All posts by News

General T&T, International, Israel, Palestine

Israel’s colonialism

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 08, 2024

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeLast Monday night Israel killed seven humanitarian aid workers from the World Central Kitchen (WCK) in Gaza who were attending to the suffering of Palestinians. Israel apologised for its deliberate barbarity because all but one of the victims were of other nationalities— Australian, British, Polish, and a dual citizen of the United States and Canada. If Hamas had done such a thing, it would have confirmed its barbarity.
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Elections, General T&T

EBC lessons for XYZs

By Raffique Shah
April 08, 2024

Raffique ShahI felt like a fool as I walked out of the offices of the Elections and Boundaries Commission after what turned out to be a two-hour education on polling divisions.

Readers may wonder why I spent so long on such a narrow topic. Well, Mr Whatever-his-name-was had decided to teach me a huge lesson in limited time. The year was 1976. It was a general election year and I had gone to the EBC’s offices at the invitation of the gentleman who was said to be very knowledgeable on everything on elections.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics

The Indian connection

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
April 02, 2024

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeWhen Eric Williams went to London in 1955 to discuss PNM’s programme with CLR James, George Padmore and Arthur Lewis, he also visited with Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, the sister of Jawaharlal Nehru, prime minister of India. He raised the possibility of republishing Nehru’s autobiography with the latter writing a new introduction to it.
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General T&T, PNM

Maccoes, not spies

By Raffique Shah
April 02, 2024

Raffique ShahEvery time I watch or listen to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley deliver an address or a contribution to some pre-election forum, I sigh, shake my head, and think: what wasted words.

I have watched Dr Rowley develop over the past 25 years or so, from a bar-room brawler poli­tician to a formidable spokesperson who has earned his place as the leader of his party. He struck me as being bright when after joining Patrick Manning in opposition in the ’90s he went on to become a frontline speaker who helped resurrect the party.
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General T&T, PNM

These men of straw…

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 28, 2024

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIn Inward Hunger, Eric Williams revealed that on the very day he left the Anglo-America Caribbean Commission on June 21, 1955, he began discussions with members of the Teachers’ Economic and Cultural Association about the formation of a new party in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T)— the People’s National Movement. “The basic strategy,” he said, “pending the discussion and organisation, was to reach the public.”
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General T&T, PNM, Politics

Dr Rowley’s public vulgarity

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 18, 2024

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeThe Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago was at his most vulgar on Thursday, March 9, when he sought to scandalise my name at a public meeting at Enterprise, Chaguanas. However, his public performance revealed more about his moral blindness, his public vulgarity, his intellectual narrowness and aggressive narcissism. No one who read my 28-page, carefully footnoted lecture could have arrived at his conclusion.
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Finance, General T&T, Politics, Property Tax

Rein in the tax-dodgers

By Raffique Shah
March 18, 2024

Raffique ShahNot long ago, after a few years of trying to recover a relatively small sum of pension that government owed me, I concluded that the public service will never change in its attitude towards work and servicing the population that pays them.

Worse, I think I realised then there are people in the public service who use their positions against citizens who are entitled to hold political allegiance, but mostly citizens could not be bothered with such trivial distractions.
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Crime in T&T, International, USA

The dangerous Mr Trump

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 12, 2024

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeDonald Trump, the Republican nominee, will face President Biden, the Democratic nominee, in the next US presidential election. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that Trump could win that election. Most of the polls, including the prestigious New York Times/Siena College poll, have given Trump a 2% lead over President Biden.
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Elections, General T&T, PNM, Politics, THA, UNC

Election bell ringing

By Raffique Shah
March 12, 2024

Raffique ShahOnly a fool, a fanatical partisan politician, or an academic seeking to enter the profession of predicting election results would venture to predict the results of the next Trinidad and Tobago general election, due sometime over the next year or so. I have watched with interest how incumbent prime minister Dr Keith Rowley gave his first signal, when at one of his party’s meetings last week he spent some minutes on the topic and declared the election will be “the most serious you have ever taken part in”. I found that statement intriguing: every election is important.
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