By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
August 18, 2010
When Kamla Persad Bissessar took her oath of office she swore on the Bhagavad Gita, one of the holiest scripts of the Hindus. As a Yoruba man, I am not as acquainted with the Gita as I should but true to my bifurcated beginning I was taught something about the Holy Bible. I like the King James Version of the Bible and receive great spiritual sustenance there from.
I was always taken with Ecclesiastes in which the Preacher David who reflected on the foibles of men. He exclaimed: “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity./What profit hath a man of all this labor which he taketh under the sun?/ One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth forever.”
I cannot help but think of David’s sentiment as Kamla and her ministers strut about the national (and the international) stage; seeming adrift with nothing serious to offer the country. One looks for direction but it isn’t there. Apart from occasional acts of generosity (a few thousands here and a few thousands there), the question remains: where are they taking the nation?
They couldn’t wait to see the back of Manning and the PNM. They accused them of hubris, arrogance and squander mania. But what can we expect of the PP (People’s Partnership)? They committed themselves to a “Memorandum of Understanding” but, apart from agreeing to agree, no one knows the substance of that agreement.
After three months vanity (the quality of being empty and valueless) has replaced hubris (exaggerated pride); ordinariness (deficiency in quality) has replaced arrogance (an attitude of superiority); and flippant prolificacy (careless spending) has replaced squander mania (spending foolishly). This leads us to ask: where’s the beef; what’s the plan?
When Kamla took office she blanked Hilary Clinton, the US secretary of state, because she had not been sworn in yet. Then she went to Jamaica, partied a bit and then went off to Miami to see her sister; just another leisurely week in the life of a prime minister. Then, she really could not miss the pageantry of the India Day Parade in New York.
For good measure she took along one quarter of her Cabinet (six ministers) with her. Nothing like bonding in the Apple and clubbing until dawn. I am sure that the Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs met with the youths of New York. It is a large borough and contains many youths. The Minister of Arts and Multiculturalism was certainly in his glee. New York is the Mecca of the arts so he made many profitable contacts. I dreamt that Mike Bloomberg, New York’s mayor, walked our Minister of Public Finance through NYC’s $63 million budget and told him about the painful cuts the city has to make. Since the PP is preparing its budget it was a sensible thing to do.
This mission also had untold value for the other ministers as well. Being in New York City, during in the summer, is really the most propitious place to be and best possible way for our newly elected officials to spend our money.
Needless to say, when in Rome one always does what the Romans do. So, it was not a surprise that the delegation met with the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO) and the Federation of Indian Associations (FIA). With a straight face Deosaran Bisnath, president of the Trinidad section of GOPIO, reminded us that Kamla’s visit “could possibly open the gates to stronger bilateral ties between the tiny island nation and the eastern giant” which leaves this viewer to ask: why should Kamla go to New York to visit GOPIO to strengthen bilateral ties when she unceremoniously blanked Hilary at a forum that is designed to do exactly that.
Her visit to FIA was just as successful. Biserath informs us that it is “one of the largest and most powerful umbrella organizations in the Indian community” from which I am sure untold blessing would flow. Bisnath also reprimands us. He asserted that “too many of us see ‘Indian’ and ‘African’ in T&T context-loaded with connotations of race and tribal politics; the world out there does not. Trade and investments flow to the best locations, regardless of race, nationality, etc.” Kamla, he says, “grasped the opportunity to showcase T&T before such a large and important audience, internationally, and not just Indians.”
And so we are faced with a paradox. An organization this is dedicated to protecting the rights of Indians tells us that we must not talk about Indians and Africans any longer and an economy that was down in the dumps under the PNM is now one of the “better locations” into which trade can flow, regardless of race.
Two years after the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) won the Federal Elections in 1958 Badase Sagan Maraj, the leader of the DLP, was badly beaten in the 1961 election which led eventually to his political demise.
Kamla has been in office for three months but she has spent three weeks or a quarter of her term on vacation. Next month she goes to the United Nations to speak about the intricacies of a government that she hardly knows. One really wonders how long can this continue; when in fact she will get down to do the people’s business. It is nice to travel and vacate. It is equally as important to do the people’s work which is what she should be dedicating her next months in office to.
But we need not worry. Preacher David was right after all. He said: “The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.”
My mother was just as wise as David. She use to say, “what you sow is what you reap.” It might be too early, but let us hope that the people don’t come to the realization that PP might just want to have a longer, more permanent vacation.
“Go ‘long Madame Prime Minister!” Remember that what’s good for the goose is also good for the gander. There is no good reason why they should support in one what they despised in another.
Mr Cudjoe, in all my life I have never heard you contribute anything positive to society, honestly. It seems you are not about to start now. Your comments are always ethnocentric, and therefore have no merit to objective-thinking young people. You mention your Yoruba ancestry, but you quote the rather recent and barbaric dogma of the bible, instead of the customs and values of the cultures of ancient Africa that have been around for millennia. Do you know that this just makes you seem like a lost, spoiled child – just blaming another, and seeking comfort and support from still others whom you think may share the same ‘injustices’. Any argument based on racial or religious aspersion is weak, thin and biased. As for your ignorance of the Gita, before using it disparagingly in your argument, as a so-called intellectual, you should have taken the time to find out about it, read the whole thing if necessary. But then, if you haven’t bothered to read about your own history, I guess there’s not much chance of that. Again, a cowardly, polemic, inciting piece of rant from someone who should know better, or just go away.
I could not agree with you more1
Mr. Cudgoe seems to have thrown in the part about the Gita to create a sibtle racial/religious bias as he is accustomed to.
He has to wake up and smell the coffee! We Trinis are no longer going to be fooled by such fools who believe in the divide and rule principle.
Just look at the make-up of the Peoples’ Partnership and their followers… people of the rainbow!
Cudgoe will find out quite soon that the SUN will continue to dise everyday and it will also be getting hotter!
Denise, you might want to take a read on this article..
Ah know those Afro… Excuse me, AfriKan-Send tricks here who were boasting about their ‘PP’, are the ones feeling SCREWED now..
By Reginald Dumas:
My second recent example of avoidable missteps was the Prime Minister’s latest visit to the US, accompanied by what appeared an unnecessary plethora of Ministers and advisers. It was however her published programme that took me aback, not only for its apparent detachment from the developmental concerns of Trinidad and Tobago but also for its emphasis on the Indian connection.
