized analysis/context of the “Crisis of Black Youth” in T&T.
Continue reading Crisis of African youth in T&T … Prof. Cudjoe dead wrong
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
August 11, 2010
When torrential downpours inundated north-western China on Saturday last (August 7), the Chinese government rushed in to assist the unfortunate victims of unprecedented landslides. In Zhouqu alone 1,117 persons died and 627 others were missing, a minuscule fraction of China’s 1.2 billion people. Yet the government spared not effort to assist them. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao urged rescue workers to hurry before the weather worsens. He declared: “You must race against the clock and spare no efforts in saving lives.”
Continue reading The Crisis of Black Youth
Emancipation Lecture 2010
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
Posted: August 04, 2010
This lecture was delivered on July 31, 2010 at the Center of Excellence, Macoya, Trinidad
This evening we are pleased that Professor Maxwell Richards, the president of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, and his wife Ms. Jean Ramjohn Richards, newly elected prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, and her worthy colleague Mr. Jack Warner have consented to join us this evening at our tenth annual Emancipation Day Dinner. We are also pleased that Mr. Keith Rowley and his wife have been able to share this important day with us. I especially want to welcome Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar to congratulate her on her victory and to say to her that we at the National Association for the Empowerment of African People and most African people in this society genuinely compliment you on your elevation as the first woman prime minister of our land. We share in the sentiments of Indo-Mauritian author Leel Gujadhu Sarup who observed: “I feel good about her victory. As someone who has researched indentureship, this result bring tears to my eyes. There are no limits for an Indian woman to prove her worth.”
Continue reading A Society in Transition: A Community at the Crossroads
By Dr. Selwyn R Cudjoe
July 30, 2010
Forgive me if I do not feel as jaded about the PNM as so many commentators do.
The PNM is down but it is not out. However, the infighting that we are beginning to see certainly does not help. While it is true that the PNM has reached its nadir, in time it would begin to assert itself and continue to be an important national presence. It would not necessarily do so as it did before and with the same force but whatever happens it will remain relevant to our society’s political aspirations. In times such as these we are quick to draw conclusions about the fate of political parties and social groupings without understanding that history must be viewed as a process rather than a static phenomenon. We draw the wrong conclusion if we look only at the results of the last general and local government elections and conclude that the PNM is done. In fact, the recent performance of the PNM should not allow one to conclude that it has no future in this society nor that the People’s Partnership remains an implacable force of nature.
Continue reading Rising from Rock Bottom
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 23, 2010
Part I
Gerard Besson’s The Cult of the Will seeks to challenge the historical orthodoxy that undergirds Dr. Eric Williams’s analysis of the causes of the abolition of slavery and the slave trade and the cruelty he perpetuated against the entire society although whites seems to come out worse in the bargain. According to Besson, Williams sought “to facilitate the stigmatization of Caribbean people of European descent, or those who appear so, through the projection of negative concepts of ‘slave master’ or ‘colonial master,’ to modern-day individuals for political and ideological purposes.”
Continue reading Besson’s Cruel Accusations
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 15, 2010
Anand Ralogan is one of the leading lawyers of public law in T&T. There is no doubt that the prime minister selected him to be her attorney general because of his familiarity with the courts and how government agencies function. The attention he has paid to breaches in citizens’ rights and his advocacy for those against whom the state has discriminated have been admirable. All things considered, he is a good choice for the office.
Continue reading The Law of Just Revenge
July 08, 2010
Jack Warner is a sensible and successful man in his own right. He has achieved much and will go on to achieve many more things in his life. He brought the UNC to the pinnacle of success through his unceasing efforts and his unbounded energy. Today he is the acting Prime Minster. Much to the consternation of Messrs Basdeo Panday and Winston Dookeran he may be the prime minister of this land in the not-so-distant future. Expect the unexpected: that is the motto one can ascribe to Mr. Warner.
Continue reading Money and Wishful Thinking
July 01, 2010
I don’t know who you are supporting for the World Cup but I have picked Brazil although Joel Villafana and some of the Wakka Wakka boys on Channel 6 are rooting for Argentina. When Trinidad and Tobago participated in the last World Cup my second pick was Brazil. Now that we are not there I have no qualms about supporting the samba magicians. As I marvel at the grandeur of the game and its international reach, I also rejoice at the marvelous job South Africans are doing to pull off this world event.
Continue reading Africa’s Decade