Category Archives: South Africa

Africa, Gender, General T&T, International, Racism Watch, South Africa

Flawed Heroines

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 09, 2018

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeQueen Njinga of Africa ruled Ndongo (located in present-day Angola) from 1624-1663. Despite her outstanding accomplishments, “Europeans at the time portrayed her as a bloodthirsty cannibal who thought nothing of murdering babies and slaughtering her enemies.” This is the conclusion that Linda Heywood, a Trinidadian professor of history at Boston University, arrives at in her new biography, Njinga of Angola: African Warrior Queen (2017).
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Africa, General T&T, International, South Africa

Long Walk to Freedom – Part 2

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 16, 2017

PART 2

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThe Anti-Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg, South Africa, offers an excellent exhibition on the life of Nelson Mandela, the most recognizable person of the twenty-first century. On one of the walls there is a quotation that is attributed to Aristotle, the Greek philosopher. It reads: “Good moral character is not something that we can achieve on our own. We need a culture that supports the condition under which self-love and friendship can flourish.”
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Africa, General T&T, International, PNM, South Africa

Long Walk to Freedom

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 10, 2017

PART 1

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI spent four weeks in South Africa and Swaziland at the end of June and the beginning of July. These were some of the most educative and inspiring days of my life. I had followed the South African liberation struggle since the late 1950s when Miriam Makeba sang her freedom songs. In the 1960s I read Alan Paton, Cry, the Beloved Country and cried. Later I read Peter Abrahams Tell Freedom. It did not produce the same emotional impact on me.
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Africa, Caribbean, Cuba, General T&T, International, South Africa

The Challenge of Ideology

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By Dr. Selwyn Cudjoe
December 11, 2016

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeNo one who has followed Caribbean history over the last century could miss Fidel’s important role in helping Caribbean people to access their condition. Fidel had his faults.

However, his achievements surpassed his shortcomings and that is the salient point.

Fidel was to the 20th century Caribbean what Toussaint was to the 18th and 19th centuries. CLR James noted: “Castro’s revolution is of the 20th century as much as Toussaint’s was of the 18th…West Indians became aware of themselves as a people in the Haitian Revolution.”
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Africa, Education, General T&T, Media, South Africa

Embrace ideals and principles of Mandela

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By Richardson Dhalai
July 16, 2014 – newsday.co.tt

Nelson MandelaPublic Administration Minister, Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan, has advised the nation to embrace the ideals and principles of former South African president, Nelson Mandela, saying “his life principle of ‘Ubuntu’ or ‘I am because you are’ can greatly benefit our nation as it deals with the inequities in our society.”
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Africa, General T&T, International, South Africa

Remember Madiba…All of Him

By Corey Gikes
December 15, 2013

Nelson MandelaToday we bid final farewell to Madiba Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela, a man whose whole life has been one of sacrifice. So much has been said, so much has written about this moral, political and physical giant of a man who struggled to bring about a society that is equal to all walks of life. His is a life that should serve as a model to those of us who wish to make similar differences in our own spaces.
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Africa, Books, General T&T, International, Media, Passed on, South Africa

The Mandela Barbie

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By Greg Palast
December 13, 2013 – gregpalast.com

Nelson MandelaI can’t take it anymore. All week, I’ve watched Nelson Mandela reduced to a Barbie doll. From Fox News to the Bush family, the politicians and media mavens who body-blocked the anti-Apartheid Movement and were happy to keep Mandela behind bars, now get to dress his image up in any silly outfit they choose.
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Africa, General T&T, International, Passed on, South Africa

Mandela: From Prisoner to President

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By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
December 10, 2013

Dr. Kwame NantambuNow that 95-year old Nelson Mandela has died, it is indeed a glorious sine qua non to trace/recount/relive his remarkable/heroic journey from prisoner/revolutionary to President of South Africa.

At the outset, it must be emphasized that the year 1994 was a pivotal, watershed turning-point as the white minority-ruled South Africa joined the civilized nations as a de jure actor on the international stage of democracy.
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Africa, International, Media, South Africa

For Mandela, Reverence, but Criticism, Too

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By Rick Lyman
December 08, 2013 – nytimes.com

Nelson MandelaJOHANNESBURG — Nelson Mandela was deeply respected in his homeland, and almost worshiped by many for his definitive role in ending white rule and installing multiracial democracy.

But he was never above reproach, political observers say.

When Andile Mngxitama, a black-consciousness advocate and frequent critic of Mr. Mandela, fired yet another broadside at the former leader before he died — comparing him unfavorably to neighboring Zimbabwe’s authoritarian president, Robert Mugabe — it certainly caught the attention of South Africa’s political class.
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Africa, General T&T, International, Passed on, South Africa

Night the world stood still

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By Raffique Shah
December 07, 2013

Raffique ShahLast Thursday night, for moments ranging from seconds to hours, the world stood still. People paused or stopped doing whatever they were engaged in, diverting attention to their radio or television sets that, in hundreds of languages, broke the news that Nelson Mandela had died.

By Friday, every newspaper that had gone to print after his passing will have featured banner headlines screaming news of his passing. Network news leaders such as the BBC and CNN continued almost non-stop coverage of the life and times and death of this man. Tributes poured in: no one had anything negative to say about him.
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