The Prime Minister never tires of telling us that her policy is one of inclusiveness. However, an official trip paid for by all the taxpayers of this country cannot reasonably focus on one element of our society and its co-ethnics from the ancestral motherland. Such an approach flies in the face of inclusiveness and good governance. How, for instance, can one explain an interview with India TV network while the Caribbean media are ignored? If the business meeting at the Marriott Marquis was about possible investment in Trinidad and Tobago, who were the potential investors? Why was the Minister of Trade and Industry not present?
All this comes after the interview given a few months ago by Winston Dookeran to the publication India Empire. In it Mr Dookeran said: “The time has come when the Indian community (in T&T and the rest of the Caribbean) must now shape the society for all so that they can offer…leadership.” I called on Mr Dookeran to clarify what he meant; no word has been forthcoming. I make another call.
[Several people are now beginning to feel uneasy; they feel that a number of words and actions from some members of the government and its followers are suggesting an “is-we-time-again” mentality.] I even had a complaint a few days ago from Parlatuvier. Not change, many increasingly think, but exchange for the worse, because it would be an unfortunate aggravation of the society’s already fissiparous tendencies.
The government has to be careful. Many people supported the People’s Partnership last May mostly out of disenchantment with the PNM and its uncaring leader, not because they were particularly enthused over the profile of the Partnership. As someone said to me the other day: “We have only lent the Partnership our votes, you know.”
That loan can be called in.
• Reginald Dumas is a former diplomat and head of the Public Service
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/commentaries/Careful__Government__careful-101136444.html
While there is some sense in this, it doesn’t reach the high standards earlier set by this scholar.
It reads like payback for PM Kamla, the keynote speaker who without explanation or apology, blanked Dr. Cudjoe’s Emancipation Day dinner, yet travelled thousands of kilometres to meet with Indians in New York.
Dr. Cudjoe is one person of African heritage in T&T who is unafraid to speak his mind in defence of Black people; unlike International Cultural Ambassador Makandal (whatever the hell this title means), who seems to have fallen on his own Daaga, and Jack Warner, who it is one day hoped will love and respect Black people the same way he loves and respects Indians.
Dr. Cudjoe might have been more advised to address this GOPIO organization that is the leading edge of an India, once colonized, but now, having nucleur weapons seems bent on replacing the US as the next global imperial power, not only in the Caribbean, which is small potatoes, but even more in sub-Saharan Africa, the big kahuna.
Stay tuned, for not only did the sun also rise on these empires, but at least on one of them, Gt. Britain, the boast was that the sun never set, probably because God didn’t trust them in the dark.
So, will GOPIO succeed where Rome, Britain and the USA failed?
Why would Kamla ‘hardly know’ the gov’t after her long years in a regional corporation & even longer years in & out of gov’t in parliament?
Why didn’t Cudjoe tell Manning that it was ‘important to do the people’s work’ over the long years of PNM rule? Is Cudjoe disappointed that Kamla didn’t visit the offices of his ‘national association for the empowerment of african people’? By the way, where are these offices?
Additionally, is Cudjoe still travelling 1st class on T&T tax dollars courtesy our central bank? Does he still have a say in our money matters at Central Bank?
Additionally, is Cudjoe still travelling 1st class on T&T tax dollars courtesy our central bank? Does he still have a say in our money matters at Central Bank?–Emen.
How much tax is Cudjoe paying to the Americans? My understanding is uncle sam demands money from all off-shore activities. And why is he allowed to criticize our current PM and still work in the Central Bank. Who is renewing his contract here? Further, I think that Cudjoe is unable to sleep these days. The Indo population is over 50,000 more than the Afro population in Trinidad. With Indos living in Canada and U.S. poised to return home and contribute to the nation, the goodly African American Dr. could be non too please. The PNM plan of kidnappings, a smiling Manning said it was targetted, failed.(He knew) With all kind of PNM machinations to reduce the Indo population, more housing for tribals etc. ALL failure and now the goodly prof can do us all a favour and return to his part time job in the States..Nuff said.
Cudjoe must realise tribals are in the minority. The tribalistic clan in T&T are a dying breed. From gang shootings, to AIDS in Carnival, tribal are falling faster than a bullet. That is the reality in sweet T&T. Here is how tribals think “Kamla has been in office for three months but she has spent three weeks or a quarter of her term on vacation”. That is a wrong perception. The Prime Minister met her Caribbean counterparts, tribals think she on vacation. She met Trinis in NY, tribals say she gone to party and on vacation. This is the confused world of tribalism. Thankful their day is quickly coming to an end. Sweet T&T is rising out of the tribal blight…. and non too sooner.
Are you saying it is a battle between the tribals and the arkaatis?
Just saying he needs to know his place in the grand scheme of things. You don’t insult the majority. You respect the majority because they are paying more taxes.
What majority? You really think that given what this Hindu government has so far projected, and the rise in Indian triumphalism and explicit racism since elections that the number of Black Trinbagonians who voted for the PP, and without whom the outcome would have been vastly different, would vote PP again, today? If you do you’re really more dUNCy than most!
As far as I know we are not living in India and the PP is not a Hindu government. However, we must ascribe to the current reality, that people who think like you and Cudjoe are in the minority. The majority are Afros, Indos, and others who love Trinidad more than the tribals whose view is that the only party worthy to govern this nation must be the PNM. The tribalist tone of Cudjoe’s writing is morally and ethically wrong. If he was white and writing against black people like he is writing against other ethnicities, he would be deemed racist and shut down. However, because he is black he given a pass by the media.
Dr. Cudjoe, as usual your comments lack any sense. I rememebr that Dr. Williams made his trip to African to visit some Afdrican nations. He took his minsters and Desperadoes Steelband with calypsonians and other cultural entities. I remember Mr. manning taking his trips abroad. Mr. Chambers was not so fortunate because he did not last that long. Mr. Robinson might have made a visit abroad, I am not sure. My point Dr. Cudjoe is that every prime minister or leader for that matter makes trips outside their countries. So, I don’t get your point about the prime minister’s trip to New York.
