“[…] Despite the refusal of European governments to engage the issue, the moral landscape across the world has changed discernibly in favour of reparatory justice for native genocide and chattel slavery. “[…] An increasing number of Caribbean people are coming to terms with the true horror of racialised Chattel Slavery… …
Read More »Gafoor: Sir Hilary Beckles truly is the Caribbean’s Martin Luther King Jr
“[…] I have a dream; a dream in which the University of the West Indies upholds Sir Hilary [Beckles] as the Martin Luther King Jr of the Caribbean. “A dream where his phenomenal contribution to academia, sports and reparation justice for those who endured the dehumanising shackles of slavery and …
Read More »Dear Editor: Congratulations to Hilary Beckles on Peace and Freedom Award
‘… [This award] has come at a good time to stimulate regional governments and non-governmental organisations to refocus our energies on the issue of reparations. Caricom’s historic decision in 2013 to put reparations for chattel slavery and native genocide on its agenda gave impetus to this struggle for justice globally. …
Read More »Judging Columbus through history (Pt 1): Balancing facts and myths
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 …
Read More »Royal weddings, British colonialism, empire and reparations and Caribbean mindlessness and spinelessness
“The royal wedding is in itself an urgent reminder of the need for reparations. The extravagant lifestyles of the monarchic family draw upon ill-gotten gains that have their roots in slavery. The opulent wedding ceremony was also no doubt connected to wealth that came from the subjugation of black and …
Read More »From West Indies to Windies (Pt II): Fourth Rising? Where has the ‘natural talent’ got us?
The following is the second part of the text of a speech delivered by Charles Wilkin on the occasion of the launch of the latest book by Professor Hilary Beckles towards the end of last year. The book carries the title “Cricket Without a Cause—Fall and Rise of the Mighty …
Read More »From West Indies to Windies: Oh, how have the mighty fallen! Ten theories of decline
“As far as I can tell there are not many other people working effectively to [restore the soul of West Indies cricket and point the way forward] as the political directorate is missing in action and the current board charged with responsibility for our cricket is a waste of time …
Read More »CARICOM is two-faced on Haiti; Baldeosingh slams Beckles’ flawed logic in “s**hole” response
“Haiti is the only member of CARICOM whose citizens require a visa to travel to any other CARICOM nation. In other words, although CARICOM leaders pay lip service to Haiti, they also know that Haitians might leave their failed state—which is the diplomatic way of calling a country a ‘shithole’—and settle …
Read More »White tyrants, black struggles and Indian distortions; Dr Fergus responds to Hanomansingh
“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 …
Read More »The UWI agrees to change Milner Hall name; CRFP celebrates historic decision
“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 …
Read More »Dear Editor: UWI’s Milner Hall an enduring monument to post-colonial mindlessness
“Built in 1927, The UWI’s oldest hall of residence on the St Augustine Campus still pays tribute to a man who was in the vanguard of the genocidal late 19th Century European imperialist project in Africa, which brutally wiped out large numbers of many ethnic groups while using forced labour to plunder the …
Read More »Darren and the IPL: Best examines links between Bravo, Pooran, Lara… and the media
It brought Garry Sobers to the verge of public tears in Sri Lanka in 2015. Wherever Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh and Clive Lloyd and Viv Richards are in the world, it is almost certain to bring them to private tears. And it will make cricketing knights Frank Worrell and …
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