Category Archives: PNM

Plebian Carnival

By Selwyn R. Cudjoe
March 09, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOh what a difference an election victory makes. For time immemorial we were told by some that the steelband could never be considered as the national instrument—there was always the dholak—and that carnival was not really the national festival. They always sought to convince us that devali was comparable to carnival and emblematic of the national consciousness; hence the need to promote devali in the same way in which carnival is promoted. Somehow carnival was too black.
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PNM’s Retrograde Death Penalty Politics

By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
March 05, 2011

HangingMonday, 28 February 2011 will not only live in infamy but it will also be recorded as one of the darkest days in the history of public policy decision-making process in T&T. This historic, albeit unforgettable, day witnessed the opposition PNM voting against the constitutional amendment to resume hanging as the most effective penalty/punishment/deterrent for murder.
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Jack: Not me and Skinner Park

By Cecily Asson
February 28, 2011 – newsday.co.tt

Jack WarnerSaying that he will never be part of the crowd that gathers each year in Skinner Park, San Fernando for the National Calypso Monarch semi-final, Works and Transport Minister Jack Warner yesterday hailed the bravery of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar who on Saturday received loud boos from patrons when asked by master of ceremonies to acknowledge her presence.
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Ravages of Ethno-Nationalism

By Stephen Kangal
February 21, 2011

Stephen KangalAfter 49 years of an ethno-nationalism-based and driven Independence and four distinct nationalist-leaning regimes what is the prevailing status quo on cross- cultural relations/diversity management that now impels us in T&T to want to chart a new culturally-sensitive and responsive way forward (multiculturalism) instead of continuing along the unjust and hitherto ethno-nationalism-paved track?
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Mouth Open and PNM Loyalty Jump Out

By Stephen Kangal
February 06, 2011

Stephen KangalSenator Corinne Baptiste-McKnight has telegraphed by her irresponsible conduct displayed in the Senate on Tuesday last that her erstwhile loyalty to and decades-old, politically-partisan support/membership of the PNM, of which I am privy, takes precedence over discretion and good sense as well as the mask that she wears as an “Independent” senator. This is the cue for His Excellency The President to intervene to repair the initial error, revoke her appointment and replace her with a true, legitimate and genuine Independent Senator.
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Kamla’s Casual Carelessness

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
January 27, 2011

Dr. Selwyn R. CudjoeOne year ago Kamla Persad-Bissessar was elevated to the leadership of her party. In May of last year she was elected prime minister of the country. Since then she has shown herself to be incompetent; of questionable intellectual maturity, and deficient in judgment. As we enter 2011, I wonder how many persons feel she is steering the ship of state in a positive direction.
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A case of poetic injustice

By Raffique Shah
January 23, 2011

Raffique ShahWHEN Attorney General Anand Ramlogan made a fool of himself in Parliament by insinuating that ex-prime minister Patrick Manning may have stolen or otherwise disposed of “one grand piano” (as auctioneers would say), many may have missed the irony of Ramlogan’s boorish behaviour. “Wey the piano gorn?” Anand brayed, looking pointedly at “Patos”.
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PIANO FOUND!

…at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s

By Anna Ramdass
January 14, 2011 – trinidadexpress.com

The Bosendorfer Strauss Grand PianoThe grand piano has been found —in the very place it was alleged to have been missing from. National Security adviser to the Prime Minister, Gary Griffith, told the Express by phone yesterday that the piano was found after checks of the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s.
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Home Bound

By Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe
December 30, 2010

Dr. Selwyn R. Cudjoe[This essay was written by Joy Clarke, a student at Wellesley College. I thought I would share it with my readers. It has been edited for purposes of length]

If literature is a signification of the emotional conscious of a people then V.S. Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas is a literary masterpiece. It traces the life of Mohun Biswas, a man of East Indian descent living in Trinidad following the end of Indian indentured servitude. Mr. Biswas’ life is one of struggle, pain and his longing to find a place to call home. The reader is taken on a journey to locate home on several levels. On the surface is Mr. Biswas’s profound desire to own a home while the subtext suggests that a search for a national homeland for a people who were removed from their natal homeland of India.
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Mewey Cwismas, Trinis

By Raffique Shah
December 26, 2010

Raffique ShahI WAS reluctant writing this column on the eve of Christmas, knowing it will appear in print on Boxing Day, that it would probably upset some people. Then it occurred to me that a significant number of adults would crawl out of their beds or wherever they may have slept last night, feeling like faecal matter of one kind or other. So, if anything, my thoughts would blend nicely with whatever brand of antacid they pour down their hatches in preparation for another day of overindulgence. Mewey Cwismas, people!
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