As usaul Dr. Cudjoe you are being an obstructionist and just babbling to score points against the People’s Partnership, particularly against the prime minister. But, Dr. Cudjoe whether you like it or not, the PP is in government now and the PNM is a dead party. Nothing you or Dr. Rowley do can resurrect the PNM in this life time. So go on Dr. Cudjoe and exercise your democratic right to babble but our country is in deep peril due to your party (PNM) mismangement and corruption. You may want to reconsider your babbling and render some new ideas as to how we can get our country back on track as the nation faces unsurmountable challenges to rebuild our country.
Ethnocentrism is defined as the preferential feeling people have for their own groups. Will the non-ethnocentric people in Trinidad and Tobago please stand up? I see my friend David Bratt making a half stand. Everybody else is seated.
To acuse Dr. Cudjoe of being ethnocentric is to say he prefers his mother over somebody else’s mother who is not known to him.
Meanwhile guys, the verbal masturbation goes on. How many of you have volunteered recently to do one day’s counselling or other worthy project for the poor youth anywhere in Trinidad and Tobago? I am not surprised that no hands went up. Yet when I volunteered to come down from the USA and run a reading project for LAventille youth, (See a Small Beginning, Sept 2006 at this site), every Tom, Dick, HArry, the Pig and his wife said people in TnT
living there, could do this. Check the comments.
This is what I mean when I say we want it so. We criticise those who do, and we do nothing in place of what they would have done.Light a candle, instead of just cursing the darkness.
Theories do not feed children or teach them to read. In remote PAkistan, desperate people are pointing out what I have always said. They are taking help from the TAliban.Rice and dry clothes, are rice and dry clothes.
The youth turn to situtions that give them a sense of validation. They have always done so, but now, throwing stones hae given way to guns. Nothing else has changed.
“Ethnocentrism is defined as the preferential feeling people have for their own groups…..To acuse Dr. Cudjoe of being ethnocentric is to say he prefers his mother over somebody else’s mother who is not known to him.” Linda.
I am to assume you are saying that white folks were justified in the U.S. pre 1960s when they had “white’s only” signs painted on doors of restaurants, washroom etc because they were being like Cudjoe lookin after their mumma?
According to your logic Martin Luther King was wrong when he said “judge not a man by the color of his skin but by the content of his character”. If all you are seeing in the grand scheme of things is people’s ethnicity then you are the one having the problem. Black folks like you set black people back several generations. In your postings you blamed colonialism, the government, historical wrongs for the plight of black people. But never for one minute say that they should take responsibility for their actions.
You say Morgan and Warner are doing black people a disservice. Where does it end with your tribalistic third world narrative. It is this type of ideology that sees black Africans silent in the suffering of Zimbabwe. Your mulatoo DNA reveals a woman who is emotionally distant to reality. Please return to reality. We all have red blood, a body and life given to us by our Creator. You are saying the Creator made a mistake by creating other races. How dare you!!!
Ms Edwards, you should have been a politician. As anyone who reads newspapers in TnT knows, you’ve got a lot to say about things, and you have got a talent for spin. I’ve encountered before, your ‘technique’ of manipulating snatches of statistics, or statements without the benefit of context, attempting to compare different societies with different demographics and different population size as if they were the same. It’s a pity that now not only you, but many other people have access to information like never before, so now you have to be a bit more careful with all due respect.
Also, yes, everyone’s a little bit racist, but Dr Cudjoe is extremely racist, and in fact racist and nothing but racist. However, more and more people of intellect (such as Dr Cudjoe claims to be) and dignity are realising that racial division while it may still influence emotion at present, has no basis in biology and should play no part in a world society that is interacting increasingly. Climb up the evolutionary ladder a little, won’t you?
I don’t know who you picture in that imaginary room there, but your conclusions say much more about you than the imaginary participants. And again, what a piece of spin!
I find Dr. Cudjoe’s article to be laughable because of his feigned naievet concerning trips made by a leader of government. I did not think, however, that the disparaging personal attacks against him (“tribal”) were warranted.
Someone also tried to give the word “ethnocentrism” positive attributes, contrary to all of the sociological literature I have ever read. Ethnocentrism has been deemed a bias which plagues research and causes erroneous conclusions. It has been a warning to social scientists to encourage them to be more objective in their hypotheses, analyses, research designs, and conclusions they put forth. The analogy, notwithstanding, “ethnocentrism” has nothing to do with preferring someone else’s mother over one’s own.
The bottom line is, that it is not good to be etnocentric because this causes one to narrowly view the world, only from one’s eyes, and not from a perspective which accounts for the historical, cultural, social, anthropological and other differences and variations that have necessarily taken place among the peoples of the world. The tendency among ethnocentrics is to believe that everything they stand for is better or superior, with the result that everything else is bad or inferior.
Certainly, this is not the type of behavior one expects from someone carrying a title of “Dr.” But, I am sure, beyond even a reasonable doubt, that Cudjoe’s role is decisively divisive and by design. I firmly beleive that he is in the pockets of the financial giants in the USA. I am not surprised, therefore, that he had a seat on the board of the Central Bank of TNT, no doubt granted after the lobbying efforts and incentives given by his backers.
The second two paragraphs of your comment, described the European, and his “White Supremacy” agenda, to the letter. Nuff said.
The article by the professor reflects hue of disenchantment of Kamla and the PP government. The submission lacks substance and at instances become provocative to incite debate that can result in making emotive but regrettable statements. Time is a great healer, let’s give the present government a chance to govern and show it’s worth. The damning articles of recent show a level of impatience from our citizens and some academics planting seeds of political discord. For the writer to quote about vanity from the bible shows a self inflicting quality that he has inadvertently revealed about himself.
All this scholarly analysis back and forth is quite interesting but my own view is that the PPP Government seemed to have asked to be Government without a game plan. It is quite apparent that they are running around like headless chickens – whether it be crime, flpoding, foreign policy, trade, you name it. It seems to me that that is the bottom line of Dr. Cudjoe’s article and in my view HE IS correct! And those people who are talking about majority this that and the other, you will do well to keep in mind that many black and African people in particular supported this people partnership and a lot of them are still PNM. And as for foreign travels with cultural entourage, commented on by some bloggers, no PNM head of Gov’t did that so early in his Gov’t especially while the country is under trauma. The whole damn thing is like Animal Farm with Warner playing the character Snowball but the PP crew, like Manning, will surely come to the realisation that time is longer than twine.
Dr Cudjoe ‘commentary’ is so lacking intellect of any sort. A dissertation like this should be removed from the site as it will be a carnal sin to expose other people to the rubbish this Yoruba/Christian ‘Blacks Only’ so called ‘writer’ has been allowed to publish.
