Guest Columns

“[…] We note that the European Union has been totally silent with respect to the voter suppression in the US and the attempts, which have failed so far, by Donald Trump, Michael Pence, Mike Pompeo and other top Republicans to carry out a veritable coup d’etat in the US by …

I grew up hearing an anecdote that the late former member of parliament for Diego Martin West, Johnny O’Halloran, and a contingent went to Venezuela to negotiate the purchase of a boat, and the only member of the contingent who could translate Spanish into English was the cook. So, the …

The following is the tenth column in a NJAC series on their contribution to Trinidad and Tobago society after the ‘Black Power Revolution’ of 1970: Reflecting on the 1970 mass people’s movement in Tobago brings to mind Lord Nelson’s calypso All Ah We Is One Family. Tobago’s entry into the …

“We will never bring disgrace to this, our city, by any act of dishonesty or cowardice, nor ever desert our suffering comrades in the ranks. We will fight for the ideals and sacred things of the city, both alone and with many. “We will revere and obey the city’s laws …

Our history records Trinidad and Tobago’s fisherfolk dodging bullets from or being arrested by Venezuela’s Guardia Nacional for supposedly being in Venezuelan waters. Today we continue to metaphorically dodge different kinds of bullets from our Venezuelan neighbours. For years, the back-and-forth confrontational posturing was a trickle—the fisherfolk dispute, or the …

“[…] The women of 1970 showed great strength in the willing acceptance of their new role and responsibility as part of the movement for a better nation. They stood firm and joined the struggle with men, in pursuit of a better nation for themselves and their children. They came to …

I shouldn’t have been surprised by the volume of responses to my last column on domestic violence and sexual abuse. They are obviously prevalent though we can only guess at the extent. Yet it takes a lot of courage for victims to speak out. It isn’t just the accompanying shame …

After 58 years of leadership in both parliamentary and mayoral elections, and 16 or 17 development plans, it has been decreed that the city of Port of Spain will finally be transformed into a shiny new metropolis in north Trinidad. It is a welcomed announcement, but like other similar declarations, …

She was born into a Muslim family in 1910, growing up in a compound surrounded by relatives. She would have been around 17 when she was married off and sent to live far away from home. Her chosen husband was cruel, miserly and violent. To deny her direct access to …

The book lay nestled among my collection of Caribbean writing. It came my way after I had run an appreciative review of it by Jarrel De Matas in UWI TODAY (August 2018). Having inserted it among books I’d already read, it got lost until a few weeks ago, when I …

The following column is based on the author’s participation in the online forum by the Trade and Economic Division of the Department of Economics, the University of the West Indies, St Augustine on the topic The Funding of Tertiary Level Education in Trinidad and Tobago: My favourite quote about education …

I remember when Barack Obama won his first term as US president in 2008. Late that night I heard a massive noise of joyful screams and applause from the neighbourhood, the moment his victory was confirmed. At that point, I knew we were in for a rough ride. In the …