Africa, General T&T, Race and Identity, Religion

My Spiritual Inheritance

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 06, 2020

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeDuring the late 1940s and early 1950s, early on Sunday mornings, we would hear the bells ringing out loudly in the street as a band of women, dressed immaculately in white with varied colored head ties proceeded to the Tacarigua River to conduct their religious rituals. At the tender age of six or seven I did not know what such celebrations (I saw it as a celebration) were about. All I knew was that my Tantie Lenora was among that band of women. Somehow, I felt embarrassed or even ashamed.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics, Racism Watch

Black Betrayal, Or God Don’t Like Ugly

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 31, 2020

PART 2

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIn response to my column of three weeks ago, “Black Betrayal,” a critic attacked me in a slanderous manner. Mercifully, the Express deleted the more vitriolic aspects of his original letter. He claimed I invented Aaron St. John to carry on my nefarious agenda.

St. John responded:

“My name is Aaron Kerwin St. John, son of Gemma St. John, and grandson of Ester St. John. I am very real although certain persons would choose not to see the truth…They would rather we, the ordinary people, just shut up and be sad, unhappy, and poor, and continue, no matter what, to support this wickedness called governance by the PNM.
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Barbados, General T&T, Health, International, Politics

Inhumane Treatment of Our Elderly In Barbados

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By Stephen Kangal
March 30, 2020

Stephen KangalThe PNM Government in categorically refusing to arrange entry/arrival home of 35 of our elderly nationals and having forced Barbados to quarantine them somewhere at their own expense when they arrived at Grantley Adams Airport from South Africa via the UK is in flagrant violation of customary law on the treatment of nationals, consular duty and indeed plain humanitarianism.
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General T&T, Health, International, Politics

Best of times, worst of times

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By Raffique Shah
March 29, 2020

Raffique ShahIn time to come, when future generations write about us, about our behaviour during the great war against COVID-19, they may well resort to the Charles Dickens’ classic, A Tale of Two Cities, which was set in a tumultuous period in European and world history, 1775-1792. Dickens opened his tale thus: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness…it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us…in short…some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only…”
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China, General T&T, Health, International

China Must Pay Covid-19 Compensation and Reparations

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By Stephen Kangal
March 23, 2020

Stephen KangalWe must take into judicious account today that The People’s Republic of China (PRC) with whom T&T enjoys cordial and mutually – beneficial fruitful diplomatic and trade relations is afloat and awash with a huge windfall of trillions of hard currency US dollars silos derived from unending trade surpluses realised especially with the USA and increasingly with the rest of the World.
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Caribbean, General T&T, Health, International

COVID-19: Not just a flu


Journalist goes undercover at “wet markets”, where the Coronavirus started | 60 Minutes Australia
Mar 8, 2020 – The predictions about the coronavirus catastrophe grow more ominous by the day, and despite the best efforts of countries like Australia in enacting emergency action plans to contain the disease, its spread continues at a worrying rate. Even the World Health Organisation forecasts a world of pain. It says the virus poses a greater global threat than terrorism. That’s bad enough, but medical experts tell 60 MINUTES it’s actually even more terrifying.
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China, General T&T, Health, International, USA

Of coincidences and conspiracies

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By Raffique Shah
March 23, 2020

Raffique ShahI admit that it took me some time to come to terms with the seriousness of the COVID-19 virus. When the highly contagious bug first struck in China late last year, I followed its development with more curiosity than concern. China is a vast country with a huge population and millions of foreigners visiting it most times, so one could expect anything to happen—such as a superbug making its entry into the world. But I have also learnt that the Chinese government and people can handle whatever nature throws their way, usually dispatching the intruder to a swift demise, and in the process sparing the rest of the world worry about it.
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Caribbean, CARICOM, Elections, General T&T, Guyana, Racism Watch

Granger Bent On Using Caricom Team to “Robber- Stamp” His Coup

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By Stephen Kangal
March 17, 2020

Stephen KangalIt is very clear that incumbent Guyanese President David Granger’s current agenda is to use the third- appointed Caricom Observer but low level Team to rubber-stamp and add some “legitimacy” to his virtual “coup” attempt of the Guyana Elections 2020.

One must appreciate that this intervention Team was hurriedly constituted by current Caricom Chairman, Mia Mottley after all the accredited Observer Missions that witnessed the conduct of the March 2 elections as well as the three recounts of the Region Four poll, unanimously criticised that ‘process’ used by Returning Officer (RO) Vraimont Mingo as being illegal and lacking in both credibility and transparency.
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General T&T, Health, International

Battling COVID-19

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By Raffique Shah
March 16, 2020

Raffique ShahI suppose it’s human nature to panic and go into the survival mode if there is a threat to life, especially when one’s family might be at risk, however remote the chances of someone dying from the COVID-19 virus may be. I sensed Trinis had arrived at the tipping point where mortal fear provokes panic, when, upon learning that one person had been diagnosed with the virus, mankind in droves stormed supermarkets across the country to purchase toilet paper by the bales.
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