Category Archives: India

Court, Crime in T&T, Drug Trade, General T&T, India, Law, People's Partnership, Police, Politics, Racism Watch, Security, Violence

Matters of Race in the State of Emergency

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By Christian Hume
September 01, 2011

State of EmergencyIt was most disconcerting to witness Minister of National Security John Sandy and Attorney General Anand Ramlogan trying to convince the nation that the gang leaders from East Port-of-Spain and the East-West Corridor are the “big fish” that the entire nation are waiting to see rounded up and tossed into jail. When the country’s top politicians decide to play blind, pretending not to see the reality that honest eyes among the population see all the time, then we know that times are stark and dark.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, India, Law, Opposition Party, People's Partnership, PNM, Police, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch, Security, Violence

Rejecting the State of Emergency

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
August 30, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIs either I stupidly or Anand and dem know many things I don’t know. But I didn’t know that one had to declare a state of emergency to capture some gang leaders and charge them with possession of marijuana or cocaine. I didn’t know that the only way to solve the crime problem was to declare a state of emergency and arrest about five hundred young people (call them gang members) from Black areas in order to solve the crime problem. If so, the PNM was more than stupid to hold its hands until the PP discovered that it takes a state of emergency to capture all these black people so easily.
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Africa, General T&T, India, People's Partnership, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch, Religion

The Hidden Agenda

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 26, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOn Monday next (Emancipation Day) black folks will come out in full ethnic regalia to commemorate the emancipation of our forefathers and foremothers. They will march from the Brian Lara Promenade to the Savannah and make uplifting speeches (as they should) about our condition. The next 364 days thereafter they shall continue their slide into penury and humiliation as the People’s Partnership (PP) government does everything to ensure that African people eat the bread the devil kneads. In this new dispensation no mercy will be shown and no sympathy offered.
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Africa, General T&T, India, People's Partnership, Politics

Truth and Consequences

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By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
June 07, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeWhen I asked whether our honorable Prime Minister has a drinking problem I did not mean to be uncharitable or to be “sexist.” Given Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s difficulties I thought it responsible to raise an issue that has gained a life of its own. I still contend that the enabling role Strauss-Kahn’s friends played in supporting his illness may be analogous to the deafening public silence that surrounds the PM’s purported drinking problem. Many of Strauss-Khan’s close friends knew he had a problem. None was bold enough to speak about it publicly.
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Africa, General T&T, India, Race and Identity

Question of Origins and Indian Arrival

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By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
May 31, 2011

Dr. Kwame NantambuIn the aftermath of the celebration of Indian Arrival Day on 30 May 2011 in T&T, this article focuses on certain origins and the historical dynamics of Indian Arrival. These origins include the Asian-Chinese Dynasty, “Ganges” River, Indian Originality and the label “Indentured Servants.”
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General T&T, India, Politics

I arrived in 1946

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By Raffique Shah
May 28, 2011

Raffique ShahWHEN discussions on Indian Arrival Day first surfaced sometime in the 1970s, United Labour Front (ULF) founding ideologue Lennox Pierre insisted that I should intervene in the debate over a public holiday to mark the Indian presence in Trinidad. At the time, the Indian Review Committee, led by Ramdath Jagessar, vociferously argued in favour of marking the arrival of Indian immigrants in 1845.
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Culture, General T&T, India, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

Ethnicity versus race in T&T

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By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
May 03, 2011

Dr. Kwame NantambuWithin recent times, issues of ethnicity versus race have been discussed and bandied about in T&T without any clear, professional/intellectual/historical delineation.

The fact of the matter is that official 2000 census figures reveal that about 42 per cent of T&T’s population is of Indian descent while 38 per cent is of African descent.
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Africa, Complaints, General T&T, India, Media, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch, UNC

A full circle

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By Raffique Shah
April 23, 2011

Raffique ShahFORTY-ONE years ago, almost to the week, tens of thousands of mainly idealistic young people thought we had killed and buried the “race bogey” in this cussed country. We had grown up knowing that race-tension lay beneath the veneer of peaceful co-existence that those in authority had proclaimed. Too often, we had heard the epithets “nigger” and “coolie” bandied about, suggesting that after almost 150 years of living together in this melting pot, our people of different races and cultures were clinging to prejudices of a distant past.
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Africa, General T&T, India, Media, Opposition Party, Parliament, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

Race Talk in the House

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ParliamentRace Talk in House: Jack, Rowley square off
The People’s Partnership has achieved better ethnic balance in the appointments of boards, Works Minister Jack Warner stated yesterday. He was speaking in the House of Representatives on the motion filed by Dr Keith Rowley, asking the House to reaffirm its collective commitment to the principles of fairness and meritocracy in public affairs in the light of the “reckless and divisive statements” made by the former Police Service Commission chairman Nizam Mohammed.
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General T&T, India, People's Partnership, Politics, Race and Identity, Racism Watch

Police Service Is Unique and Powerful

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By Stephen Kangal
April 20, 2011

Stephen KangalThe Police Service is singularly the most unique and powerful institution of the state. The establishment of that service cannot be honestly and usefully compared with and justified by the ethnic composition of the establishment of any other public and private sector institution. At the same time the entry requirements for this service is academically minimal. Brawn was accorded overriding importance at the early stage of the then Police Force. Accordingly studying law, medicine or the professions was never an alternative to being a police man.
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