By Raffique Shah
June 28, 2016
The referendum was never about Britain getting a raw deal in the European Union and wanting out so that it can prosper on its own. It wasn’t even about voting to stop the hordes of barbarian refugees at the gates of the castle, given its natural moats, the Channel, the North Sea, which, at other critical moments in history, stopped would-be invaders like Hitler dead in their tracks.
Continue reading Referendum rooted in fear
By Raffique Shah
June 26, 2016
Within recent years, annual Labour Day celebrations trigger accusations that the trade unions that mark the occasion with marches and speeches at Fyzabad pay homage only to Tubal Uriah Butler, never Adrian Cola Rienzi.
Such sentiments imply that Rienzi, whose original name was Krishna Deonarine, is ignored by labour because of his race. They suggest that his contribution to trade unions in the country through registration and leadership of both the oil workers’ OWTU and the sugar workers’ ATSEFWTU in 1937 was as critical to the recognition and development of labour as Butler’s charismatic appeal to the masses.
Continue reading Butler and Rienzi
By Raffique Shah
June 16, 2016
It would be asking too much of our politicians that they show some humility in their public lives. In fact, it will be true to say that, with precious few exceptions, politicians across the world are egotistical and arrogant, character traits that distinguish them from most ordinary human beings.
Lest I be accused of being unduly harsh on the men and women who offer themselves for high political offices, I ask that readers think of politicians you may know personally, contrast the genial soul you knew before he or she was elected or appointed to high office with the person you see (or saw) in office, lording it over lesser mortals.
Continue reading No civility, much hypocrisy
By Raffique Shah
June 11, 2016
In death, as in life, he straddled the world like a colossus. All the major international news networks suspended regular programming to pay homage to Muhammad Ali, the greatest boxer ever, the supreme sporting figure of the 20th Century, the defiant one who sacrificed a successful career on the altar of principle.
Just four years older than me, Ali symbolised the rebelliousness of so many of my generation, it was almost as if we knew him, grew up with him, that when he spoke out, confronted what we had dubbed “the establishment” in those heady days, his was our voice.
Continue reading Peerless and fearless: simply The Greatest
By Raffique Shah
June 06, 2016
When constitutionally-independent institutions in the country seem to be collapsing, when holders of the highest offices seem confused about their roles and perplexed about their powers, and when the law publicly proves to be the proverbial ass, then, Trinidad & Tobago, we have a problem…a very serious problem.
Continue reading Integrity Commission a waste
By Raffique Shah
June 01, 2016
It is amazing, though not surprising, how easily our people can be distracted from the important issues that we face as a nation, currently galloping crime and an economy in crisis.
Last week, everyone, from captain to crook, was consumed in debate over a rather stupid statement that Harrypersad Maharaj, issued on behalf of the Inter-Religious Organisation (IRO), which called on Government to not change existing laws that allow for Muslim and Hindu girls, aged 12 and 14 respectively, to be legally wedded.
Continue reading Sex and the geriatric preachers
By Raffique Shah
May 22, 2016
Really, it does not bother me that the Strategic Service Agency (SSA), or any other State intelligence agency, from the AIA to the ZIA, might want to peep through my back door, monitor what I am writing now, check my email before I do, or listen in on my telephone or family conversations at my home.
I have long accepted that with the sophisticated technology available to them, indeed to anyone who might want to “macco” people, the privacy that we once enjoyed, or thought we did, has ceased to exist.
Continue reading Gap between intelligence and action
By Raffique Shah
May 18, 2016
So what if Donald Trump wins the race for presidency of the United States next November?
He won’t be the first fool to occupy the highest office in the most powerful country on earth. Nor will he be the stupidest president ever.
Bear in mind that if he does make it to the White House, and there is a high probability of this happening, it would be with the support of some 50-to-60 million American voters.
Continue reading Maybe America deserves Trump
By Raffique Shah
May 10, 2016
Archbishop Joseph Harris’s initiative to petition Government to free from prison petty offenders who have remained on remand for an inordinately long time is laudable and deserving of support.
However, if it’s accepted and implemented in its current form, it would deal an unjust blow to many more accused persons, perhaps several times the number of those who would benefit.
Continue reading Call for reformation
By Raffique Shah
April 29, 2016
I had planned not to address crime in my columns, to waste valuable newspaper space on an issue that, while it grows grimmer by the day, is seemingly intractable.
When last I tackled it, I admitted to have become inured to the barbarism into which the nation has descended. Decapitation, mutilation, suffocation and now on-the-spot cremation no longer shock me.
Continue reading All ah we dead