Tag Archives: capitalism

“Poverty is hell, and the angels are in Paradise/ Driving in their limousine, where everything is nice and clean…” Shadow, the calypsonian. Shadow sets the stage in his opening lines: one cannot understand poverty without appreciating the wealth on the other side. Poverty and greed are two sides of the …

On 17 July 2014, Eric Garner was accused of selling loose cigarettes by a New York police officer. Daniel Pantaleo, the officer, placed him in an illegal chokehold while arresting him. Multiple officers then piled on, pinning him to the ground. Eleven times Garner pled, “I can’t breathe!” He died …

I was searching for words to describe how I might come across in this column—killjoy, grinch, scrooge—because I know they might easily seem to apply. Maybe it is the cynic in me; maybe I am just perverse, but I have always been unmoved by the hype surrounding certain celebrations. I …

All nations tell stories about themselves. These narratives tell us where we came from, who we are and where we want to go. Consequently, they change as the storytellers provide contesting viewpoints. The thread is twisted by grief, sentimentality, pride, or shame. Bare facts form only part of the saga …

Gabriel Faria, the past CEO of the leading local business chamber, had an insightful interview in this week’s Business Express. He discussed the formation of a new business advocacy group. He quoted a Dr Terrence Farrell 2011 article on the need for responsible elites in our society while admitting that …

Interesting how fried chicken could bring to light so much issues that explain what’s wrong with our society. One chicken drumstick is all it takes to expose certain realities, all of which are integrated, interlocked and in some aspects, results of deliberate actions. For one thing, this farcical episode involving …

“[…] We have bought into the Western, capitalist idea, that the individual bears sole responsibility for their success or failure—history and current extenuating circumstances be damned! This, of course, is a fallacy, a distortion of the truth that absolves us, and the rest of society of any responsibility to our vulnerable …

“[…] The very prosperity that slavery brought to British capital was to eventually make slavery redundant. The capital accumulated throughout slavery led to investments in science, technology and engineering, created the industrial revolution, brought into being productive forces based on machinery, speeded up the process of proletarianisation of the British …

As I contemplated the best way to express my thoughts for this blog I came to only one conclusion. This will perhaps be the most unpopular piece that I have ever written. If I asked the average employer in Trinidad and Tobago whether they would endorse slavery the answer would …

“Politics is a game of fear. Those that do not have the ability to frighten power elites do not succeed. “[…] The platitudes about justice, equality and democracy are just that. Only when ruling elites become worried about survival do they react. Appealing to the better nature of the powerful …

The description of “African countries” and their diaspora in Haiti as “shitholes” goes way beyond the racist vulgarity of a decadent American President. It is merely a kind of sordid culmination of centuries of disparagement of Africans and Africa in the interest of western capitalism and white supremacy. But how …

“The disproportionate prosecution of working class criminals ultimately serves to maintain ruling-class power and to reinforce ruling class ideology—thus performing ‘ideological functions’ for the ruling class.” Orson Rogers considers potential flaws in the way that Trinidad and Tobago deals with crime: As an armchair crime watcher and based on considerable …