Please do the right thing and remove this commentary from your site.
I agree totally. For the life of me I can’t see why the press gives Dr Cudjoe the time of day. He is simply a whiner, whining about everything and everyone who isn’t African, most of whom by the way are not asking him to whine on their behalf. He is not learned, as one of his devoted supporters remarked in another thread, he is self-indoctrinated. Like a religious fanatic, gathering only points that support his warped point of view. He has got to the point where he believes his own propaganda, and the press in their eternal quest for sensationalism is partly responsible for this. This article like so many others he has ‘written’ is worthless.
Question for Dr. Cudjoe. In your piece you referenced your acquanitance with the Bible; on what grounds do you attribute the authorship of the book of Ecclesiastes to David?
Selwyn boy like you struck a raw nerve with this piece and I think it’s because of the truth in what you have written concerning this inept, clueless PP government and its sycophantic followers.
Don’t be silly.
There must be something I am doing that get’s Khem’s juices flowing. Nowhere did I say that ethncentrism is right.I simly said what it is.Ethnocentrism is part of nationalism, in every country other than in the Americas, because we are so mixed up. I had this debate with my publishers when I was working on my second novel”The Sun, The Snow, The SEa.’ In it, the Canadian mother of the hero dreams of blonde gran-daughters with pigtails flying in the wind.Her son is about to marry a brown girl of the islands. She is reluctant to give up the idea of a blonde grand-daughter. She had dreamed of her since she was an only child who had one son. In my view, she was not a racist. She simply preferred to think of all in her family looking the way she looked, more or less. She was at the time,married to a brown Bangledeshi man of mixed Asian heritage, with whom she had no children. Ethnocentricism can become racism when people are confronted with other cultures that they are not willing to try to understand. Columbus gave us the idea that the stranger in the New World was to be met by guns-the stranger is the enemy. People faced with disastrs feed their own children first, then look to other people’s children. It is quite normal to want to protect and defend one’s gene pool. To assume that all ethnocentrism is bad is not to be aware of history, and to choose selected instances to try to pummel someone whom you dislike in the first case.One a recent trip I heard a white American woman say “Damn those stupid Ethiopians” because her bag was sent to Europe in the luggage transfer, instead of to Washingotn DC. Now, I saw that as a racist statement, because if her luggage had been lost by American Airlines, or Continental, she would not have condemned the entire country over one bag. That woman whom I know, claims two PHD’s but in my new estimation, she is a fool. Luggage gets lost all the time. There is no specific charactristic of Ethiopians that makes them prone to lose luggage. She was therefore ascribing to the land of the Queen of Sheba, and of our 3 million year old ancestor Lucy, all the negative feelings she had as her bag went astray. If you listen to such people talk, they always have a negative story to tell about people who are not like tham. That is when you re-evaluate your reltionship to them. To be pro something is not necerily to be anti-anything. So Khem, leave my gene pool and DNA alone.I did not clone myself. Just do not attribute my higher thinking to my European ancestors, OK?
I hope these examples would help to clear the muddied thinking of those who respond emotionally to something, without proper reason. By the time a child is twelve, he or she should be able to reason out a situation, based on higher thinking and experience, but I well know that thinking is not a skill that is cutivated in our TnT schools.The thinkers are the trouble makers.They are usually se outside to clean the yard because the teacher cannot deal with them.
Good question Grugru as all my studies indicate that the book of Ecclesiastes was attributed to Solomon, apart from this obvious error I sense that since May 24 if your opinion is not favourable to the PP you are castigated and denigrated in this forum. Somehow I always thought that in a democracy conflicting opinions were healthy and encouraged for in a true democracy all manner of public policy should be vigorously debated and challenged whether in Parliment or on the street. What form of democracy is this where every voice of dissent is silenced, who then would be the check and balance for this government, I do not always agree with Dr. Cudjoe’s analysis but at the same time I do not question his intellect or his scholarship as a great amount of what he is saying rings true as all we have seen from this government so far is that they are all pulling in different directions, Jack is making public pronouncements without cabinet discussion, collaboration or approval, Anand the same thing this is government by hace-kara the right hand do not seem to know what the left hand is doing there seems to be no plan or purpose, and that is not change we can believe in.
Peace
Is it me or does T&T’s new Top Cop look like the Cop from Terminator II? The nation’s gone retro; back to the days of the Overseer. Will he be bringing his own mount I wonder?
The Book of Ecclesiastes begins with: The words of the Preacher, the Son of David, King of Jerusalem” King James Version.
The Songs of Solomon, following right after begins:” The Song of Songs, which is Solomons. Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for thy loe is better than wine.”
Proverbs,which comes between the Psalms and Ecclesiastes, begins: The Proverbs of Solomon, the Son of David, King of Israel.
It seems therefore that since Solomon was called the Wise, and no The Preacher, and David’s signature is not at the bottom of that chapter, you MAn-rats have something else to fight about for a long time. Linguists might note that the cadences of one resembles another. Work it out fellas.God be praised. Now,let me go to my poetry workshop.
“For the life of me I can’t see why the press gives Dr Cudjoe the time of day.”That is Trini London ,because unlike your beloved Britannia, we are a real democracy- and not due to events that occurred on May 24th , I must remind you. In our neck of the woods , a guy with two years to go in office , can still call an early election, even if he knows the whole country despise him. In your part of the world, if you criticize the Queen ,and her dysfunctional family , you’ll be chopped down to size ,like the beautiful Diana, and her Egyptian Muslim boyfriend, get it?
In our part of the world someone can attack our Parliament , shoot the PM in the feet, and live to tell- because of the actions of your conniving Law Lords ,of the Privy Council-including all his political and business pals who were spared on that fateful day because they got a heads up as to plans. In your neck of the woods , a stupid immoral politician com PM , can kiss the butts of his Yankee counterparts in supporting illegitimate wars, in the Arab /Muslim world , then soon after leaving office ,come to the region under false pretenses as a Peace Envoy, while still attempting to get his share of the economic spoils .
Dr Cudjoe is accorded freedom to speak his mind freely , because that’s what Ag Annan, money grabbing carpetbagger Seethal, Sat, and all dem media experts , now turn PP politicians were allowed to do for the past 15 years the ULF/UNC languished on the fringes of power.
