Category Archives: Race and Identity

COP, corruption, Elections, General T&T, NJAC, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Race and Identity, UDeCOTT, UNC

Time For Change

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PM Patrick Manning and Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar
PNM Patrick Manning vs UNC Kamla Persad-Bissessar
By Ras Tyehimba
May 22, 2010

I am convinced that for the good of the country the present Manning-led PNM administration needs to go. To this end, I agree with the points expressed in this article, Election 2010: An Opportunity for Change.

My view is simple – the present Manning-led government is just too arrogant, dishonest and squandering to be rewarded with another term in office. The corruption under the PNM invokes memories of the infamous John O’Halloran, and in my view, surpasses that of the UNC while they were in office. The Manning-led government has presided over mass squandermania while expecting the public to pay for their excesses through such initiatives as the Property Tax Bill.
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corruption, Elections, General T&T, NJAC, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Race and Identity, UNC

Slandering Our Time

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LEFT: David Abdullah of the Movement for Social Justice, Congress of the People (COP) political leader Winston Dookeran, Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP) leader Ashworth Jack, United National Congress (UNC) leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, National Joint Action Committee (NJAC) political leader Makandal Daaga, and chairman of the Movement for Social Justice Errol McLeod.
The People's Partnership
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 17, 2010

It is true in philosophy as it is in political science that if one asks the wrong question one is likely to get a wrong answer. Trapped in a climate of uncertainty, the question that faces the Trinidad and Tobago voter on May 24 is not whether the People’s Partnership (PP) can hold together if it is elected or whether Kamla is an inspirational genius? It is whether PP and Kamla who happen to be in the right place at the right time can fulfill their roles as creative place holders in our country’s political history.
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Elections, General T&T, Law, NJAC, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Protest, Race and Identity, Religion, UNC

Is a Letter of Comfort needed from Daaga?

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Candidate for Laventille West (N.J.A.C) Makandal Daaga
Candidate for Laventille West (N.J.A.C) Makandal Daaga
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 12, 2010

Dear Mr. Manning:

I was disappointed when you called upon Makandal Dagga to apologize to Christians for his having desecrated [your words] the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception during the Black Power Revolt of 1970. I was even more disturbed when you castigated him for wearing a dashiki in these post-Black Power Days although you wear African clothes on Emancipation Day, one of the few concessions that you make towards your African-ness.
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COP, Culture, Elections, General T&T, Media, NJAC, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Race and Identity, UNC

Williams, Daaga and Black Power

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Dr Eric Williams and Makandal Daaga
Dr Eric Williams and Makandal Daaga
How 1970 uprising changed Government policy…

By Ken Ali
May 11, 2010 – guardian.co.tt

Dr Eric Williams, Trinidad and Tobago’s first Prime Minister and acclaimed “Father of the Nation”, was an apostle of the ideals of Black Power.
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COP, Elections, General T&T, Media, NJAC, People's Partnership, PNM, Race and Identity, UNC

Voting ‘Indian’?

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UNC-COP Supporters
UNC-COP Supporters
By Peter O’Connor
May 09, 2010 – newsday.co.tt

Today we need to address an issue which cannot be glossed over by euphemisms and pretences. And this has less to do with some of our increasingly silly politicians, and more to do with a large segment of disillusioned voters.
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Elections, General T&T, NJAC, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Protest, Race and Identity, UNC

RC priest: No problem with NJAC

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Candidate for Laventille West (N.J.A.C) Makandal Daaga
Candidate for Laventille West (N.J.A.C) Makandal Daaga
RCs scoff at PM’s demand for Daaga apology
Members of the Roman Catholic Church are distancing themselves from comments made by Prime Minister Patrick Manning that Makandal Daaga should apologise for his role in the 1970 desecration of the Cathedral in Port-of-Spain.
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COP, Elections, General T&T, India, NJAC, People's Partnership, PNM, Race and Identity, UNC

‘Dashiki’ Silence Disappointing

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National Joint Action Committee (NJAC) leader Makandal Daaga
NJAC leader Makandal Daaga
As an Indo-Trinidadian, I was amazed to hear Mr. Manning speaking ill of the African dashiki on his platform almost a week ago (“Kamla surrounded by strong, dangerous men, says Manning” – Express, April 23). To hear an esteemed Afro-Trinidadian belittling a garment that is culturally identified with my African brothers and sisters is parallel to Mr. Panday admonishing me for consuming doubles. It is a new depth when we as a people are so bent on denigrating other races and ethnicities that we mistakenly miss the boat and begin to attack our very own as Mr. Manning, without thinking has done.
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Culture, Gender, India, PNM, Politics, Race and Identity, UNC

Well a Woman is Almost There

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So wha bout the politics now?

By Corey Gilkes
March 02, 2010
www.trinidadandtobagonews.com/blog

Kamla Persad-BissessarOn the 24th January an interesting but not unexpected shift in the politics occurred when Kamla Persad-Bissessar was voted in as political leader of the United National Congress dethroning the charismatic veteran leader and founder of the party, Basdeo Panday. This paved the way for her being sworn in as Leader of the Opposition on the 25th February. Kamla’s victory is significant in more ways than one. For well over fifty years there have been women figuring in one way or another in the political world of Trinidad and Tobago. Significant strides have been made by such figures as Audrey Jeffers, Gertrude Kirton, Muriel Donawa-McDavidson and Jean Pierre, to name but a few and while in the past there have been women appointed by the Prime Minister to function in his capacity in his absence, never before have we seen a woman elected to lead a political party with the likelihood that she may also be elected as the country’s next Prime Minister.
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COP, Culture, Entertainment, India, Politics, Race and Identity, UNC

Maha Saba Children’s Phagwa 2010

Sanatan Dharma Maha Saba Children's Phagwa 2010
Sanatan Dharma Maha Saba Children's Phagwa 2010
A kaleidoscope of colour and brightness, reminiscent of youth, innocence and vibrance was witnessed yesterday at the Sanatan Dharma Maha Saba Children’s Phagwa celebrations at the Tunapuna Hindu School. Hundreds of students from various Hindu schools from all over Trinidad assembled to experience the delight of Phagwa and the fun of splashing each other with abeer with the dominant colours being purple, red, green, blue, pink, orange and yellow.
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Caribbean, Haiti, International, Race and Identity, USA

Haiti: An Unwelcome Katrina Redux

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By Cynthia McKinney
January 22, 2010 – globalresearch.ca

HaitiPresident Obama’s response to the tragedy in Haiti has been robust in military deployment and puny in what the Haitians need most: food; first responders and their specialized equipment; doctors and medical facilities and equipment; and engineers, heavy equipment, and heavy movers. Sadly, President Obama is dispatching Presidents Bush and Clinton, and thousands of Marines and U.S. soldiers. By contrast, Cuba has over 400 doctors on the ground and is sending in more; Cubans, Argentinians, Icelanders, Nicaraguans, Venezuelans, and many others are already on the ground working – saving lives and treating the injured. Senegal has offered land to Haitians willing to relocate to Africa.
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