By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
September 13, 2006

Thesis

One of the most revered and nationally accepted, but Eurocentric, ahistorical, divisive and dysfunctional adages is the 31st August 1962 Inaugural Independence Message by then Prime Minister and historian Dr. Eric Williams, in part as follows:

“There can be no Mother India, for those whose ancestors came from India, there can be no Mother Africa, for those of African origin, and there can be no Mother Syria or no Mother Lebanon. A nation, like an individual, can have only one mother. The only mother we recognize is Mother T&T and mother cannot discriminate between her children.” (Guardian, 31 August 2006).
Continue reading Originality vs Nationality in TnT: Facing Historical Reality →

By Linda Edwards

This project, now completed at the Russell Latapy Secondary School on July 17 to 28, aimed at providing additional reading support services for children in the under-served areas of Morvant/Laventille, who were identified by their sending schools as being less advanced than their peers. In some cases, they could hardly read.
Continue reading A Small Beginning: The UCIBIDES reading project →

By Terry Joseph

Although commanding an incalculably large viewing audience, MTV hasn’t made proportionate contribution to the sum of human dignity it met at first airing 25 years ago, except there is value hidden somewhere in the dehumanisation of black youth.

Globally famous as the ultimate party source, the station quietly marked its silver anniversary, which fell on Emancipation Day, perhaps fearing increased attention to the role it plays in enslaving black youth, who now refer to each other as “pimp” and “bitch” rather than “boyfriend” and “girlfriend” as was the language of their forbears in the pre-MTV era.
Continue reading Dehumanising our youth →

By Michael De Gale

I can’t wait until the next general election to see if bold face politicians who abandoned their constituencies for years, have the gall to come and campaign in the hood, begging poor people to put them back into power. What will be even more interesting, is to see if all those who ketching hell to make ends meet and reeling from the unrelenting frustrations of daily life, will stain their fingers and vote those slackers back into office. If people who are the victims of Governmental indifference, maladministration, corruption and gross incompetence should re-elect the present administration or even a UNC Government who can’t even decide on a leader, then they damn well deserve what they get.
Continue reading Dat Good For Yuh →

By Raffique Shah

Two news articles from the international press agencies caught my eye last Friday. The first was a report that China was building a US$27-billion train line that will connect Beijing with the southern economic hub of Shenzen. I read it bearing in mind that our Transport Minister, Colm Imbert, recently told a post-Cabinet briefing that the proposed rail link between Arima and Port of Spain will cost “at least US$6 billion”. Last week, in an obvious bid to speed up the tendering-and, presumably, construction-process, Imbert’s ministry hosted a meeting with potential bidders at which more details of the reintroduction of rail transport in the country were discussed.
Continue reading Tale of two rail systems →

By Terry Joseph

Information recently released by the Ministry of Social Development’s Division of Ageing indicates that, in nine years’ time persons aged between 55 and 64 will outnumber those in the 15 to 25 bracket which, for some of us, is the best news in decades.

According to division head Dr Jennifer Rouse, at present some ten per cent of the population is aged 60 or older and, by 2015, the balance will shift definitively in favour of that group, occasioned by conflicting trends in mortality and fertility, people living longer due to advances in healthcare, while education restrains youth from premature procreation.
Continue reading Not the same old story →