By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
July 12, 2021
I don’t know how the acidic squabble between the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition will end, but I know that verbal violence can have as much devastating consequences as physical violence.
Two of our most prominent leaders cannot be at each other’s throats every day, with their hate-filled language poisoning the national blood stream.
Continue reading The danger of verbal violence
IN engaging in counter-accusations and whataboutisms, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley is missing the point of the public’s annoyance over ministerial tax exemptions.
On the principle that two wrongs don’t make a right, his Government does not get a free pass from public criticism just because former ministers in the Kamla Persad-Bissessar administration are accused of various acts of corruption. The two are separate and one does not justify the other.
Continue reading Perks of unequal sacrifice
France had for “too long” valued “silence over the examination of the truth” when it came to its complicity in the 1994 massacre that killed around 800,000 people, President Emmanuel Macron says.
By Deutsche Welle – May 27, 2021
French President Emmanuel Macron admitted French responsibility in the Rwandan genocide, during a visit to the Rwandan capital Kigali on Thursday.
“Standing here today, with humility and respect, by your side, I have come to recognize our responsibilities,” Macron said in a speech at the Kigali Genocide Memorial where more than 250,000 Tutsi are buried.
Continue reading Rwanda: Macron admits French responsibility in genocide
U.S. Marks 100th Anniversary of Tulsa Race Massacre, When White Mob Destroyed “Black Wall Street”
May 28, 2021 – democracynow.org
Memorial Day marks the 100th anniversary of the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, one of the deadliest episodes of racial violence in U.S. history, when the thriving African American neighborhood of Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma — known as “Black Wall Street” — was burned to the ground by a white mob. An estimated 300 African Americans were killed and over 1,000 injured.
Continue reading U.S. Marks 100th Anniversary of Tulsa Race Massacre
Germany calls atrocities ‘genocide’ but omits the words ‘reparations’ or ‘compensation’ from a joint statement
By Philip Oltermann, in Berlin
May 28, 2021 – theguardian.com
Germany has to agreed to pay Namibia €1.1bn (£940m) as it officially recognised the Herero-Nama genocide at the start of the 20th century, in what Angela Merkel’s government says amounts to a gesture of reconciliation but not legally binding reparations.
Tens of thousands of men, women and children were shot, tortured or driven into the Kalahari desert to starve by German troops between 1904 and 1908 after the Herero and Nama tribes rebelled against colonial rule in what was then named German South West Africa and is now Namibia.
Continue reading Germany recognises colonial ‘genocide’ in Namibia
By Raffique Shah
May 10, 2021
There are times when I feel ashamed of being Trinidadian. On such occasions, I feel almost like a traitor, having to admit that some of my countrymen are bringing shame and disgrace to our otherwise proud nation.
As the Covid-19 numbers exploded last week from single-digit increases to 300-plus daily confirmed cases, hospital beds were occupied at dizzying rates while deaths rose from modest to uncomfortable levels, I felt personally defeated.
Continue reading Too little poetic justice
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
May 03, 2021
The headline read: “It was a bloody weekend across Trinidad and Tobago”.
The news story announced: “From Friday night into yesterday, eight people were killed, pushing the murder toll for the year so far to 113. Victims were found dead in St James, Arima, La Horquetta, Valencia, Curepe, Embacadere, Tunapuna and Petit Valley.” (Express, April 26.) Two more people may have been murdered on that weekend.
Continue reading The need for self-esteem and self-knowledge
By Raffique Shah
April 05, 2021
I suppose it had to come to this—an explosion of Covid-19 cases just when we thought we could see a ray of sunshine at the end of a year-long dark tunnel we’ve cautiously navigated, when the first tranche of vaccines had arrived, launching Trinidad and Tobago into the immunisation phase of the war against this deadly virus.
It’s not as if the surge in confirmed cases ambushed us. We were warned by the medical team that has thus far efficiently conducted the war against Covid-19, that should we continue to breach the simple safety practices that have worked for us, hence expose ourselves to regression, we would encounter a nasty backlash. But there are some among us who are plain “harden”, who must misbehave to look macho.
Continue reading Now’s not the time to misbehave
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 15, 2021
It must have been in the early 1940s. My father slapped my mother.
She took him to court. Six months later the trial took place. The magistrate asked what had happened. My mother told him.
‘Have you made back up now?’ the magistrate asked.
‘Yes,’ my mother answered.
Continue reading When love ceases
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 15, 2021
From politician to the ordinary farmer, Hutus united to get rid of the ‘cockroaches,’ working together to exterminate their Tutsi friends, neighbors, co-workers and family members.
—Kennedy Ndahiro, “Dehumanization: How the Tutsis were reduced to cockroaches, snakes to be killed.”
I use to think that the motto of the Trinidad and Tobago Constabulary was “to protect and serve.” Unfortunately, it seems that its present mission is “to belittle and berate.” Listening to Gary Griffith, the Commissioner of Police, one would think he is at war with the society or anyone who criticize his opinions or performance.
Continue reading The Dangers of Narcissism