We are already far down the road where even if we can string words together, we cannot process ideas. There was a time when our oppressed peoples fully embraced the concept that the way to shake off their shackles was through education, and they went at it with great commitment …
Read More »Vaneisa: Why Trinidad and Tobago’s trauma is real and festering
Trauma is a loaded word—carrying burdens that are often invisible until something triggers an eruption. The first part is the event that invokes it, some truly cataclysmic occurrence that horrifies and terrifies to such an extent that even if it seems to have dissipated with time, it is a continuous …
Read More »Vaneisa: Parenting and punishment—“discipline is often equated with physical violence”
He was telling me about a group discussion about childhood. In an unfamiliar environment, he’d told those strangers that he had experienced what he’d considered a typical West Indian approach to discipline. Licks. When they pressed for details, they concluded that it had been abuse. “I learned about a thing …
Read More »Vaneisa: Violence only begets violence; T&T needs a paradigm shift from our brutal moorings
It’s hard not to be overwhelmed by the barrage of brutality. How many times in recent days have I felt my stomach churn because of the news bombarding us? Rage is roaring through our space, so unfettered that we can’t help but feel that, here and now, all fall down. …
Read More »Dear Editor: T&T’s two-tongued on issue of violence and the women whose lives matter
“[…] Gender-based violence is often separated from the larger problem of violence that has pervaded this society. The violence is symptomatic of a country built and driven by bloodshed, which is then propped up by widespread corruption. “[…] If it is acceptable for the police to unlawfully assume the role …
Read More »Dear Editor: The political shots Beetham is calling: joint concerted action now or anarchy tomorrow
“We are on the brink of civil war between those who have power either by the gun, their physical strength or their money and those of us who perceive themselves as having less. The majority of us have neither guns nor much physical strength so we become trapped between the …
Read More »SALAAM: Beetham’s urban violence: can we kill our birds of prey with a big stick?
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 …
Read More »Challenging Old Power: How T&T fails victims of domestic violence
A few days ago a young mother, pregnant with her second child, filed a report with the police. Her estranged husband had turned up at her parents’ home and threatened to “blow” them up. Roughly twelve hours later, in the dead of night, the house where she lived with her …
Read More »Sick of violence? Solomon seeks cure for T&T’s epidemic
Violence in Trinidad and Tobago is endemic. It pervades the pages of daily newspapers; it generates local content and attracts advertising income. We routinely talk about it, laugh about it and even contemplate it. It is hard to determine when or why, but we have allowed brutality to become our …
Read More »Horn, Hilux and mob mentality on the Avenue
There is a local video making the rounds that has me quite disturbed. The video appears to have been shot on Ariapita Avenue, Woodbrook in the wee hours of morning on Sunday March 29. (Click HERE to view video). It starts with an irate female violently venting her frustrations on …
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