August 1, 2016 – guardian.co.tt
In the new pages of history currently being written in T&T, questions that arise include whether people are facilitating new prejudices and divisions in T&T’s society and also, if a mindset of entitlement is being perpetuated, says Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.
Continue reading PM: Are we perpetuating a mindset of entitlement?
By Raffique Shah
April 03, 2016
Recently, there has been much noise over Trinidad and Tobago’s capacity to produce the foods that we eat.
I use the word “noise” instead of discussion or debate because so much of what is said and written is uninformed.
Continue reading Doomed to importing foods
Sunday, February 21 2016
Newsday – newsday.co.tt
Reporter JANELLE DE SOUZA reviews the debate over the rise of the Zika virus in the Caribbean, as Trinidad and Tobago joins the list of countries reporting cases of the mosquito-borne illness.
Could the use of a popular pesticide to control the mosquito population be responsible for the most feared outturn of Zika, head and brain deformity in babies born to mothers who were afflicted by the virus? Can the Zika virus be transmitted through sexual intercourse? These were among the most pressing fears as another of those big diseases with the small names manifested its entry into Trinidad and Tobago last week. Zika’s arrival plus the global debate over its spread and consequences deepened national concern and stimulated emergency measures that were laid down by the Health Ministry several weeks ago as the relatively new virus preoccupied countries far and near, with health emergencies and intense action to contain it.
Continue reading Zika, sex and pesticides
By Dr. Selwyn Cudjoe
October 22, 2014
RECENTLY, I had a lively debate with Ralph Maraj on Cuba and its successes on i95 FM Showdown programme. Mr Maraj insisted that nothing good could come out of Cuba because Cuba has failed as a socialist society and there is “no freedom in that country”. I tried to convince him that Cuba has emerged as a leader on the world stage in areas of health care and education and there is little crime to speak of in that country. He insisted that Cuba was worthy only of condemnation.
Continue reading Ralph Maraj’s Myopia
By Raffique Shah
October 19, 2014
Port of Spain, November 31, 2014: Reports that two persons stricken with the deadly Ebola virus were identified and isolated, one at the capital city’s general hospital, the other at the Mount Hope facility, have paralysed Trinidad and Tobago, literally shutting down the country.
There is an eerie silence across the country, at least those parts that this reporter reached by car, restricted as I was since petrol stations, like most essential services, ceased to function last Friday when rumours that Ebola had arrived sent the nation into panic.
Continue reading Ebola: panic paralyses nation
By Stephen Kangal
August 21, 2014
I regard myself as an objective and detached observer of the legitimate current claim being prosecuted across the Caribbean for European nations that participated in the infamous Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade to pay reparations to the descendants of those who suffered this inhumanity in the hands of the slave-masters/traders and tribal chiefs in Africa who mobilized them and sold them to the slave-traders.
Continue reading Balancing the Scales of Reparatory Justice
By Corey Gilkes
August 06, 2014
Years ago, the late economist and social thinker Lloyd Best pondered over the question of how does one save a culture from itself. This is a question we have not collectively dealt with as we continue to entangle ourselves more and more in the destructive aspects of this culture that we’re partly responsible for creating. Somewhere along the line, Emancipation, understood as “freedom” – and I’ll come back to that later – was hijacked to become something that was tolerant of mediocrity, the spurning of ambition, industriousness and intellectual pursuits. Small wonder some people say “dey should bring back de white man” because we’ve made a mess of our Independence (and our Emancipation). I don’t necessarily subscribe to such a self-loathing sentiment but much of what we’re doing to ourselves and our space certainly gives credence to it.
Continue reading Emancipate Yourself from … Yourself
ADDRESS DELIVERED BY PROFESSOR SIR HILARY BECKLES
CHAIRMAN OF THE CARICOM REPARATIONS COMMISSION
to the
HOUSE OF COMMONS,
PARLIAMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN
COMMITTEE ROOM 14
JULY 16, 2014
Continue reading CARICOM Reparations Presentation to UK House of Commons
By Richardson Dhalai
July 16, 2014 – newsday.co.tt
Public 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.”
Continue reading Embrace ideals and principles of Mandela
By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
April 26, 2014
One of the most ridiculous and hypocritical political statements ever made in the history of public policy-making in this country is the remark by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar that her Government “will look at legislation that can offer protection to children in their homes”.
Continue reading Hypocrisy towards violence in T&T