In the absence of a strong Opposition – still reeling from recent defeats, and attempting to rebuild under new leadership, it is imperative that there are strong , and sometimes contentious voices be available ,that can articulate the concerns of the day, as opposed to being cheer leaders , as played out within the traditional media, and gloating neo-tribal fan base.
Most importantly , he is allowed the freedom to speak , as it gives the government in power today , someone to point to , so as to show that they too adhere to principles of freedom of speech , as laid down under our Constitution.
Just live and let live guys.It’s the decent thing to do.
“Dr Cudjoe is accorded freedom to speak his mind freely’- Neal.
We are all accorded the freedom to speak our mind. However free speech is a priviledge not a right. That means we must take into consideration the tone, nature and subject of our speech. Having spoken in public forums for many years, I consider it a priviledge to speak to people. If they are willing to listen to me, then I consider it to be a great honor.
My first rule is whatever I say is it beneficial for my audience, can they take away something that would improve their lives. The second rule is am I being bias in my language or am I seeking to understand the other person perspective. The third rule is who is this audience. Am I speaking to a select set of people or to a broad audience. The fouth rule is what I have to say does it mean anything to anyone.
Freedom is not the freedom to say whatever you want because the fifth ammendment allows you to do so. Freedom comes with serious responsibilities. Because our words can judge us, condemn us or liberate us. I count it a priviledge to live in a democracy, but what if we were to use our freedoms to demonize others, to incite hatred, to promote discord, do we really understand the word democracy. In a multi ethnic society I do not have the freedom to belittle people of other ethnic persuasion. I do not have the freedom to insult the majority at every turn. I do not have the freedom to sow social discord……
I only have the freedom to assist all to lead a better life in my words and deeds.
Hurrah for Neal!
I’m with Neal on this one:
“In the absence of a strong Opposition – still reeling from recent defeats, and attempting to rebuild under new leadership, it is imperative that there are strong , and sometimes contentious voices be available ,that can articulate the concerns of the day, as opposed to being cheer leaders , as played out within the traditional media, and gloating neo-tribal fan base.”
The “Friends of the PP’ fan club can suck it up and get used to it as your political angst will be multiplied ten-fold in the coming years, if the PP lasts that long, that is.
“the Trinidad section of GOPIO, reminded us that Kamla’s visit “could possibly open the gates to stronger bilateral ties between the tiny island nation and the eastern giant”
I think bilateral ties between India and T&T will be good for T&T. India have 1 billion plus Indians while T&T is severly underpopulated. It would be nice to develop an IT sector in Wallerfield similar to Silicon Valley or Bangalore and bring in Indian scientist to work there. The Americans have harnest Indian know how to develop their economy, I see no reason why T&T should not do the same. I am sure Dr.Cudjoe will be in a strong advocate for this… After all when the oil runs dry we will certainly need a strong diversify economy to take care of these expensive social programs.
India can assist T&T with health care, no doubt, especially since the average age in T&T and in the Caribbean is 75, and in India is 59.
Some of you need to read more, or if you do, to either better understand wwhet you read, or read beetter material.
At least, Indians coming here will live longer, especially if they are Dalits, the Black people who are indigenous to India, and from among whom, before 3000 BC the Ganges river, was named after an Ethiopian general.
Good point, but I have to disagree with you on the age thing. I know many Indians from India who lives up to a ripe old age. And yes India can contribute well in areas of medicine, agriculture and IT. In medicine India have one of the largest pharmaceutical companies. In Agriculture India started the green revolution and develop hybrids, irrigations systems that saw an abundance of food. In technolgy they have excelled and that is why the Americans are anxious to bring them into the States.
I am not saying to do what the PNM did when they allowed in 200,000 Grenadians and up to 80,000 islanders. All I am saying about 200 Scientist in the various fields will go a long way to making T&T ecnomy more diversified.
Dr. Cudjoe recognised India as the Eastern Giant for the same reasons I mentioned.
THIS DESERVES A READ.
A tall tale
THE HUMAN ELEMENT – SUZANNE MILLS Sunday, August 22 2010
His tone laced with menace, he challenged, “This Government won’t last!”
I itched to inquire why it behooved him to bore me with unrevealing political chitchat, but really, I knew the reason: over the past nine years I had been less than coy when expressing my sentiments about the Patrick Manning PNM. So he assumed the People’s Partnership was my government.
Ignoring his illogic, I gave him something somewhat more politically generic to ponder.
“Which Government lasts?” I asked. “Is democracy not about the freedom and the power of the people to institute, deliver change?”
“This Government won’t last,” he threatened anew.
I looked at this imp of a human being, at this most disloyal of servants of the public everyday and of the government of the day and I could see that with hatred hounding the soul, sabotage brewed in his brain. He’d use every bureacratic opportunity that presented itself to foil the PP, never pausing to consider that in seeking the destruction of this regime- not his, he felt- he was undermining his democracy, disregarding the vote of his fellow citizens.
In his view, his vote, not theirs, being a PNM vote, was worthy of supreme respect. He would never tolerate a UNC or COP civil servant ‘dissing’ his regime, entrapping and entangling it in red tape. Indeed, they would never dare.
No one else was fit to run TT but the PNM. What had the PNM done for this thus uncivil of servants that the PP or any other government could not? He had never given it a thought, if he had one. This was PNM country. It had never been anything else.
Is TT PNM land? Or is this political folklore concocted and propagated to serve the self serving interests of a dependent few? Is it not slave legend?
It is indeed, pure myth. The results of successive local and general elections since the death of Dr Eric Williams, founding father, show no evidentiary basis for this most nationalistic of affirmations. TT’s youth is two generations removed from Williams and many of the ‘PNM till ah dead’ people are dead. Of late, electoral patterns indicate that the majority of citizens will vote as they darn well please when it darn well suits them.
Why want TT to be PNM country? Is it anyone’s but ours, the people of Trinidad and Tobago? Certainly it is not in TT’s interest to ever be PNM country again, definitely never this effete PNM, which has not been a political force, but a dependency of the Treasury. In 1995, PNM Prime Minister Patrick Manning, after a snap election, suffered his first defeat to the UNC. Fear, despair, tears in the PNM. “Oh gosh, what Patrick do? I lose my board appointment. I lose my title. I lose my perks. I lose my URP. Oh lord, Indians in power. No more calypso.”
