View Point

“All of the things happening recently in the pan world, the national instrument status, the GI (Geographical Indication) certificate, pan month—all of these things hinge upon Trinidad being the birthplace of pan and it presupposes that we have the best quality instruments coming out of Trinidad.” This is one of …

Iron shackles bound the African enslaved people together as they journeyed across the Atlantic. They were bound tightly. These shackles created physical scars, but the emotional ones begun long before. The Africans were taken from their homes on various pretexts, never sure when and if they would return. Their pain …

“[…] India, in the 1990s, replaced the colonial names of its cities with their pre-colonial ancestral names. That country knows something about self-respect. “Christopher Columbus’ three ships on our nation’s coat of arms is a veritable symbol of the genocide and brutal barbarism that was ushered into the Americas with the arrival …

“[…] While I have no issues with our national emblems being reconsidered and redesigned, because that kind of thinking is long overdue, my quibble lies with how the decision was announced and arrived at—though not in that order. “[…] It also raises questions of oversight since it is usually the …

“[…] It is my view therefore that a decision to alter the Coat of Arms should not have been made by the political directorate at its party convention taking into account the implications for such a change, which is not the responsibility of any political party, but a responsibility of …

Pan Trinbago has been basking in a new dawn of support for pan in its birthplace. But for some of us there are still clouds hovering over the financing and sustainability of the steelpan, our national instrument. Political grandstanding will not dissipate those clouds. Primarily, we left a significant part …

“[…] What is this claim that human people have been thrown overboard? This is a case of chattels or goods. Blacks are goods and property; it is madness to accuse these well-serving, honourable men of murder. “They acted out of necessity and in the most appropriate manner for the cause. …

“[…] Imagine a system where those who have received fines for minor offenses, such as traffic violations or littering, or who have been convicted of petty crimes, are given the opportunity to contribute positively to their communities through community service. “This initiative would not only alleviate the financial burden on …

“What is truth?” retorted Pilate at Jesus’ trial (Luke 18:36). The Greek word for truth is aletheia, which literally means unconcealed and implies sincerity and factuality couched in reality. Mrs Karen Nunez-Tesheira submitted that my column on campaign financing was based on innuendo. Nunez-Tesheira indicated I painted “Johnny O’Halloran, presumably …

Joseph Biden, president of the United States, and our former Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who became our country’s constitutionally appointed leader of the Opposition in 2015, have something in common. They have been assessed as electoral liabilities. Biden’s liability was more precisely revealed by the regular opinion polls published in …

“Questions of silence always raise questions of memory. Who and what has been forgotten? Which peoples and events are downplayed? “[…] Memory is a site of conflict, ‘in which many contrary forces converge and in which the interactions between memory and forgetting are contingent as much as they are systematic…” …

“[…] What appears to have escaped the attention of many of our law-abiding citizens is the relationship between many violent crimes and the white-collar variety. “The foot soldiers and their gang leaders do not have the wherewithal to corrupt law-enforcement officials and, indeed, other key state officials and/or to import illegal drugs and illegal firearms. …