Tag Archives: Selwyn R. Cudjoe

Africa, General T&T, International

Africa’s Global Importance

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 27, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIt is true generally that citizens of nation states are emboldened by the relative power their original homelands enjoy in the world’s council of governance. Jews all over the world are emboldened and strengthened by Israel’s power as Indians all over the world are strengthened and empowered by the growing international importance of India which is why not one East Indian demurred when India offered citizenship to Indians in its diaspora after our government allowed Indian and Russian business people to enter Trinidad and Tobago without a visa.
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General T&T, Opposition Party, People's Partnership, Politics, UNC

Rowley’s Failure

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 20, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThe hiccups PNM is going through have more to do with Keith Rowley’s failure to lead than Patrick Manning’s political intransigence and nostalgia for power. Manning, the insane victim of his own ill-judgment, is suffering from the failed-leader syndrome to which many past leaders fall prey: an inability to recognize they messed up and ought to leave the political stage quietly if they cannot do so gracefully. This is the difference between great leaders (such as Nelson Mandela of South Africa and Julius Nyerere of Tanzania) who knew how to demit office peacefully and stubborn autocrats (such as Ben Ali of Tunisia, Hosni Mubarack of Egypt and Laurent Gbagbo of Cote d’Ivore) for whom power is an entrancing aphrodisiac.
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Complaints, corruption, Culture, General T&T, India, People's Partnership, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

Stop ‘Sampating’ Africans

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 13, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeSometimes 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.
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Complaints, corruption, Culture, General T&T, India, People's Partnership, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

The Indian Narrative

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 06, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThe 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.
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Africa, General T&T, India, Politics, Race and Identity

Nizam’s Conspiratorial Theories

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Why Nizam Must Go

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 31, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOn January 20th, 2011 I wrote an article entitled, “Mother Trinidad and Tobago” in which I strongly rejected the People’s Partnership’s position on multiculturalism. I emphasized that Dr. Williams’ cultural policy as enunciated in his “Mother Trinidad and Tobago Speech” seemed a better position from which to base a national cultural policy rather than the nebulous, ill-informed multicultural thrust that the PP adopted. On January 20th I received the following response from Nizam Mohammed:
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Africa, General T&T, Race and Identity

The Souls of Black Folk

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 24, 2011

Part 1 – Part 2

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOn Thursday and Friday last week (March 17 and 18) I delivered two lectures at Albany State University, one of the three historically black colleges and universities in the University of Georgia system, in their International Studies Series. Albany, one of the most important sites of the civil rights struggles in the 1960s, is also the birth place of Ray Charles which explains the deep emotions with which he sings “Georgia on My Mind,” Georgia’s state song.
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Gender, General T&T, PNM, Politics

Chairman Penny Beckles

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Mrs. Penelope Beckles
Mrs. Penelope Beckles

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 16, 2011

Although I will not be at the PNM’s Party Convention next week, I support Penelope Beckles to be the party’s next chairman because she is best suited for the job. The PNM must throw forth a new group of leaders whom the people can believe in and who can chart a new direction for the country if it wishes to regain the leadership of the society.
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Culture, Entertainment, General T&T, India, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Tourism

Plebian Carnival

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By Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 09, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOh 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.
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Culture, General T&T, People's Partnership, Politics, Race and Identity

The Limitations of Multiculturalism – Part III

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By Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 02, 2011

Part I – Part II – Part III

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeAny society that aspires to be a cohesive national entity must be willing to accept all of its history; not just parts of it. And herein lies a problem that no multiculturalism in Trindiad and Tobago can fix: that is, a proper estimation and acceptance of Dr. Eric Williams’ role in our national development. It is precisely the inability of most of our Indian population to accept the totality of our history and the heterogeneous nature of our origins that prevent them from acknowledging Dr. Williams’ status as the father of our nation.
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Gender, General T&T, People's Partnership, Politics, Race and Identity, Security

Playing the Race Card

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 23, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeJack Warner is the last person I thought would play the race card but then as my mother says, “You never know.” Here is Kamla and the PP getting their licks because they don’t know their ears from their navels but all Jack could say when workers use the democratic tools to protect their interests is they are targeting Kamla because she is an “East Indian woman.” It is strange that Kamla’s East Indianness never came up when she was running for the election nor, for that matter, was her gender seen in a negative light. In fact her being a Hindu woman seemed an asset given the place that women hold in the hierarchical structure of Hinduism.
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