No lamentation for nation, no “What a pity we are out of power and we will not be able to implement our programmes, fulfill our promises to the people.”
It was all and only talk about what the PNMites had been obliged to forfeit years before it was necessary for them to disengage their teeth from the Treasury, coincidentally, a 1990’s Treasury, miniscule in comparison to the 21st century trough from which this 2001 to 2010 PNM fed in unparalled frenzy.
Patrick Manning is not the only one who must say where de billions gone. Hundreds, no thousands of our PNM brothers and sisters, know very well where our money is.
More dependence not governance is what the menacing civil servant desired. After years of patronage, after years of inculcation with the house slave mindset, the single idea of self sufficiency, the mere thought of existence without a prepotent massa figure terrified him. That’s why he did not want this Government to last. He wanted back in his warm, safe bed in the big house.
No doubt, the PP would not endure. No Government did. But should it die an early death on the blade of the public servant’s papercutter or under the burden of his paperweight? A matter for his conscience, if he had one.
On the demise of this administration, another would take its place. That was the very nature of democracy. The future regime could very well be a renewed PNM, but TT would never again be PNM country.
The uncertain notion that Trinidad and Tobago is PNM land might have once served a certain purpose somewhere in the last century and millennium, but the term, as we understand it, employed in 2010, damages our national psyche, impedes our development, stunts our growth.
It is time to put the fable to rest. We need a new political fairy tale.
Much ado about nothing T-Man , and not even worth a read. The wisest lady that ever lived , used to comment about ‘ 6 0f 1 , and half a dozen of the other.’ In case the Maple syrup make you forget , it simply means in this case , that the PNM and ULF/ UNC/ COP/ PP, are no different,and so the end result for the people of T&T will be the same. This includes subpar government, nepotism, cronyism, blatant corruption, and clueless elitist , neo – colonials, that would continually neglect the masses of people at the bottom of the soci economic barrel.
In the interim , we are going to have a few pseudo intellection, and die hard tribalist fans like yourself, khem , and who so ever you wish to throw into the brew, arguing daily in pointless discussions about race, and the glory of motherland opaque culture.
What a pathetic joke!
Wish you well nevertheless.
that the PNM and ULF/ UNC/ COP/ PP, are no different,and so the end result for the people of T&T will be the same. -Neal.
Nealos I sense your disappointment with the political system. If politics is the only overarching factoid in your life you will be disappointed. Politicians are like dirty diapers you have to change them often. I would advise you to spend some time just enjoying life minus politics. Politics does not control my life God does. And I don’t look up to politicians or expect too much from them. However, there are good, honest and just politicians whose aim is to serve the nation. We must not be so inclined to throw the baby out with the bath water.
In all nations politicians are known to behave the same way, say one thing and do another. Sometimes it is the media, people and family that create this. A politician need to have a strong support base and also be surrounded with people who can tell them the truth. Accountability is an imperative for good governance.
MEMO TO Trinicenter.com moderators: To cut down on idiocy in these posts, could you please require posters to use their full names and not some acronym or tag? I suspect if they had to use their real names(for first post require an address also, which of course will not be posted)they would,perhaps be less likely to talk such utter rot. Then too,it may cut down on racist comments that are unfounded.
Just a thought, not meaning to scare anyone.
I really appreciate inteligent discussion, but standards here seem to be falling. If writers must put their full names, like Rafeek Shah, Kwame Nantambu and Selwyn Cudjoe, I propose that those proposing to tear down their comments should also be made to stand in their own names.
“MEMO TO Trinicenter.com moderators: To cut down on idiocy in these posts, could you please require posters to use their full names and not some acronym or tag?” LOL!
How do you suppose that Trinicenter.com moderators do that? Now they are supposed to validate the identities of everyone to make you feel more comfortable? Who has to use their real name to sign up for an email address? Who is to say what name is real and what name is not?
This is becoming a bad joke.
Ms Edwards, with all due respect, you and all these other people you mention have something to sell. We, the ordinary people, don’t. Nevertheless, we are entitled to say whatever we want, just like you and Neal. Again, you always have a lot to say about a lot of issues, and I can tell you, you have spouted a lot of nonsense in your time, like this comment for instance. Stay off the internet if you can’t deal with it, with all due respect of course.
How ironic Ms. Edwards.You use your real name, but it does not stop you from breathing venemous fire which could easily be construed as racist diatribe, You grasp every opportunity to spread your distorted , psychologically intense versions of ethnic and racial relations on this website.Your view of the universe is based on one lengthy self gratifying ego trip.Have you considered that your interpretations might be outdated,biased and dripping with weak patronization.Your comments on this website ascribe you to a generation of PNMites who believed that the “coolies” of T&T were of some lesser class and undeserving of leadership roles in a country to which they belonged.You are in a new age Ms. Edwards. The sons and daughters of those whom you considered lesser than you and your compratiots are emerging. We will no longer sit on the sidelines.
TMan you not easy. Somebody needed to put this elderly Linda in her place and you did a really good job of it. People are allowed to give their opinion on any topic. I know I try my best to respectful, but you cannot give respect where it is not earned. And you right about her and her kind belonging to most racist generation T&T ever saw. It was them who used to say to my parents “come back tomorrow” when they went for a government document. It was them who believe that the coolies should stay away from any positions of power. It was them who attack Indo families at election tim. As Gandhi said “we must stick it to them”.
Tman and Khem, continue hiding behind tags until your real names and crimes are revealed. You cannot put anyone ‘in her place”, if she already knows it, and is there. “Construed as racial” is so accurate, because it is our intrepretation that is racial, not what is said.I have never called anyone a racial name, nor implied that their gnerations were of inferior stock. Een when I put down Pope Benedict’s comment against Muslims, I dealt with the facts,and the possible consequences of his comments.
I am careful of the stuff on which my mind and spirit feed. It is not my fault if some people’s minds feed on garbage continuously, while they hide behind psydonymns. Sometimes, because they feed on trash, the whole world looks to them,like a garbage dump. A pity.
Ok Guys ,quit whining , and go easy on our dear friend Madam L. Here is my rule of thumb for driving on this here information , and dealing simultaneously with the important issue of self love , as well as often contentious matters of cultural , and racial/ ethnic pride. Sometimes emotions, and a lil bit of overzealousness , gets the better of us mortal beings, and forces us to say thing we may feel, put wish we could recall, because it rubs others the wrong way, yes?
