Tag Archives: Raffique Shah

Governance by God…no less

By Raffique Shah
March 07, 2010

Prime Minister Patrick ManningIf Prime Minister Patrick Manning’s brimstone-and-fire like sermon in Parliament two Fridays ago was reflective of the normal behaviour of Born-Again-Whatever, then I thank the Lord (if She exists) for saving me from the darkness that envelops such tortured souls, for allowing me to see the light of rational thinking at a very early age in my life.
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Ghosts in Panday’s political afterlife

Former Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday
Former Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday
By Raffique Shah
February 28, 2010

THE tide of events often disrupts the best laid plans of columnists. I promised readers last week that I would today conclude my take on a ‘dying Carnival’. I wanted to share my thoughts on the few remaining bright sparks in the festival-the effervescent young pannists, calypsonians Kurt Allen, Brian London and Kizzie Ruiz, and dedicated cultural activists who refuse to allow our Carnival to descend into the abyss of nothingness.
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Carnival: one foot in the grave

By Raffique Shah
February 21, 2010

TriniSoca.com Carnival 2010CARNIVAL Friday night and I am driving to Port of Spain, my mind working like a Pentium computer chip. Which route do I choose to reach St James, my regular liming spot? Over the years I have learned that bumper-to-bumper traffic, not to add a virtual sea of early-bird revellers, transforms the city into a motorist’s nightmare. So once one decides to enter the epicentre of Carnival activities, one needs to plan one’s route with a GPS-mind.
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Karma, Bas, not Kamla

By Raffique Shah
February 07, 2010
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

Basdeo PandayMost readers would interpret my headline as suggesting that UNC “founding father”, Basdeo Panday, is enjoying sweet chutney/soca music in keeping with the spirit of the Carnival season. For them, “Karma” is a music band whose lead singer, Ravi B, won the recent Chutney-Soca Monarch title. Ironically, Ravi’s winning song was titled “Ah Drinker”. Ravi was not referring to orange juice or WASA’s now-scarce potable water, but to the wanton abuse of alcohol.
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A few good men…and women

By Raffique Shah
January 31, 2010

HaitiBEFORE the Herculean task of reconstructing Haiti can begin, the current relief programme must reach every Haitian. It must first ensure that all those who suffered physical and mental trauma during and after the earthquake are properly treated. Last week I made reference to amputations being done with hacksaws and without anaesthetic. Hello! Anaesthesia was introduced in the mid-19th century! The US military has large numbers of field hospitals equipped a wide range of medications to meet such emergencies. Where were they?
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Focus on Haiti – The Politics of Rice

By Al Jazeera English
January 25, 2010 – aljazeera.net

HaitiIn 2008, in the midst of the global food crisis, we travelled to Haiti to look at the politics of rice – how such a fertile country became dependent on food aid.

In the wake of this current disaster, that dependence is – initially – going to deepen.
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Haiti: Another American Annexation?

By Raffique Shah
January 24, 2010

HaitiWHAT surprised me about my column last week was the number of people, mostly local, who knew little or nothing about Haiti’s history. But what should I have expected in a country and an education system in which history has been deemed irrelevant? Or when students study the subject, the focus is on lands and civilisations afar? Let’s face it: we know more about America and Europe than we do of Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean.
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Reparations, not handouts, for Haiti

By Raffique Shah
January 17, 2010

HaitiSO we cry for Haiti again. Yet another natural disaster, this time an earthquake of horrendous magnitude, has all but flattened what was left of that ‘cussed’ country. In the Caribbean, so full of heart are we, even those who survive barely above the poverty line give, be it cash or clothes or food. But will our generosity, will the US$1 billion or so in help that will flow over the next year make a difference to 4.5 million of seven million people who live on less than US$1 day?
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Beyoncé a Boundary

By Raffique Shah
January 10, 2010
Trinidad and Tobago News Blog
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

BeyoncéShould readers feel I am making light of a serious subject, I plead guilty. With the coming of artiste Beyoncé taking on proportions of the second coming of Christ, I cannot help but enjoy a sense of detached amusement. First, I had to find out just who the hell Beyoncé was. Upon enquiring, I repeatedly mispronounced the name-Beyonce, Beyond-only to be rudely corrected by my daughter.
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Firestorm is a-coming

By Raffique Shah
January 03, 2010
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

ProtestShould political turmoil erupt in 2010, it wouldn’t be because of the Property Tax or government’s now toned-down spending spree. The opposition, united or divided, cannot trigger mass action, the kind we experienced in 1970. If anything, it’s the extreme insensitivity of uncaring ministers-Peter Taylor’s ‘living off the fat of the land’, Gaynor Dick-Forde’s ‘only 12 people against the tax’, Neil Parsanlal’s Goebbels-like, weekly media-bashing-that would send angry masses streaming onto the streets.
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