Tag Archives: Eric Williams

“[…] The phrase ‘recalcitrant minority’ is one such case, particularly as it relates to Trinbagonian politics. Often labelled as a discriminatory and hateful phrase by sections of our society, research on the word recalcitrant reveals that the word itself has no sinister connotation. “How then did such a phrase become …

The letter ‘When would real equality come?’ by Anand Beharrylal, QC—carried in the Express Monday 15  June edition—reminds me of an Aaron Levenstein quote: “Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital.” His comments were suggestive but do not provide a full picture …

Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF head, in a conversation with the Washington Post last week described the economic situation brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic as a ‘crisis like no other’. For her, the impending crisis was a  ‘great reversal’ that was wrought with much uncertainty. She foresaw significant job losses …

“Every politician who has tasted power, and many who counted for little, has gone to war with the media. If they didn’t, that would signal that journalists were not doing their jobs, that they were too busy prostrating to power to do their duty to country.” Raffique Shah, 30 March …

“Attributing the Opposition’s awful stance on the Venezuela question to them being Indian is race-baiting, plain and simple. In the Caribbean, colluding and conspiring with foreign powers are hardly the sole preserve of Indians. “[…] Consider again the case of the late Prime Minister of Dominica, Eugenia Charles, who made …

I couldn’t resist beginning by paraphrasing from calypsonian Bally’s 1987 masterpiece ‘It’s party time again’: five years nearly done, so let’s ramajay… if you see ram goat, join the bacchanal, just to get your vote. I intended to sit this one out, but for the statement by US Ambassador Joseph …

The following column was written by Raffique Shah on 9 June 2000: IN 1970, I was the only Indian officer in the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment. I was also the youngest officer, having graduated from Sandhurst in July 1966, some four months after I had turned 20. When I returned …

In August 1962, the first Common Entrance group entered secondary schools and heard Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams say: “… you carry the future of Trinidad and Tobago in your school bag.” At QRC, there was a boy from Rio Claro, another from Princes Town (now president of the Old …

What the hell is History good for anyway? I mean really? Well I suppose the answer depends on what you use History for. Napoleon Bonaparte called it a set of lies mutually agreed upon, which is a very important point to consider when studying how the West has used ‘history’ …

“To be sure, the Mirror and other Choko newspapers had lost their impact more than a decade ago, because of the absence of leadership, which led to the lack of innovation and creativity even as the digital revolution became all-pervasive. “[…] Choko’s successors—journalists included—did not appreciate that the TNT Mirror, …

On October 12, the Cross Rhodes Freedom Project (CRFP), in collaboration with the Warao and Partners for First Peoples’ Development, staged a protest march against Port of Spain Mayor Joel Martinez’s vacillation on convening a forum for national dialogue on the CRFP’s call for the removal of Christopher Columbus’ statue …

In the lead-up to the 2015 general elections, the then Leader of the Opposition “went to bed” with the Trade Union Movement and they birthed an agreement. Post 2015, the now Prime Minister has crept away from his partners and abandoned the product of that union. Today, he is in …