I could handle the passions, as long as I sense that my fellow nationals are making attempts at being respectful of the other- which is not too difficult to decipher for us who did spend at least a day over grade school.
In addition, I am a fervent nationalist through and through, and so can deal with all the side jabs , once I sense that a person’s heart is in the development of this country of ours, and all it’s diverse people.
I think some of the accusations you are throwing at Madam L , might be a bit unfounded. From my observation ,she is a really a confident , and progressive globalist, that would even put her life on the line to defend her respective country’s honor , as well as support her acquired sound principles.
In addition, I think she has taken great pains to show why racism ,blatant discrimination , and the myriad of destructive prejudices that plagues some nations , is not a prudent practice especially in our neck of the woods,Trinidad , as ‘you guys,’ are all related in some fashion.
Now as for predominant Mandingo folks of the island ward Chachalaca Country ,Tobago? In the words of the smartest woman that ever lived, that might be “a horse of a different color.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzFah4EthZ0
Promise me something guys to never loose that globally recognize
Trin habit of always having a sense of humor , ehhh?
If not, we might end up like ‘dem’ nut case, Yardee /Jamaicans ,with their 5000 murders per year, yet gleeful about some stupid Newsweek article that erroneously claimed that the vicious crime haven ,is the greatest island in the entire Caribbean.
http://bvinews.com/newsweek-jamaica-best-place-in-caribbean/
Seriously, what’s my end game for all this defense of the good Madame L, you crafty guys might be asking? Well, we need strong women unafraid to take a stand, from Kamla to Madam L, to future ‘adults’ cross country runners , eh T-Man? In my ethnographic study observations, I’ve notice that many men – of course , excluding good guys like T-Man, Baseo, Saddam ,and khem- who love to see women thrive , but only when it’s one of their own.
We love you Madam L. Keep the faith , and continue educating us where necessary. Now let me finish off chapter 3 of my future bestselling memoir of my late loving Grandmother , in Socrates kindred sister, aka , ‘the wisest woman that ever lived.’
Madam L , I will be tapping you as a possible editor. As the wisest lady that ever live , always reminded me ,and perhaps indirectly Auntie Kamla , “one hand can’t clap.”
Love country, over gender.
We love you Madam L. Keep the faith–Neal.
Nealos my friend a blog is not about love and who you love. I enjoy your tribalistic love rant but please spear us. A blog is to express an opinion on a given topic, to articulate that opinion in such a way so that others are edified. I at times agree with Madame L and at times I disagree. It is my opinion and my opinion to share with others should I chose to do so. It has nothing to do with love or no love.
Do I care about what she has to say, of course or I would choose not to respond to what she or you are saying. I prefer to write the way I do and she prefers to write the way she does because she is a book writer and this spring board is an avenue for her to do so self disclosure so that she can sell some books. I have nothing to sell and therefore nothing to disclose. NUFF SAID
I wish you guys could look up pieces I wrote for the Express as a commentator between 1984 and 87. I was writing to change the society, and I believe I did.Before I published my first novel, I organized a series of Lunchtime lectures for women, at the Town Hall in Port-of-Spain, my purpose was to educate women in the only time family and employer let them have to themselves- their lunch hour.I spoke to women’s groups all over the island. San Fernando, angre Grande,Chaguans.
Education is my thing. That’s why I write. I do not think I have sold a single book because of my comments on this page.My politial writing in the newspapers and this forum, is nothing like my creative work.I do not expect that you would know the difference.
I have been in service to my country since it became a nation, and I will proudly continue, where there is a need, I write. When I can I send material home that officials in the past may need to pay attention to. Nothing anyone says about my work will cause me to stop, while there is breath in my body. At the same time, I am helping TnT students look for scholarships, helping them with research and doing other unpaid things that move humanity forward.Now,I am done with this.I have other things to do.
Khem said – “I prefer to write the way I do…I have nothing to sell .It is my opinion …and therefore nothing to disclose..so that others are edified. It has nothing to do with love.” Are you listening to yourself khem?
You keep repeating this crap long enough khem, and even you might begin to believe it my friend. For the record , we all have something to sell my friend.Perhaps someday you too would recognize , and or admit ,as to what yours is.
To me the saddest part is folks , that this character might just have kids of his own , or what’s even worse ,is the fact that there are many more like him ,who might be in some position of influence ,where young future leaders ,could just be swayed by their type of thinking.
Every commentary this , self loathing ,insecure individual ,and others of his caste, have made on this board, was about the twisted adoration of his tribe ,and guttural contempt for ‘the other,’ yet because I simply tried to indicate to him where a fellow blogger might be misunderstood , he is going off on some foolish rant about tribal love, because he disagree.
The funny thing is that he concluded that I am from a perceived tribe ,due to the fact that I took a certain line, via my blogs. Tell me folks what kind of suicide he might resort to , if he was to hear that I am a member of the Hitlerite blond hair , blue eyed European tribe? I think he’ll take grandpa donkey cart and ride up the middle of the Tubal Uriah Buzz Butler Highway, in the hope that a Chagurnas maxi taxi would run him over, any bets?
I am now beginning to wonder a few things about this borderline degenerate,is he over sixteen, finished high school,is really a fellow earthling, or some perverted jokey,online, fictitious creation by Prime Minister Jack Warner, …sorry , I mean Madame kamla, and the PP, to distract us- over the next few years they hold sway- from indulging in real nation building issues of the day.
Just wish a day would past when I do not have to read , or indulge in another stupid commentary of closet superiority by fringe races though. Khem , if you have to repeatedly beat a drum to show how good , or noble you are as an individual or people, then that should be a red flag for us the more observant.
We are watching you khem, for with each day you are exposing your true colors.
By the way , a blog is not an editorial page , but the ruminations of individual on any subject , in what ever style that’s appropriate to them. If others that choose to read them find them intriguing so much the better.
Still curious folks,as to why since Hitler,the bombing of Heroshima / Nagasaki,added to the ending of the Cold War ,more lives were lost by intertribal bloodshed?
Stand by for enlightenment.
