What the hell is History good for anyway? I mean really? Well I suppose the answer depends on what you use History for. Napoleon Bonaparte called it a set of lies mutually agreed upon, which is a very important point to consider when studying how the West has used ‘history’ …
Read More »Dear Editor: More analysis needed on US/Russia war-games in neighbouring Venezuela
As curious as I am about what’s happening in Venezuela, I’m even more curious about how said developments are analysed by my local media so as to raise the public’s level of awareness about this country’s position in global affairs. Venezuela president Nicolás Maduro never really impressed me, he’s no …
Read More »Gilkes: Why it is the LGBTQI community that’s pushing back; not the Church
“Those very people who have been nourished by godly doctrine, who instruct others in what they ought and ought not to do, who have heard the Scriptures brought down from heaven; these do not consort with prostitutes as fearlessly as they do with young men. “The fathers of the young …
Read More »Gilkes: St Akilah Speaking Sacerdotal Stupidness on Sex (again); why Christians get sex ed wrong
“One of my parishioners spent several years in Venezuela. He came back from there with a little boy whose mother he had left, but to whom he was not married. He had had the good luck at my arrival in the parish to marry a communicant. “The mother of this …
Read More »Gilkes: Is 11/11 about remembrance; or chain up? Black West Indians must tell our story of WWI
So on Wednesday night, I was a guest on the radio programme Indaba. You know the programme that discusses issues relevant to raising African-centred consciousness? No? The one that was once two hours but is now reduced to one because, let’s be honest, it’s not like there’s any issue about …
Read More »Gilkes: Republic reflections; pondering difference between ‘de-colonial’ and ‘post-colonial’
“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 …
Read More »Gilkes: Happy In-Dependence: reviewing 56 years of cynicism and self-hate
Happy birthday Iere; yuh tun 56… which means yuh mature, and with maturity comes reasoning and a clearer understanding of who you are and what you still need to do to reach where you want to go. But that’s when yuh mature, not when yuh eh sure of yuhself, confused as to …
Read More »Gilkes: Today Beetham, tomorrow…; residents were wrong but there’s a lesson worth learning here
It was bound to happen. What happened to Minister Fitzgerald Hinds in the Beetham was unfortunate, illegal and disrespectful. But it was all but inevitable, given a whole range of things including our society’s religious refusal to examine ourselves and our past and connect that to our present realities. So, …
Read More »Uhmm, Kes… Hello?! Gilkes explains why he takes exception to soca star’s new video
I’ve been a big Kes fan for ages. I love “Wotless” and I’m not sure if I can get enough of the song “Hello”. Its recently released video, however, is a whole different bag of worms. Don’t get me wrong, I’m always happy when our ‘kaiso’—no matter the genre—is given …
Read More »Gilkes: Message to the Barbergreen; the continuing struggle for emancipation
Despite my shameless semi-appropriation of Malcolm X’s “Message to the Grassroots,” this in no way suggests that I place myself close to the same league of this giant ancestor. This is just my paltry message to those in my country, particularly those who live where there isn’t much grass, far …
Read More »Dear Editor: Racist, dehumanising language and militarised approach to crime will make things worse
“There’s no serious analysis of the observation—that even the Acting Commissioner of Police once made—that ‘crime’ is as much a social issue as it is a law-enforcement/security issue. “No, it’s easier to use words like ‘pest’ and ‘cockroaches’, strip the criminalised elements of their humanity—which they themselves often do as …
Read More »Master’s Voice: Black labour pains: By the sweat of MY brow; thou shalt eat bread
“I have […] great doubts whether the Cooly and the African are morally and mentally capable of being acted upon by the same motives in this island on their first arrival as labourers are in more civilised countries… “The only independence which they would desire is idleness, according to their …
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