Tag Archives: First Peoples

In 2014, Brij V Lal, an Indo-Fijian historian, at a Fiji Day of Remembrance said: “One of my life’s ambitions has been to remember what others have forgotten or chosen to forget—to give our people a voice and a modicum of humanity, to give them a place at the table …

“[…] In what could have been a ground-breaking and historic repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery, the Vatican instead released a series of political statements that sought to rewrite history, shield the Catholic Church from legal liability and shift the blame for the Doctrine of Discovery to governmental and colonial …

On the occasion of the 59th Anniversary of the Independence of Trinidad and Tobago, political leader of the Movement for Social Justice David Abdulah is calling on citizens and patriots to embrace the vision of the Second Republic offered by his party. It should be clear to all, says he, …

In honour of our fifty-eighth Independence anniversary, I visited Woodford Square, aka The People’s University, where seeds of Trinidad and Tobago’s Independence grew. But instead of feeling pride, I felt shame. Twenty tree stumps, envoys of once stately trees, left to rot without  love or dignity illuminated Marcus Garvey’s words: …

Are we truly a banana republic? Or have we gotten too accustomed to the imperial arrogance of US ambassadors? Is the government beholden to Spain to such a degree that we have to servilely kowtow to the absurdities thrown at us by Spanish Ambassador Señor Javier Carbajosa Sanchez? As other …

In response to Spanish Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago Javier Carbajosa’s statement that ‘removing the statue of Christopher Columbus in downtown Port of Spain would not right the wrongs of the past’, I, as a descendant of the First Peoples of T&T, write to challenge his view. To begin with, …

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 …

“The Carib Queen has never had any legal status under law… However, it is a title of tremendous significance within an indigenous culture in which women took care of their families and worked alongside their men—unlike other cultures where women were not treated equally. “[…] European colonisation saw the indigenous …

“[…] Jennifer Cassar worked tirelessly to sensitise us to the role and contributions of the First Peoples Community and continuously strived to preserve and revitalise Amerindian history and traditions.” The following press statement on the passing of Santa Rosa Carib queen Jennifer Cassar was issued by prime minister Dr Keith …

In many societies such as ours, there’s a class of people many—though not necessarily all—of whom have university backgrounds. I call them the “Defeatist Class” (DC). Whenever anything remotely progressive comes up, they surface to challenge ideas, customs and models that hold us to a period or paradigm meant to …

“Is it really proper that, when the list of 14 public holidays includes Indian Arrival Day and Emancipation Day, Eid-ul-Fitr and Divali, there should be no annual national celebration of the autochthonous group? “Is it really proper that, when the list of 14 public holidays includes Good Friday, Easter Monday, …