In 50 years of practice, I do not recall ever giving an interview on the courthouse steps about a case in which I had appeared before the court. Public interest in the Thema Williams matter did not permit my usual reticence. It has always been my position that my role …
Read More »Trinidad and Tobago’s populist moment: we need structural change; not a superman
Gary Griffith’s appointment as Commissioner of Police came with an eerie and uncanny realisation about the opaque and dysfunctional state of our institutions. Despite his political history, people were happy to embrace Griffith. And even though he has been on the job for only four months, are singing his praises. …
Read More »Crowne: Canada Supreme Court decision on Vice Media bears lessons for T&T’s press freedom
“[Canada Supreme Court Judge] Abella went to great lengths to emphasise the importance of press freedom in her concurring reasons. Her words are worth repeating: A strong, independent and responsible press ensures that the public’s opinions about its democratic choices are based on accurate and reliable information. This is not …
Read More »What we resist, persists; we must dig deeper into gender relations: Letters on domestic violence in T&T
“The latest research shows that men trace their right to beat women to patriarchal power over women, which they say, comes from religion and culture… Billions of—paid and unpaid—hours of training and education against domestic violence have not produced practical change. “[…] Although individuals have transformed and there is less …
Read More »Dear Editor: Is ‘UNC corruption’ largely a PNM sales gimmick to derail debate?
“A prominent political scientist devoted newspaper and academic articles to illustrating the UNC as corrupt and also darkly suggested an ethnic propensity to white-collar crime. He wrote: ‘For the UNC, politics is relative; everything is for relatives.’ “The party of all-ah-we-t’ief, Johnny O’Halloran and which spawned corruption-buster Gene Miles, had taken …
Read More »Anger, anxiety, disbelief, acceptance, nostalgia… Petrotrin employee says ‘goodbye’ for two generations
“I have mixed feelings. Anger, anxiety, disbelief, and acceptance take turns alternating in my mind. Nostalgia. “[…] I remember my first day as a trainee […] being yelled at in front of the entire shop by an older man in my first year, ‘Allyuh ‘oman only trying to take man …
Read More »Dear Abuser… if you love them, leave them alone: Letters on domestic violence in T&T
“Dear Abuser… I am asking you please, if you love them, leave them alone. Acknowledge that you are toxic. “Acknowledge that you have hurt and violated them in a way intimate partners never should, and leave them alone…” The following letter written by Rachael Amanda Espinet—who described herself as the …
Read More »Caribbean gender violence is a left-over from colonialism: Letters on domestic violence in T&T
“The Caribbean’s brand of gender-based violence is partly supported by the legacy of colonialism that manifests in race, age, gender and class relations. “The power construct of the plantation system included the ownership of bodies that transferred into the post-emancipation/post-indentureship entitlement of men and masculinities in domestic and social relationships.” …
Read More »Dear Editor: Baldeosingh suggests ‘gender feminists’ use ‘specious facts’ on domestic violence
“The available data suggest that 40 percent of women are abusive towards their partners, with an even higher rate likely to initiate violence. “This is why the other frequently cited statistic ‘that one in three women are victims of domestic violence’ is meaningless, since it does not take account of …
Read More »I was 17 when a man first threatened to rape me in Tacarigua: Letters on domestic violence in T&T
“I was 17 when I was first verbally accosted on the street. I was standing on the PBR at the Tacarigua intersection, when a man—probably in his 20s—who I had seen at the corner before, approached me. “He began: ‘Next time yuh come ’round here looking so sweet…’ Or maybe …
Read More »Is the advance of the CCJ now stalled? Daly examines issues blighting Caribbean court
The future of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is not a hot topic and I will soon return to our mainstream woes, including violent crime, which is still prevailing despite rounds of fat talk. It is necessary nevertheless to leave some record as to why, despite its 13-year existence and …
Read More »Judging Columbus through history (Pt 4): Genocide and white supremacy in Trinidad
The following is the last in a four part series by historian Dr Claudius Fergus on the enduring—and arguably unjustifiable—heroic standing of Christopher Columbus in modern society: Socialist thinker Karl Liebknecht compared European imperialism to a cyclone spinning across the globe, driven and sustained by its militarism that “crushes people …
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