It wasn’t, we knew then, the best of times; it wasn’t, we now know, the worst of times. When, in July 1990, Yasin Abu Bakr opened a door and, in David Rudder’s well-weighted words, showed us our other side, like Adam and Eve, we went frantically in search of a …
Read More »Brutal breaching—Pt 2: X marks the 1990 spot but the enduring political question is why
Yasin Abu Bakr loves the soap-box. The witness box or the dock? Not quite so much. So at the post-27-July-1990-coup trial, there was no grand “History will absolve me” peroration. None was needed. Not in Clebert Brooks’ court. With no legal training, you would say that an amnesty signed because …
Read More »Brutal breaching of our maidenhead: bards, bandits, Burroughs, Bakr, Brooks
“Bring back the old time days,” Richard “Nappy” Mayers croons in the song of that name. “Used to be everyone/could afford to live right/Just to be nice/didn’t need no Paradise. “Used to be everyone/cared for each other/Lived like brothers/respected one another.” David Rudder punctures that balloon. “Oh how we danced,” …
Read More »Chasing Greatness868 (Video): David Rudder on Bahia Girl, Uzi diplomacy and High Mas
What is the pathway to greatness in Trinidad and Tobago? Musical icon David Rudder shares the secret of Bahia Girl, the aftershocks of the 1990 attempted coup, High Mas and what music says about our lives today.
Read More »July 1990 extra: An ex-Jamaat elder speaks out; how the shot was called on me
“I have earned the right to speak because of my commitment to Islam and because of the blood that gushed forth from me because of speaking out and being critical. “I speak on the authority of the four 357 magnum bullets from the gun that Mark Guerra gave to Quincy …
Read More »Yasinism—Part 2: The unravelling: Pyrrhic victory, greed, disillusionment and corruption of power
1990: A JAMAAT CHILD REMEMBERS—Part 2 Today marks the 27th anniversary of, in the splendid words of David Rudder, the night of the day when the prophets died” because “a man opened a door and showed us our other side.” To mark the occasion, Wired868 exclusively presents the second installment of a …
Read More »Master’s Voice: Between a marabunta and a jep nest; our two July days of infamy
Monday was the anniversary of that infamous jailbreak, two years ago, and I should originally have submitted this piece to be published on that day. But I think that it’s better if it appears today, between that 24 July anniversary and the anniversary of another infamous episode in this country’s …
Read More »Yasinism—Jim Jones without the suicide; portrait of a powerful imam
1990: A JAMAAT CHILD REMEMBERS This Thursday marks the 27th anniversary of, in the splendid words of David Rudder’s “Hosay,” “the night of the day when the prophets died” because “a man opened a door and showed us our other side.” And today marks the first anniversary of an as yet …
Read More »MASTER’S VOICE: The genesis of the Syria/ISIS exodus; Gilkes cites verse and chapter
So once again we’ve made international news…And again for reasons we rather we didn’t make de people international news. I mean we crave foreign acknowledgement and validation, but not so, dred. Bright and early Thursday morning, I see on my newsfeed an Al Jazeera story exploring why tiny T&T have …
Read More »Is the Gov’t being soft on ISIS co-conspirators in T&T?
Are Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi and the Trinidad and Tobago Government making insufficient use of available legislation in tackle the home grown terrorism threat? Attorney Farid Scoon raises some points of concern in his Letter to the Editor: A Turkish newspaper reports that nine citizens of Trinidad and Tobago are …
Read More »1990: A Jamaat child remembers the aftermath of the July 27 coup
Today is the 26th anniversary of that fateful day when, thanks to Yasin Abu Bakr and the other 114 insurrectionists, Trinidad and Tobago discovered, in the splendid words of David Rudder’s “Hosay,” “Uzi diplomacy (and) SLR love.” To mark the occasion, Wired868 presents an extract from Memoirs of a Jamaat Child, …
Read More »Police crank up whispering war against Jamaat in deadly Game of Thrones
It is getting hot in middle Earth. Today, a purported internal Police document was relayed from the Head of Special branch, which claimed that the Jamaat-Al-Muslimeen (JAM) was “moving arms and ammunitions to the North and San Fernando” and had planned to “target the Prime Minister’s residence” and free the …
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