By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe August 20, 2018 PART 1 “If being afflicted with asthma [as Naipaul was as a child] shaped personality and character, then, perhaps it made him [Naipaul] a wounded animal. —Savi Naipaul Akal” On May 13, 1979, Irving Howe reviewed V. S. Naipaul’s A Bend in the River in the New … Continue reading A Wounded Animal
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe July 4, 2018 PART 5 I have rarely received so many responses to my articles as those I received about my previous column. Once I had the temerity to describe the business activities of the Syrian-Lebanese community I opened up a whole batchak nest unleashing the deadly fury that such … Continue reading Preparing the Way for Kamla – Pt 5
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe June 04, 2018 PART 1 It was Indian Arrival Day. I just had to go down to Paravati Girls Hindu College, Debe, to hear what Sat Maharaj, leader of the Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha (SDMS) had to say about the importance of Indian Arrival Day to his community and his … Continue reading Preparing the Way for Kamla
By Tyehimba Salandy May 20, 2018 Ten years ago, British ‘royalty’, Prince Charles and his wife Camilla visited the Caribbean and locals prostrated before them. Local leaders made arrangements for them to play the Steelpan and the sacred Rastafarian Nyabinghi drums. Leslie from Africaspeaks.com wrote an insightful article titled Royal Visit Highlights Lingering Colonialism that … Continue reading The British Royal Wedding, Feelgoodism and the Colonial Jumbie
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe February 26, 2018 Monday’s disorder in East Port of Spain made me reflect on my recent visit to the Gambia where I participated in Mboka, a festival to celebrate Gambian as well as African diasporic heritage. Gambians “belong to the Senegambia region of West Africa, the general name given to … Continue reading My Gambian Journey
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe February 13, 2018 “…a state could never have been born without surplus.” —Yanis Varoufakis PART 1 — PART 2 In the nineteenth century Trinidad saw the first massive giveaway of lands and bonuses to the Indians in lieu of their passages to India. Those options were never available to Africans. … Continue reading Contradictions & Counterfactuals – Pt 2
By Dr Selwyn R. Cudjoe January 15, 2018 As quiet as it is kept, women have always shaped our social and cultural identity. They have been the doers, recipients of the most brutal treatment at the hands of their oppressors and their mates, and a spur towards our liberation and development over the last two … Continue reading This Woman Can Be Great
By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe August 06, 2017 Ara romi o My body is in pain Ara romi Shango Shango, my body is in pain Ojo romi e e The rain is falling on me [I am experiencing hard times] Ojo romi Shango Shango, the rain is falling on me [I am experiencing hard times.] … Continue reading Beautiful Are the Souls of My Black People
By Corey Gilkes August 01, 2017 No, I haven’t gone completely mad, just thought I’d try to grab your attention and so make you understand the importance of understanding what power words have. Today is Emancipation Day, celebrating the ending of the enslavement of African people. You will hear the usual platitudes and speeches about … Continue reading MOST OF US ARE ALREADY EMANCIPATED, UNFORTUNATELY
By Sean Douglas August 01, 2017 – newsday.co.tt PRESIDENT Anthony Carmona yesterday publicly supported a call to have European governments, whose countries benefited from slavery in the West Indies, to pay reparations to the descendants of African slaves. In his Emancipation Day message, Carmona said TT should support the efforts of Caricom governments as expressed … Continue reading President Anthony Carmona: Pay for slavery