Africa, Culture, General T&T

Self-Identity: The Key to Mental Emancipation

11 Comments

By Ayinde
August 02, 2016

Emancipation“The stories of our past should not condemn us to the turmoil of acrimony; but rather they should show us a path for achieving the positive and prosperous development of our country now and for the generations to come. . . . We are currently writing new pages in our history. . . . We need to ask ourselves, are we facilitating new prejudices and divisions in our society? Are we perpetuating a mindset of entitlement – claiming rights where instead we should accept personal responsibility? . . . Are we committed to working together in the best interest of our country? Can we look past the ‘me’ and ‘my group’ to the bigger picture of nationhood?”
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Culture, General T&T, PNM, Politics

May Their Bread Be Buttered Over

5 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
Submitted: July 31, 2016
Posted: August 02, 2016

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeTomorrow (August 1st) is Emancipation Day. It’s a day on which the formerly enslaved commemorate their freedom; a practice they have undertaken since 1848 although there have been interruptions over the years. Generally, two different strata (those whose bread had been better buttered and those whose bread have been larded) have celebrated their emancipation in different ways.
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General T&T, Labour, Oil and Gas, People's Partnership, PNM, Politics, Recession, UNC

Sugar industry was doomed to fail

By Raffique Shah
Submitted: July 26, 2016
Published: August 01, 2016

Raffique ShahTrinidad & Tobago, as a very inefficient producer of sugar, relying heavily on preferential, prices for the commodity from Britain, and later the European Union, should have scaled back sugar production from the 1970s when the industry’s losses mounted year after year, soon to reach uncontrollable levels.
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Africa, General T&T, Media, PNM, Politics

PM: Are we perpetuating a mindset of entitlement?

22 Comments

August 1, 2016 – guardian.co.tt

Dr Keith RowleyIn 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.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics, Racism Watch, Religion

Workers welcomed Caroni’s closure

26 Comments

By Raffique Shah
Submitted: July 19, 2016
Published: July 25, 2016

Raffique ShahThe only thing necessary for myths and mischief to be recorded as historical facts is for informed persons to say nothing.

I liberally paraphrase Irish philosopher Edmundd Burke’s injunction to responsible persons to speak out or act when tyranny threatens, to respond to one lie Sat Maharaj peddled when he spewed cobra-like venom against deceased ex-prime minister Patrick Manning, branding him a racist.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics, Racism Watch, UNC

Let the Jackasses Bray

12 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 24, 2016

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeMy good friend called. She was irate: “Why don’t you speak to [not with] yo’ good friend Sat?” “Why yo’ say so,” I asked. “He called Manning a racist.” I don’t know if I was supposed to return the insult, but I am aware that if everyone is a racist then no one is really a racist. Counter accusations are generally useless.

Sat claimed Manning was a racist because, among other things, he closed down Caroni 1975 Limited and paid the workers $2m. That Manning may have calculated that the sugar industry was no longer economically viable did not enter into Sat’s thinking? But even if Manning paid the workers $4m it would not have endeared him to Sat.
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General T&T, Passed on, Politics, Religion

Sacrilegious!!!

30 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 17, 2016
Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeNo one can explain with absolute certitude why the nation poured out so much grief at the death of Patrick Manning. While it had much to do with the part he played in our nation’s development, it also has to do with a nation mourning itself, saddened by how coarse its sensibilities have become; a feeling of helplessness at its own futility and its uncertainty about where it’s going and how it intends to get there. It matters little (it may even be inconsequential) that the PNM is now in power.
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General T&T, Media, PNM, Politics, Racism Watch, UNC

Sat torches ex-PM’s legacy

44 Comments

By Shaliza Hassanali
July 14, 2016 – guardian.co.tt

Secretary General of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, Satnarayan MaharajGeneral secretary of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS), Sat Maharaj, yesterday launched an extraordinary verbal attack on former prime minister Patrick Manning, describing him as a “racist.”

In a harsh assessment totally out of step with laudatory ones heaped on Manning in the week between his death and his burial, Maharaj said he and several members of the public came to that conclusion on a talk show programme on Radio Jaagriti on Tuesday, based on a series of discriminatory practices Manning perpetuated against Indians in T&T while he served as PM.
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General T&T, Passed on, PNM, Politics

Preserving Historic Memory

3 Comments

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 10, 2016

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeBy the time you read this article you will have heard everything about the life of the late Patrick Manning: the good, the bad and the ugly. Many of his admirers (and non-admirers alike) will have told us about his numerous accomplishments. Mrs. Hazel Manning has asked us to “know” Mr. Manning’s legacy while Prime Minister Keith Rowley has assured us that “he will continue in our history” (Newsday, July 3).
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