Tag Archives: societal change

Crime and the lack of personal security have featured in calypso through the years.  For example Caruso’s ‘Gun Slingers’ (1959) celebrates ‘beating them [criminals] with the cat’ while Sparrow’s ‘Royal Jail’ (1961) is about revenge as captured in the line ‘licks for them criminals’. If calypso is the people’s commentator, …

One group: burning tyres, pieces of wood, cardboard—debris really—in protest against the conditions of roads that are impassable or collapsing; or the absence of water via taps or trucks; or maybe it’s a bridge gone, cutting them off; or a fallen tree yet to be cleared; or a downed electricity …

‘Poor children are victims of circumstance/ In life they never really get a chance/Or have opportunities as privileged children do/ The road from the poor suburb to prison leads them/ From broken homes they are condemned to fail/ Their abusive and drug-addicted parents serving time in jail/ Their parents too …

“[…] The reality of Trinidad and Tobago does not allow women and girls to enter into public spaces without experiencing some form of fear and discomfort. “Socialisation of our men and boys must be acknowledged as a significant contributor to violence against women and girls, which must be addressed with …

As time goes by, I find myself increasingly preoccupied with revisiting childhood experiences. It comes from my belief that all that we are, all that we have become, is rooted in those gnarly years. It makes me think of mangroves and their intricate intertwining of robust and reedy roots, rising …

Building our future is not something we can delegate. Julius Caesar is quoted as saying, “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings.” As a post-colonial country, it is not difficult to make the case that somewhere in the depths of our psyche, …

“The resources were always there to curb crime, to make some effort to rein in a sector of people who have no regard for the majority. What was lacking was the will; the desire to make the country better and to do whatever it takes to achieve it. “And this …

“City life forces us to live outside of our comfort zone in many ways. We must share space rather intimately, and therefore learn to live and cooperate with people with different ways of thinking and varying religious, ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. “[…] The city is, in many ways, an incubator …

“Inequality begets further inequality as the elites furiously kick down the ladder by which they ascended, only lowering it to bring up their friends, families and allies. This happens everywhere but we may be more keenly aware here because of the political rivalry and our multi-ethnic makeup… “Jared Diamond, in …

Movement for Social Justice (MSJ) party organiser Akins Vidale makes a case for the Trade Union Movement (TUM) to be seen as a viable political third party: The pats on the back have been too many to count since the 2013 Local Government National Debate. However, on too many occasions, …