Tag Archives: Selwyn R. Cudjoe

China, General T&T

Eugene Chen: a forgotten Trinidadian

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 27, 2023

PART I

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeIn 1944, when news reached Trinidad that Eugene Chen had died from neurasthenia in China, Chien Chiao (the Chinese homonym for Trinidad), a Trinidad Chinese community journal, made the following announcement: “Eugene Chen (1879(sic)-1944), Trinidad’s greatest son and for many years Chinese Foreign Minister, died from a heart attack in Shanghai this year. Born of humble parentage in San Fernando, he practiced as a solicitor in the courts of the colony before going abroad.” (December 1944).
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Carnival, Entertainment, General T&T, Music

Cro Cro: our warrior king

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 20, 2023

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeA few days ago, businessman Inshan Ishmael issued a pre-action protocol letter to Cro Cro (Weston Rawlins). He demands Cro Cro respond favourably to his letter within the next 28 days or face legal action in the High Court. Ishmael says he is the subject of Cro Cro’s calypso, “Another Sat Is Outside Again”.

Attorney Richard Jaggasar, Ishmael’s lawyer, says, “In the trial it will be contended that it was immaterial whether Cro Cro intended to cause harm or was careless in making his statements, as the tort of defamation is one of strict liability.” (Express, February 14.)
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Entertainment, General T&T, Music

Defending our noble art form

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 13, 2023

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeBusinessman Inshan Ishmael plans to take Cro Cro (Weston Rawlins) to court over what he says are Cro Cro’s “highly defamatory lyrics about him” in his (Rawlins’) 2023 calypso, “Another Sat is Outside Again”. He says that he never listens to Cro Cro’s calypsoes because they always denigrate the East Indian community. This time, he is really offended.
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General T&T

‘Stand Together, ye Damned of the Earth’

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
February 06, 2023

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeJonathan Smith (not his real name) is one of my dearest friends. Last Sunday, after reading my column, he sent me the following note: “Dr Cudjoe, I can’t remember when last you wrote so much unrealistic and unadulterated crap. I never heard your good friend Sat Maharaj or any Hindu leader pleading the case for the poor, dispossessed African community. Why not make the case for the Orisas or the Shouter Baptists or the Rastas? Which society in the world has woven all their cultural and racial/ethnic strands into the perfect tapestry you seem to want to yoke the government with? The US, France, Brazil?”
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General T&T, Parliament, PNM, Politics

If you start with a lie…

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 30, 2023

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeI wish to congratulate Christine Kangaloo for having been elected to the highest office of the land. Whatever her strengths and/or weaknesses, she now represents all Trinbagonians and so we ought to pledge our allegiance to her. As she said in her acceptance speech: “Now that the election is over, I look forward to serving our country in the only way I know how—with love for all and with an unwavering belief in the innate goodness of our people.”
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General T&T

An apology

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 21, 2023

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeApart from the years that I have spent abroad, I have lived most of my life in Tacarigua, a village that is located about ten miles east of Port of Spain. In 1976 Lance Murray, an official of the Trinidad Sugar Estates (known then as the Orange Grove Estates), sent Fr David Benjamin, the pastor of the St Mary’s Anglican Church, a letter offering the church an opportunity to purchase a plot of land adjacent to the church. Elated by the possibility of expansion, the members of vestry voted unanimously to accept the offer; they built a parish hall on the land.
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General T&T, PNM, Politics

It’s always political

By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 16, 2023

“Democracy is not maintained by legal and constitutional texts alone.”

—Attorney Kiel Taklalsingh

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeA few days ago, the Prime Minister defended his Government’s choice of Christine Kangaloo for President of Trinidad and Tobago. He argued that those people who objected to the Government’s nomination were indulging in “nothing but pure politics… There are people in this country who set out deliberately to mislead the country, and I go as far as to say, incite the population”. (Express, January 9.)
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General T&T, PNM, Politics

Patriotism and its vulgar application

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 09, 2023

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOver the past two weeks Minister Stuart Young has proclaimed his patriotism and his commitment to the central tenet of our National Anthem: “Here every creed and race find an equal place.” Anyone who objects to his interpretation of this aspect of the anthem is accused of being a racist or, as he said recently, of playing “the unsavoury race card”. He has accused me of attacking him “on the basis of race” (Express, January 2).
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General T&T, PNM, Politics, Racism Watch

Pride in our origins

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 02, 2023

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeTwo weeks ago I cautioned the People’s National Movement about the Prime Minister’s desire to foist Stuart Young upon the party as its next political leader. I also asked party leaders to recognise how important black people are to the sustenance of the party.

In his response, Minister Young accused the editor of the Express and me of being racist for publishing my observation. He commented: “The Express editor has taken a conscious decision to use racism as the foundation for an attack against me and I reject this… It is important at moments like this when media and others attempt to attack persons based on race, and a promotion of racism, that we, the citizens, reject them and their messaging, and I do so.” (Express, December 19.)
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General T&T

Landscape, family and memory

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By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
Submitted: December 25, 2022
Posted: December 27, 2022

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeToday is Christmas Day. Let us give thanks and praise to the birth of a wonderfully well-researched book, Via the Round About, written by Beverly Scobie. It traces one part of Scobie’s family, beginning with Joseph Arthur, the patriarch, who was “enslaved for all of his formative years”.

Scobie is ambitious. She wishes to tell of “The Scobie Family’s Story of Resolve and Resilience from 1819 through Emancipation, the Colonial Era, and Beyond”. Although this is quite a bit to chew, Scobie keeps our interest all along this magnificent journey, entertaining and enlightening us as she tells her story.
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