Tag Archives: Laventille

In August 1962, the first Common Entrance group entered secondary schools and heard Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams say: “… you carry the future of Trinidad and Tobago in your school bag.” At QRC, there was a boy from Rio Claro, another from Princes Town (now president of the Old …

The Chamber of Commerce spoke out this week as the nation grapples with the crime situation, defining it as a ‘crisis’ for which we do not have ‘the luxury of time’. The Chamber advanced possible solutions, including the need for foreign help since the TTPS appeared not to have the …

The ‘Marlene Affair’ raises important issues about the fate of our women. Progress, as measured by the number of women in leadership, does not tell the whole story. Last week, three women—Marlene McDonald, Christine ‘Twiggy’ Livia and Joan Yuille-Williams—were in the courthouse precincts, a place where many mothers frequent because …

Dr Eric Williams’ last tome, The Blackest Thing in Slavery (1973), tells us that there were many more shady dealings in slavery than the African slave. This is analogous to the Laventille situation; there are more criminal dealings than those who live there. While there is an undeniable need for …

“In a diverse society, aiming to do well, African people are not doing as well as we expected or as well as we might,” intoned Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley on the same day that Fitzgerald Hinds, member of parliament for Laventille West, gave an expansive interview in the Sunday …

That Akil Phillip was shot ostensibly for his cell phone is sad. But the greater sadness is missed in the midst of the outcry by elements of the wider population against the ‘deafening’ silence of the Laventille community. They seek to chastise the residents for not ‘making noise’ comparing the …

Not all women can run away, as advised by Singing Francine. They are treated worse than dogs. They are treated with vindictiveness. They are ‘owned’ and dare not challenge the man or seek to pursue their own decisions or rights. This week, we add Netanya Mohamdally to the list of …

A photograph by Maria Nunes stirred emotions in me that I thought I had quelled. I cry for Laventille when I remember the beauty of the people and the ambition and the sense of striving I grew up with. The callous may say, “Nostalgia!” But it was real. The memories …

Trinidad and Tobago has always been dreadful at organising anything but Carnival. Nowadays, we can’t even organise that properly. And it is killing us, in some ways, literally. The example of Desperadoes and the Laventille Hill is instructive. Laventille has been problematic but it has produced some of the most …

I would have liked to write a comical or even a satirical piece but Mr Live Wire has a patent on those types of columns.  And, frankly, I don’t think the Editor would have allowed anything I wrote in that vein to be so much as edited for publication, far …

Former Brazil World Cup winning captain Cafu will lead an array of local and global international football standouts in an exhibition match at Soogrim Trace Recreation Ground on Monday evening as part of the “Laventille Nights” series. The series is an initiative led by Tony Lee and I95.5FM while the …

Well, after my Minister of National Security went and guff up he chest in Enterprise, ah was going to post my views on that… But Mr Live Wire come and say every single thing I was going to say. So instead of suing him for tiefing my thoughts, lemme try a …