Tag Archives: colonialism

“The great Karl Marx, for example, declared the Haitian Revolution ‘the most significant victory toward the advancement of universal freedom’. Without excluding the contribution of every ethnic constituency, the fact remains that, in the 20th century, African peoples maintained that leadership role. “According to [Dool] Hanomansingh and other like-minded activists, to include …

“The spirit of Independence and the Treaty of Chaguaramas which created the Caribbean Community are not dead. It sends a clear message to the world that the people of this region have the capacity to understand their past, the courage to confront it and the will and moral character to …

Let me say, straight out the box, I have no issue with Professor Bruce Gilley for the same reason I was pleased that Donald Trump won the US elections. I see the storm brewing online and the many calls for retraction, apologies and so on. Reaction was swift, as was …

“Class determines how they express their racism, that’s all. Poor racists are more overt, elite racists are more insidious”  (Facebook comment)  “[O]ur intellectual leaders have been so preoccupied with the campaigns against the hard-line white supremacists who make no compromise in their flaunting of Western civilisation that we have sometimes overlooked …

Right. Everybody who is NOT a millennial––and you of the Independence Generation in particular––I have one polite, humble request. Before 31 August, anywhere you pass and see the Red, White and Black flying, please, PLEASE stop, pull it down and hoist the Union Jack back up for me. Please. Seriously, …

MOST OF US ARE EMANCIPATED ALREADY. UNFORTUNATELY. No, I haven’t gone completely mad. I just thought I’d try to grab your attention and so make you understand the importance of understanding the power words have. Today is Emancipation Day when we celebrate the end of the enslavement of African people. …

“It’s curious he made no mention of The Diaries of Abbe Armand Masse, the French Catholic priest who on 30 April 1881 wrote that the marchers often ‘amuse themselves in a more or less noisy fashion but peace is not compromised’ but that year ‘by a sort of bravado, the …

What I established last week was that Trinidad and Tobago, like most small island states that were once colonised by imperial powers, relies heavily on imported foods for its sustenance. All our staples—grains (wheat, rice, maize), dairy products (milk, cheese, butter), sugar, edible oils, white potatoes, beans and pulses—come from …

So thorough has been the brain-washing that it is virtually impossible for many to connect our present dysfunctions to their obvious origins in the past. The social values and taste patterns that drive the high import bill, the historic fear that inhibits the productive sector and ostracises risk-takers, the power-seeking …