View Point

“On the heels of the disappointing hands-off approach taken in the matter of the sexual harassment allegations levelled against Government-appointed Angostura Chairman Dr Rolph Balgobin, Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi and Minister Stuart Young have sought to robustly though ill-advisedly justify the alleged use of public funds to settle a matter …

“Which woman,” my decent, upstanding, well-behaved friend CJ enquired with a chuckle, “doesn’t want to start her day every day with a prick?” Kees was on the radio, the melodic strains of his “Sweet type of Love” filling the room. Coincidence? Perhaps… “Wanna piece?” she had asked, giggling and proffering …

The issue of homosexuality and same-sex relationships as it pertains to people of African and Indian descent is an extremely divisive one. As I pointed out in my preceding article, regarding African people, it is as deeply contentious in Africa as it is here in the Americas. Some of that …

In Part One, we touched briefly on my personal experience with American-born Evangelical Christian religions, their racist past and anti-tolerance messaging. We touched on how religion is historically used to erase and homogenise a culture for compliant assimilation into an empire and the impact it has on our multi-cultural nation …

In a powerful and moving maiden address to the nation she now heads, newly installed President Paula-Mae Weekes urged us all to “…confront the darkness and declare that it will not take over.” I wonder about her tense. From early boyhood, I have repeatedly heard that what is to is must …

Monday 19 March, 3:54pm. Charlotte Street. The shrill wail of a siren assails shoppers, motorists and pedestrians as a lone Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force vehicle bores a hole through the thick traffic, forcing drivers to hastily squeeze to the far edges of the road, making room where there is …

In England, the word black (originally spelt “blæk”), from its Germanic/Dutch root “blah”/“blaken,” first appears in Old English around 1210, meaning “absolutely dark, absorbing all light, the colour of soot or coal” [www.etymonline.com]. Interestingly, “blac” from the same root, meant: “bright, shining, glittering, pale.” Linked to fire, the two meanings …

“The English language has its roots in a savage historical racism and pride,” (Chris Searle, White Words, Black People, 1972). The words “black” and “white” in Searle’s book-title echo the dialectic in Frantz Fanon’s Peau Noire, Masques Blancs (1952). Indeed, Searle acknowledges his reliance on the English edition, Black Skin, …

Her Excellency Paula-Mae Weekes became the sixth President of the Republic on Monday last. She gave an inaugural speech that was universally well received. Her central theme was the question of what are we to do when “in the state of the State, we might see every reason to despair.” …

The following media statement by the Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT) on the proposed Cybercrime Bill was issued on Saturday 24 March, 2018: Today the Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago appointed a steering committee to address deep concerns regarding upcoming Cybercrime legislation which has the potential to …

“One late September weekend in 2017, a local TV news anchor ‘switched gears’ to a packaged story about a central Trinidad resident, whose home had been ‘ravaged’ by flooding, never mind he and his family were still living in it. The camera showed scenes of damage as the voice of the homeowner …

The idea of the rule of law is very old; it has been traced way back to the time of Aristotle (384 – 322 BC), who wrote that it was “better for the law to rule than one of the citizens […] so that even the guardians of the law …