All posts by News

COVID-19, General T&T, Health

Too little poetic justice

9 Comments

By Raffique Shah
May 10, 2021

Raffique ShahThere are times when I feel ashamed of being Trinidadian. On such occasions, I feel almost like a traitor, having to admit that some of my countrymen are bringing shame and disgrace to our otherwise proud nation.

As the Covid-19 numbers exploded last week from single-digit in­creases to 300-plus daily confirmed cases, hospital beds were occupied at dizzying rates while deaths rose from modest to uncomfortable levels, I felt personally defeated.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T

The need for self-esteem and self-knowledge

26 Comments

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 03, 2021

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThe headline read: “It was a bloody weekend across Trinidad and Tobago”.

The news story announced: “From Friday night into yesterday, eight people were killed, pushing the murder toll for the year so far to 113. Victims were found dead in St James, Arima, La Horquetta, Valencia, Curepe, Embacadere, Tunapuna and Petit Valley.” (Express, April 26.) Two more people may have been murdered on that weekend.
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General T&T, India, International, Pakistan

Vortex of violence

4 Comments

By Raffique Shah
May 03, 2021

Raffique ShahBy a curious twist of fate, I was browsing through some books on Amazon when I saw a digital copy of one of the finest historical novels I’ve read, Freedom at Midnight, co-authored by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins. I couldn’t resist buying it. I would find the time to reread their excellent record of India’s (and Pakistan’s) independence in 1947.
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COVID-19, General T&T, Health, India, International

The COVID-19 Catastrophe in India Keeps Growing

13 Comments

By Vijay Prashad
April 26, 2021 – counterpunch.org

COVID-19 in IndiaIt is difficult to overstate the grip of COVID-19 on India. WhatsApp bristles with messages about this or that friend and family member with the virus, while there are angry posts about how the central government has utterly failed its citizenry. This hospital is running out of beds and that hospital has no more oxygen, while there is evasion from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet.
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Crime in T&T, General T&T, International, Police, Protest, USA, Violence

Disliking African Materials

44 Comments

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 26, 2021

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOn the same day Derek Chauvin, a white police officer in the US, was found guilty of murdering George Floyd, a black man, Gerald Ramdeen, attorney for suspended Inspector Mark Hernandez, head of the Special Operations Response Team (SORT), defended the innocence of Hernandez, who was charged with misbehaviour in public office.

Ramdeen remarked: “Mark represents a true patriot of Trinidad and Tobago and was responsible for weeding out heinous criminals and monsters who plague society off the streets. If there were more patriots like him Trinidad and Tobago would not be in the situation it is today.” (Express, April 20.)
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Africa, COVID-19, Finance, General T&T, Health, International, Politics, Recession

Of dollars and sense

5 Comments

By Raffique Shah
April 26, 2021

Raffique ShahI round off my intervention on the many possibilities we might find in a new post-­Covid economy by reminding readers the pandemic has hammered economies across the world, irrespective of their sizes, in ways never before seen.

Oil was rocked to unimaginably low prices. Stock markets swayed as if in stupor, major commodity prices collapsed to uneconomic levels, and the virus disrupted world production of essential industries, goods and services, leaving governments confused, powerless, defeated.
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General T&T, International, Racism Watch, USA

The Chauvin Trial is Dangerously Deceptive

11 Comments

By Paul Street
April 20, 2021 – counterpunch.org

The Chauvin TrialSince most U.S.-Americans know little about social and political reality beyond their own limited experience and bubbles, powerfully deceptive narratives and images disseminated by the corporate media easily distort public perceptions.

The election and presidency of Barack Obama fed the dangerous illusion that racism no longer posed barriers to Black advancement and equality in the United States and that the only such barriers left were internal to Black people themselves.
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General T&T, International, Murder, Police, USA

The Gaslighting of America

8 Comments

By Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 19, 2021

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThis week we will know the fate of Derek Chauvin, the police officer who placed his knee on George Floyd’s neck, an act that led to his death. It was a crime that inflamed the sensibilities of many people around the world, especially those people who have fought for racial justice for most of their lives. Chauvin invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to testify for fear that he might incriminate himself. That may have been a smart move.
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COVID-19, Finance, General T&T, Health, Politics, Recession

Out with the old, in with the new

1 Comment

By Raffique Shah
April 19, 2021

Raffique ShahThere comes a time in the affairs of a nation—and such occurrences are rare, maybe once in a century—when events shaped by the actions of citizens or unleashed by the forces of nature create the conditions for change, sometimes radical change that otherwise would hardly be considered, far less adopted, but which, when measured by the degree of dislocation the nation faces if its leaders fail to act, may offer opportunities that guide us along a path we didn’t think existed.
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COVID-19, General T&T, Health, PNM, Politics

Opening the borders

47 Comments

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 13, 2021

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI left Trinidad and Tobago on March 16, 2020, a few days before the borders were closed to citizens and visitors alike. I was on the verge of departing for a ten-day visit to India, at the invitation of the Indian government as a part of its Academic Visitors Programme for distinguished scholars.
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