gdtrinweb

"To enjoy freedom we have to control ourselves." Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) British novelist and essayist. T his is a month bracketed by two contextually similar and aptly august occasions in the national calendar: Emancipation Day and Independence Day. These are celebrations based upon the concepts of freedom, self-determination and all the ideals, possibilities, and buoyancy attendant with such notions. We commendably celebrate these occasions with gusto: historic achievements which, even... Read Full Story

"A woman is like a tea bag- you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water." Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962) I t’s arguably certain that many don’t firstly think of Mrs. Kamla Persad-Bissessar as a woman Prime Minister but simply as the Prime Minister: a person who is now leader of our country. Admittedly, it has now become more difficult at times to discuss successes in the context of such traits as race, gender, and religion, given the opportunities and successes that have... Read Full Story

C ongratulations to our new and first woman Prime Minister, Mrs. Kamla Persad-Bissessar, and hearty congratulations also to the people of Trinidad and Tobago, our Elections & Boundaries Commission, the media, and to the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service for a smooth and civil transition of government. Mrs. Persad-Bissessar’s and the People’s Partnership’s 29-12 victory over Mr. Manning and the PNM (People’s National Movement) is readily reminiscent of the 33-3 victory of the NAR (National... Read Full Story

CARICOM Heads meet with Mr. Obama W ell, the 5th Summit of the Americas is over and it remains to be seen what benefits are to be derived from it. However, I, and I am sure, most would agree that, to paraphrase U.S. President Obama, it all depends on the actions of the member countries rather than just their words. This certainly has been the bugbear of international agreements of all kinds for many years. Many countries sign on to laudatory and grandiose statements, resolutions, protocols... Read Full Story

T he 5th Summit of the Americas is now underway in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (the first Summit was held in Miami, in 1994). The theme of the Fifth Summit of the Americas, is "Securing Our Citizens' Future by Promoting Human Prosperity, Energy Security and Environmental Sustainability." In line with this theme, the 5th Summit of the Americas Web site states “The focus of the Fifth Summit will be on human prosperity, energy security, climate change and sustainable development.” Given... Read Full Story

"People perpetuate themselves through the images they create." Errol Sitahal, Tony Hall from And the Dish Ran Away With the Spoon W ith the recent closure of Gayelle TV ’s News Department one wonders if there is any more fallout to come with respect to local media. This conjecture is by no means to cast any mal yeux (pronounced locally as: mal-jo) i.e. bad or evil eye, upon the local media fraternity but is simply made within the context of the current global economic downturn, which, of... Read Full Story

"If the people cannot trust their government to do the job for which it exists - to protect them and to promote their common welfare - all else is lost." Barack Obama A rguably, it can seem understandable from a government perspective, that when people do talk and write, complaining about all things government, that it seems as if such people are all anti-government. But governments, just like any other organisation or individual, are not perfect and must be able to accept and learn from fair... Read Full Story

U nfortunately, sometimes I believe I should have a blog just dedicated to crime as this is truly the recurrent issue for Trinidad and Tobago. Crime just seems to have a life of its own which continues virtually unabated and woefully unaddressed. Surely there are a host of other problems we face and need to tackle but crime is the one-true issue that keeps gnawing –no- chomping away, at whatever sense of basic civility and hope we have for our country. It has been so long that we have been... Read Full Story

T he arts, the economy, creativity, libraries. For the grammarians: please grant your indulgence for the opening fragment usage here as it is only used as a point of illustration. This is because although this list may seem like a disconnected lot, conversely, its components can be seen as pieces of a larger picture in relation to information and development. This disconnectedness is parallel in terms of the divisions we usually employ relative to human intelligence abilities and spheres of... Read Full Story

“Whenever the people are well-informed they can be trusted with their own government.” Thomas Jefferson W ith the campaign season becoming more intense with the presidential election just weeks away, many people surely have become more interested and aware of the ‘issues’ as presented in the news media. Many have become more anxious about their own pressing needs and who they see as the best candidate to address them and some also become more patriotic, dutifully weighing who they see would... Read Full Story