In defiance of the rapid community spread of Covid-19, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, kept the promise he made on Emancipation Day 2019 to unveil T&T’s first emancipation monument—the only live public event on Emancipation Day 2020. Like many thousands of other Trinbagonians, I missed the commemorative spectacles of the …
Read More »Claude’s comments: To Javier Carbajosa, Ambassador of Spain—the mother of white supremacism
Are we truly a banana republic? Or have we gotten too accustomed to the imperial arrogance of US ambassadors? Is the government beholden to Spain to such a degree that we have to servilely kowtow to the absurdities thrown at us by Spanish Ambassador Señor Javier Carbajosa Sanchez? As other …
Read More »Claude’s comments: The origins of white supremacy and role of Columbus, Victoria and an ‘Italianised’ Jesus
“Racism has been Europe’s greatest gift to the world.” So said Dr Eric Williams, the first Prime Minister of T&T (Selwyn Cudjoe, Eric Williams Speaks). Of course, Williams was being sarcastic. If racism was a gift to the world, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was the greatest gift …
Read More »Claude’s Comments: When CIA plotted to remove Dr Williams; and how USA is violating Rio Treaty
I couldn’t resist beginning by paraphrasing from calypsonian Bally’s 1987 masterpiece ‘It’s party time again’: five years nearly done, so let’s ramajay… if you see ram goat, join the bacchanal, just to get your vote. I intended to sit this one out, but for the statement by US Ambassador Joseph …
Read More »Claude’s comments: The case for renaming the Churchill Roosevelt Hwy—a monument to two white supremacists
Artists and engineers more than any other professionals inscribe the signature of their civilisation. The newly built Curepe interchange is yet another demonstration of confidence and competence of our engineers and associated professionals and workers in transforming the Churchill-Roosevelt Highway (CRH) from an antique highway to a modern freeway. I …
Read More »Claude’s comments: Only Africans forced to deny heritage to be ‘appropriately groomed’; that must stop!
The following is the final instalment in Dr Claudius Fergus’ three part series on African textured hair: a historical, cultural and legislative perspective: Unlike what obtains in many Caribbean Commonwealth states, Trinidad and Tobago’s Education Act does not define responsibilities of students or speak to the obligations of principals toward …
Read More »Claude’s Comments: Education Ministry is allowing discrimination against African hair
One does not have to be a legal expert to recognise that hair-shaming, such as reported in the St Stephen’s College incident, is a violation of our Constitution—‘the supreme law of Trinidad and Tobago’ (Article 2). I want to submit further that the incident is also a clear violation of …
Read More »Culturecide, subversion and African hair: Dr Fergus on ‘Dada’ hair and ‘Bantu’ knots
The scale of natural justice weighs negatively against the Ministry of Education for allowing 2019 to end without unambiguously prohibiting discrimination against natural African hair texture and basic African hairstyles, and mandating school administrators to root out the practice whenever it rears its ugly head. Ultimately, it might necessitate amending …
Read More »Judging Columbus through history (Pt 4): Genocide and white supremacy in Trinidad
The following is the last in a four part series by historian Dr Claudius Fergus on the enduring—and arguably unjustifiable—heroic standing of Christopher Columbus in modern society: Socialist thinker Karl Liebknecht compared European imperialism to a cyclone spinning across the globe, driven and sustained by its militarism that “crushes people …
Read More »Judging Columbus through history (Pt 3): The Yankee reinvention of Columbus
The following is the third in a four part series by historian Dr Claudius Fergus on the enduring—and arguably unjustifiable—heroic standing of Christopher Columbus in modern society: The attempted ecclesiastical resurrection of Christopher Columbus did not extend beyond the Spanish American Empire or beyond the walls of the church of …
Read More »Judging Columbus through history (Pt 2): The Church and the Sacralising of Columbus
“During Christopher Columbus’ second voyage, reports of his conduct raised serious questions in Spain about his character. In 1500, during his third voyage, his reputation hit rock bottom. “Columbus, together with his brothers Bartholomew and Diego, was arrested by royal commissioner Francisco de Bobadilla, sent back to Spain in chains …
Read More »Judging Columbus through history (Pt 1): Balancing facts and myths
On October 12, the Cross Rhodes Freedom Project (CRFP), in collaboration with the Warao and Partners for First Peoples’ Development, staged a protest march against Port of Spain Mayor Joel Martinez’s vacillation on convening a forum for national dialogue on the CRFP’s call for the removal of Christopher Columbus’ statue …
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