By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 30, 2018
I am a bit stunned—ashamed is a better word—that the prime minister admits his inability to combat the most existential problem that faces our country. The prime minister declares: “I have noted the number of murders taking place and being reported in the newspaper daily…. I am being held responsible when it is the police service that has the power and authority to go after the criminals.”
Continue reading Abdicating One’s Responsibility
By Raffique Shah
January 17, 2018
Dr Terrence Farrell’s resignation last week as chairman of the Government-appointed Economic Development Advisory Board brought into focus a long-simmering conflict between economists and business interests in one camp, more or less; the Government, which sees the economy primarily through the prism of political power, on the other; and trade unions and a disparate population that sense the near-violent instability of the ship of state and recognise the need for adjustments by all passengers on board, from captain to cook, but each one expecting the other, not him, to move.
Continue reading Note to economic planners: put needs before greed
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 15, 2018
As quiet as it is kept, women have always shaped our social and cultural identity. They have been the doers, recipients of the most brutal treatment at the hands of their oppressors and their mates, and a spur towards our liberation and development over the last two hundred years. Unfortunately, they do not always get the credit they deserve in our man-centered world.
Continue reading This Woman Can Be Great
By Raffique Shah
January 11, 2018
The Government missed a good opportunity to impress upon the population the gravity of the country’s economic circumstances, and consequently the dire need for all segments of society to make sacrifices on the expenditure side of the equation, when it capitulated by doling out millions of taxpayers’ dollars to fund private promoters whose sole interest in Carnival is to profit off it.
Continue reading Funding culture vultures
Fellow citizens, as we settle into our various routines, wherever and whatever that might be, I trust that we all had a joyous Christmas Season, shared with family, friends and community spirit.
As we reflect on the arrival of 2018 and all that it holds for us, let us spare a thought or a prayer for those individuals and families who have been victims of violent crime from one direction or another. Their pain is our pain and even as the New Year has opened with reports of the continued murderous scourge on our land I want to appeal to all citizens to keep hope alive in this war against the heartless family members and career violent criminals.
Continue reading The Prime Minister’s full address to the nation
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 02, 2018
Once I read our government had abstained on the United Nation’s resolution to condemn the United States decision to anoint Jerusalem as Israel’s capital I raced to the Tunapuna cemetery to reacquaint myself with the words on C. L. R. James’s gravestone, which read: “Time would pass, old empires would fall and new ones take their place, the relations of countries and the relations of classes had to change, before I discovered that it is not quality of goods and utility which matter, but movement; not where you are or what you have, but where you have come from, where you are going and the rate at which you are getting there” (Beyond a Boundary).
Continue reading Foreign Policy Blunder
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 31, 2017
A democracy was always meant to be a big boisterous place where all citizens come together to share their ideas about what constitutes the ideal state. In recent time radio talk shows and social media are serving that role-the exchange of ideas-but such avenues are not necessarily the most efficacious ways of soliciting/eliciting citizens’ views.
How we behave in society and the courtesies we extend to others are also important for building social cohesion. A country expects its leaders to lead exemplary lives and conduct themselves in ways that are worthy of emulation. In our society, things have been slipping for a while. We need to see where we have gone wrong.
Continue reading Big Dawgs and Ass-Kicking Time
Trinidad & Tobago Guardian
December 26, 2017 – guardian.co.tt
KINGSTON—The University of the West Indies (UWI) is backing Caribbean Community (Caricom) governments in protesting the European Union’s (EU) recent blacklisting of regional countries it considers tax haven.
In a statement issued, Vice-Chancellor Sir Hilary Beckles said the UWI “stands with the governments of the Caribbean in protesting the recent actions by the EU and calling for a more transparent and equitable regulatory system and joins the call for the EU to enter into a process to resolve the issue.”
Continue reading UWI backs protests against EU blacklist
PNM women slam ‘Rowley mother’ song
By Seeta Persad
December 23, 2017 – newsday.co.tt
Chutney Singer Nirmal “Massive” Gosine’s latest song Rowley Mother Count has triggered a heated online debate on what should pass for composition at the national level.
Yesterday, Planning and Development Minister Camille Robinson-Regis joined the chorus of opposition to the play of words, describing it as distasteful and loathsome.
Continue reading PNM women slam ‘Rowley mother’ song
Contesting Caribbean Subservience in the Age of Trump
By Tyehimba
December 24, 2017
There was an overwhelming vote within the United Nations general assembly against the United States’ unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. 128 members of the general assembly voted against motion, 9 nations voted for, while 35 nations including Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Antigua, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Panama, Mexico and Canada, abstained. The non-binding vote came days after the United States used its veto power to overturn a UN security council resolution that called for a withdrawal of the recognition by Donald Trump of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. The US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley had threatened that the United States would be taking names of all the countries who supported the resolution, while President Trump threatened to cut foreign aid to those countries.
Continue reading Between Big Stick Policy and Dollar Diplomacy