By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
September 29, 2010
It was one of those incomprehensible statements: “I am the Head N…. In Charge.” That was Jack Warner’s major contribution to the recent Budget Debate. If we use Jack’s logic in a society such as ours, the following corollary suggests itself: if there is a “Head N…In Charge” there must be a “Head C…. In Charge.” It is a philosophical proposition of which this is the logical conclusion.
Continue reading Jack Warner: H.N.I.C.
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
September 23, 2010
A few days ago the Honorary Prime Minister, Kamla Persad Bissessar addressed the United Nations General Assembly. Among other things she recognized that “the passport out of poverty is through education, community empowerment and social entrepreneurship.” She also acknoweldged that 16.7 percent of our people still live below the poverty line; 11.7 per cent are considered working poor whereas 9 per cent are deemed vulnerable. The goal, she says, is to reduce poverty by 2 per cent per year.
Continue reading Talking From Both Sides of Her Mouth
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
September 16, 2010
Everyone remembers when Justice Herbert Volney bus’ it and became the victorious representative of the people of St. Joseph. One day he was a justice of the court the next day he was a UNC candidate. Although Sat Maharaj pointed out that other members of the judiciary had ties to politics and politicians the Volney bomb touched a delicate part of the nation. We made a lot of noise about Volney’s defection but everyone in Trinidad and Tobago – the country that God has especially blessed – knows everything is a one-day wonder. Folks made noise about his ethical nature of the defection but soon it was yesterday’s news.
Continue reading Taking Stock of Our Democracy
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
September 08, 2010
I was in Italy when the scandal about the cheating of the Pakistani cricketers broke. When I got back to England last Monday, it was the only thing one read about in the English newspaper; the major story one heard on television. One would have thought that the Pakistanis had violated English honor and brought the gentleman’s game into absolute disrepute. It was not so much that the Parkistanis had cheated on the outcome of the game. They were accused on cheating of discrete aspects of the game such as bowling one or two deliberate no-balls which we are told resulted in the loss or gain of hundreds to thousand of dollars to criminal elements.
Continue reading Corrupting the Minds of the Young
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
September 01, 2010
Even as a teenager I was attracted to the arts. When I participated in the Arts Festival (I think that was the correct name) that preceded the Better Village Program inaugurated by Dr. Eric Williams in 1964, I acted under Errol Hill, learned public speaking with his sister Jean Herbert and choral-speaking under David King, a true village patriot of Tacarigua. These stalwarts labored in the artistic vineyards to produce a more responsive citizenry and to cultivate a more rounded aesthetic sensibility that was appropriate for a nation that was coming into being.
Continue reading Ponte Vecchio, Florence
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