View Point

On Friday 15 February 2019, the Elma Francois Institute of Research and Debate (EFIRD) of Cipriani College of Labour and Co-operative Studies will present a special panel discussion titled ‘Understanding Venezuela: Caribbean Perspectives on Democracy’. This discussion is the first part of a series that will explore the implications of  the …

An Economist article (2011) defined ‘elites’ as people who shape the world without anyone noticing. The rich and powerful leverage their privileged status to exercise decisive control over the way society is organised and developed. I am thankful that Gregory Aboud has opened this discussion. While he did not define …

Our neighbour Venezuela and our own Tobago both remain in the news. The outcomes of their politics and ours will affect our quests for Dragon gas and ‘brands’ hotel rooms respectively. Common sense will have already told readers, even though we must try, how little influence Trinidad and Tobago and …

After digesting Gregory Aboud’s insightful commentary in the Trinidad Express, it behooves me to offer a retort. His “Silence of The Elites” piece is chicanery masked as concern for country and changing the status quo. Aboud may genuinely believe that he is offering a compelling and emphatic critique of his …

“Citizens of Trinidad and Tobago who are 60 years and older are exempt from paying the airport usage fees, usually called Departure Tax. But a recent instruction to the airlines by the legal department of the Immigration Office has modified this privilege and I think wrongly so. “The airlines have …

“The United States is staging emergency humanitarian assistance in the region in response to Interim President Guiado’s request for aid… “These efforts follow Secretary Pompeo’s January 24, announcement that the United States is ready to provide more than $20 million in initial humanitarian assistance to the people of Venezuela, as …

“[…] I consider it a very dangerous precedent that the Government can so easily take custody of people’s children. If the argument is that the boys need some sort of specialised care that the mother cannot provide, then why won’t they still placed with her and visited by relevant personnel?” …

“It cannot be right that we dutifully pay our bills—plus interest and often at considerable financial sacrifice—for what may be considered essential services in this current era without reciprocal accountability which is not even questioned by the media on most occasions.” The following Letter to the Editor on questionable treatment …

“What I find quite strange, though, is that nearly all every spokesperson and organisation and commentator taking this stance [of non-intervention in Venezuela] are the very same people who, 30 years ago, were equally adamant in calling for the governments of the world to take stern action against the apartheid …

In a move that beats US rapper Kanye West’s 2009 snatching of Taylor Swift’s mic at the VMA, Arthur Lok Jack—the surprise discussant at last Wednesday’s UWI’s event—hijacked what ought to have been a significant national conversation about foreign direct investment. Taking more than thirty minutes, Lok Jack berated the …

“Has [Arthur Lok Jack’s Associated Brands Group of Companies or] ABIL ever supported farmers in Trinidad and Tobago to cultivate and supply sugar for its snacks, corn for its flakes, coconut for its cream filling and shortcake, and rice for its rice crisps? “Has ABIL ever supported farmers in the …

In July 1995 the Bosnia massacre in the town of Srebrenica, took place. Invading Serbian forces killed 8,000 persons in five days—genocide in what was supposed to be a United Nations safe zone, occupied by UN peacekeeping forces. No outside help went in. An All Stars elder and a valued …