“I mean Madame kamla, and the PP, to distract us- over the next few years they hold sway- from indulging in real nation building issues of the day.”–Neal
What are the real nation building issues Nealos. Can you take some time to enlighten us on these REAL nation building issues. I suspect it would be the importation of boat loads of foreigners into sweet T&T so they can come and enjoy the national patrimony and vote fuh yer party. That my friend is not the catalyst for nation building.
Here is how a nation is built in a multicultural society.
(1) Respect for the diversified nature of the nation.– NO more tribalistic overtones. Teaching tribals like yourself Nealos to take responsibility instead of blaming the government at every turn.
(2) Economy diversification.–Finding the right ideas to match the people and talent available for more investments.
(3) Criminals taken out, by hangings, long jail sentences and stringent laws.–Three strikes and you are out. If a man is caught breaking the law thrice he is locked up for ah long long time…
(4)Children are trained in nationhood. — That means looking at the practical application of education and putting in place courses to address it. eg a parenting course, or a manners course, or a working dynamics course all practical and necessary for a working nation.
(5) Anti hate laws— Tribalism means hatred of non tribals as was evident in the dispersement of public funding that only came to PNM support areas. Anti-hate laws must identify language, music and other tribalistic machinations that put society in a downward spiral. An eg will be “kidnap them” that song should not have been sung because it inspire kidnappers to adopt a particular lifestyle. It is no better than the Hutus using the radio to promote hate against the Tutsis.
I assume the glorious PP intends to achieve all of this by their lonesome ,during the next for years khem ? Those alleged criminal – 99.9 % of which according to your statistics ,that came from the Afro trini tribes- will take you and AG Rammy, very serious, about sudden distaste for crimes, when I see a trial finally begins that would ensure Basdeo, along with cronies , do a few years hard labor for well established criminal misdeeds.
Now if history is any indicator of trends , the already disgust people matters and not us time wasting global north blokes ,would be acting in their real interest come 2014 or less , and kick the UNC political high jackers ,back to the political wilderness they belong ,perhaps this time for a quarter century.
You my friend are sounding more , and more pathetic by the day after each of your baseless ramblings, that it is not even funny any more. We have 5000, Hindu temples, and schools across Trinidad khem, and now your PP wants to build a few more in the wonderful unblemished Tobago.
Hindi is an official language, unlike Kiswalli, Yaruba, or any of the Mandingo/ bantu lingos, yes?
We have about 10 Indian holidays . The entire public service is saturated, and or dominated by Indo Trinis brothers and sisters, which is fine. Our agricultural industry , as well a vast economic industrial base is controlled by your dear cousins Khem.
Now give me the power , and I personally would have close down every Muslim Mosque , and continue to ban the entire Islamic religion in my country after 1990 , for their complicit role in supporting Yasin Abu Baker, and his religious criminals, as they attempted to end the political life of our PM , and reign terror on the nation, then point fingers elsewhere.
Instead , unlike any other civilize country would do , we allowed business as usual to continue unabated, and this is how we are repaid by khem and his kind- chastise for religious, and cultural intolerance.
Now if I had the power , I’ll also close down time wasting UWI for not conducting real symposiums and social science studies as to the extent of race and the devastating , and negative impact on our nation , as played out by the likes of Khem- the king of the “me, me, geme, geme, selfish ,dog with a bone crowd.”
Hey khem ,are we not happy that May 24th 2010 occurred , so that no more Trini Hutu on Tutsi hate-mongering genocide can continue? What do you know , a Canadian General Romeo Dallaire was asleep at the wheels, as 800,000 kinky head bantu brothers and sisters were slaughtered , as he was busy instead ensuring that others with pure Europeans blood LIKE HIMSELF ,were being saved.
Perhaps we might be more lucky with the introduction of our new Edmonton Canadian COP, ehhh?
What a destructive , country hating ,fraud, this guy is!The sad fact is that many like hime are lurking across the nation, in charge of health , education, and socio economic policy aimed at ensuring sustainable development ‘of all our people’ – emphasis should be noted.
Diversity means tolerating others. Obviously your tribalist nature does not allow you to understand that we share this planet with people from all stripes and background.
Romeo Dallaire was under strict orders not to shoot unless he was shot at. He tried the best he can to report the rampage ocurring in Rawanda but he was severly limited in what he could do. UN rules.
As for Muslims, Hindus and other faiths, diversity allows for people to practice freedom of religion. We cannot dictate conscience in people, they have the freedom to choose. It is that simple. “You live your life and I will live mine the way I see it fit. The day you interfere with my life that is the day I earned the right to interfere with yours.” That my friend is what drives Western thought and culture. Not the interposition of another’s will. I was fortunate to be educated at a Hindu school, I am not a Hindu but I appreciate the fact that they were able to educate a significant part of the population.
As for what T&T will become in the next decade is anyone’s guess. Will the Indo population continue to dominate the landscape??? That remains to be seen, however, there is a significant dougla population emerging and so the marriage of the Ganges & Nile in the ocean of humanity continues to amuse us. Nothing remains the same my friend. Even white Americans are mystified as to the fact that a black man is the President of their nation…. One thing I have learned in all of this is this “those whom you oppress will one day be your boss”. Think about it and give respect to all Nealos. Cheers.
I sometimes wonder why is it that smart people go for the cheap shots on the blog! There are identifiable smart5 people on this blog and on topics that leave room for one’s emotional affinity to become public it is easy when a contributor such as Prof. Cudjoe touches on the heals of the new favoured class of politicians. People like TMan, Khem, Neal, Linda and many more have a lot to offer intellectually and I’m sure proper use of this blog can lead to a higher quality of understanding. Being of different political affiliation does not make one better or worse. Things get off-message when there is a call to de-certify the contributor. We are better communicators when we speak about the message rather than the messenger. For example, there are many attacks on Mr. Cudjoe even though most of mwhat he writes in this article are factual and NOT opiniated statements. I would be happier if the whose sympathies lie with the government or government ministers justify or repudiate what is stated with facts to support their positions. Just saying nasty things about the professor do not in itself offer an explanation of what one’s thoughts on the subject matter but shows a weakness when facts cannot be countered. One’s like or like for the professor is immaterial if he presents a set ofm facts for thoughts of consideration. When he says that Kamla has not shown any degree of leadership (my words) since being elected, those who support can use her trips, statements and legislative achievements to debunk this claim if they so believe. Professor Cudjoe is who he is and he is and being handsomely paid for his thoughts, so merely attacking his integrity is not adding value to the column or this blog.