Guest Columns

The idea of the rule of law is very old; it has been traced way back to the time of Aristotle (384 – 322 BC), who wrote that it was “better for the law to rule than one of the citizens […] so that even the guardians of the law …

If you are wondering why, as a Trinidad and Tobago citizen, I choose to highlight the case of Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v DSD & Anor [2018] UKSC 11 (DSD) coming out of the United Kingdom, the reason is simple. This case has basically turned the concept of …

On Monday March 12, Quartz Media, a respectable, business-oriented, online publication carried an article by film critic, Echo Huang. It was headlined: “A torture for the eyes: Chinese moviegoers think Black Panther is just too black.” The punch line in Huang’s story was provided by a “reviewer on Douban,” which …

Since returning from my three-month sabbatical, I have been finding life on this rock we call home to be a real struggle. I have tried my best to refrain from commenting on the numerous instances of outrageous, silly behaviour and criminal acts in the news, be it on social or …

Black Power was primarily a revolution of the mind: the continuation of the revolution of Marcus Garvey. It first aimed to free “black” people who embraced it from seeing themselves and their past through the lens and language of those who trampled on their humanity, denied them the dignity of …

“Good idea!” was my initial reaction when I read that President Anthony Thomas Aquinas Carmona is advocating that 16- and 17-year-old citizens have the right to vote for their leaders. I can think of no argument against involving youths in initiatives and activities, especially sporting and cultural ones, which require …

If my laptop had not died, I would have written this piece much earlier, not long after Akilah Holder’s 14 February article. Small ting; Jessica Joseph’s masterful response, using the same points I wanted to raise, was both an excellent rebuttal and an education resource. Those whose minds are not …

I was raised in a Christian sect that was founded in the late 19th Century in the USA. It managed to find its way to the Caribbean island of Trinidad and Tobago in the 1920’s. Though I was raised in what the great humanitarian, Bishop Desmond Tutu, enthusiastically called a “Rainbow …

I ended my “Comments” of 21 February with anthropologist Kumar Mahabir’s opinion that a re-scripting of the “Black Power” label might have seen more Indo-Trinbagonians eagerly embracing the movement. This will remain an open question. But if his reactions to other aspects of Afro-Trinidadian cultural engineering without the “black” label …

Ancient Egyptians believed that a person’s name, the “rn” (ren), was “the foundation of a being as an individual.” A person’s name had a power of its own and lived as long as it was spoken; thus, the proverb, “To speak one’s name is to make him live again.” This …

Next week Thursday, a week from today on 8 March, the world will celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD). Between now and then here in Trinidad and Tobago, some will clink glasses, others will engage in “big” talk at cocktail parties while others will analyse gender issues to death in panel …

Now believe me, Madam Minister, I understand the pressure you are under to be seen to be delivering the goods. And as far as PR and Photo Op visibility in our society goes, few events rank higher than a ribbon cutting or key distribution ceremony. The honeymoon period is well …