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Happy 43rd Birthday Trinidad & Tobago !!!
(http://www.family.org/pastor/images/oneuse/Fireworks02-130-animated.gif)(http://www.3dflags.com/media/icon/classic/t/3dflagsdotcom_trtob_2fawl.gif) (http://www.ttmissions.com/images/coatofarms.gif) (http://www.theatre.ubc.ca/images/fireworks_animated_3.gif)
I wish for peace and harmony in we land.
I wish for de negative elements (you know who you are) in our society to be washed away.
I wish for Guatemala tuh be crushed by de Soca Warriors on Saturday, September 3rd
Together we aspire, together we achieve
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BOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM......YEA TNT TNT TNT
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For de home struck Trinis like myself.God bless T&T and may his hand be upon us in these next two matches for FULL points.......Amen.
Allyuh did'nt know I is a deacon in preacher church ;D
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As only Trinbagonians can celebrate...we feteing for 43 years legally ;D
Happy Independence and Republic day T&T.
Lata and blessings and enjoy de day.
Richard G.
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BLESSINGS UPON OUR TWIN ISLAND STATE.....HAPPY ANNIVERSARY.
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Love, peace and prosperity to all my trinis in de mother land and abroad. May God continue to bless us and may we contiue to progress as a nation to secure a better tomorrow for our youth.
Finally, may the Almighty Father empower us to put de sweetest cut ass on Guatemala on Sept. 3rd 2005!
Go T&T... Go Warriors! :wavetowel: :wavetowel: :wavetowel:
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Love, peace and prosperity to all my trinis in de mother land and abroad. May God continue to bless us and may we contiue to progress as a nation to secure a better tomorrow for our youth.
Finally, may the Almighty Father empower us to put de sweetest cut ass on Guatemala on Sept. 3rd 2005!
Go T&T... Go Warriors! :wavetowel: :wavetowel: :wavetowel:
For real Firebrand...........HAPPY B'DAY T&T......... and yes we'll celebrate by Cuttin' some Guatemalan A$$ On Saturday......
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Happy Birthday T&T. We country goin through some real strife right now. Ah hope dat we GROW UP and not always take tings so lackadasical and instead develop de rich and vast potential we have as a people. Sometimes ah doesn't even want to read de papers wit de amount a crime bein reported but is a reality so I also hopin fuh a HEALIN of de country.
Goin to de WC could be a blessing for our country. A rallying point fuh we to concentrate and focus on all de GOOD we have. It could start right there on Saturday and build momentum.
Or it might be a temporary plaster to cover a serious wound.
Eedah way....wishin T&T all de best in this our 43rd year of Independence.
As Sentinel does say...Luv U T&T!!!
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Ah thank God for this nation...only 43 years old? Hmmm We are truly blessed....Father we thank you for keeping us free, we ask that you keep all them criminals and radical muslims in check. We pray that you give our leaders wisdom and courage to lead.
Let Mame and Tantie, Grand Pa and the children feel safe again in our land.....and bring us success on Saturday. In jresus name Amen.......
Royal your misss Deacon's meeting boy ;D...next week you preaching
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I 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th everthing said above!
Sweet sweet T&T
Lord how ah luv up my country!
Sweet sweet T&T
No better place I'd rather be!
Happy 43rd to all my proud & independent minded Trinis!
Let us never again be slaves to any other culture or country!!
Together we aspire & together we will kick Guatemala's ass on Saturday! 8)
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Happy Birthday my fellow Trinbagonians
44 great years!.....with many accomplishments.... Crawfie Jenny Wendy Ato Bovell Socawarriors....allyuh add tuh de list.
ok it edited :)
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Yeah man...bless up ! :beermug:
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How you leave out the Prince so ???? Edit that and put Lara one time!!
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Yes, congrats to a blessed country and people.
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:beermug: :beermug: :beermug: :beermug:
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Happy Bday TnT...
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How you leave out the Prince so ???? Edit that and put Lara one time!!
wha bout Ian Morris ;D
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How Independence comes "birthday" now? This I would like to know. Trinidad and Tobago was not "born" today, as we existed as a country for many, many years prior.
We did gain our Independence, however. So Tongue, stop talking tata. Wha birthday yuh talking bout? I guess Columbus "discovered" Trinidad as well, right?
Happy Independence Day fellow Trinbagonians.
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How Independence comes "birthday" now? This I would like to know. Trinidad and Tobago was not "born" today, as we existed as a country for many, many years prior.
We did gain our Independence, however. So Tongue, stop talking tata. Wha birthday yuh talking bout? I guess Columbus "discovered" Trinidad as well, right?
Happy Independence Day fellow Trinbagonians.
Well the islands existed from way back when and were inhabited by Amerindians......but the islands were not called Trinidad & Tobago. Those names were branded by the spaniards (Columbus) Trinidad (La Trinidad) is spanish for the holy Trinity (father, son & holy spirit) which was what Columbus was reminded of when he saw the trinity (three) hills.....his first sight of Trinidad from the sea.....
Tobago, I think is a degeneration of the word "tobacco" which was a cash crop upon re-discovery. (correct me if I'm wrong)....
so sure today is not the birthday of the islands as a physical landmass inhabited by Caribs & Arawaks.....
but it is the birthday of Trinidad & Tobago as an independent country (as we know it)
........I wid yuh boy Tongue ;D (except yuh forget Ian Morris ;D ;D ;D)
daz my lil history lesson fuh de day :beermug:
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Wha bout Stephen Ames...
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How Independence comes "birthday" now? This I would like to know. Trinidad and Tobago was not "born" today, as we existed as a country for many, many years prior.
We did gain our Independence, however. So Tongue, stop talking tata. Wha birthday yuh talking bout? I guess Columbus "discovered" Trinidad as well, right?
Happy Independence Day fellow Trinbagonians.
Oh gorm man. Yuh know wha de man mean? Why allyuh ha t tek ting so literal?
And yeah tongue.....yuh cyah leff out BCL....probably de fuss name on de list yuh call dey.
Den again...is bess yuh didn't call no name because man already chattin a setta assholery bout Ian Morris and Stephen Ames. Nex ting yuh go be hearin wha bout Hardest.
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How Independence comes "birthday" now? This I would like to know. Trinidad and Tobago was not "born" today, as we existed as a country for many, many years prior.
We did gain our Independence, however. So Tongue, stop talking tata. Wha birthday yuh talking bout? I guess Columbus "discovered" Trinidad as well, right?
Happy Independence Day fellow Trinbagonians.
Well the islands existed from way back when and were inhabited by Amerindians......but the islands were not called Trinidad & Tobago. Those names were branded by the spaniards (Columbus) Trinidad (La Trinidad) is spanish for the holy Trinity (father, son & holy spirit) which was what Columbus was reminded of when he say the trinity (three) hills.....his first sight of Trinidad from the sea.....
Tobago, I think is a degeneration of the word "tobacco" which was a cash crop upon re-discovery. (correct me if I'm wrong)....
so sure today is not the birthday of the islands as a physical landmass inhabited by Caribs & Arawaks.....
but it is the birthday of Trinidad & Tobago as an independent country (as we know it)
........I wid yuh boy Tongue ;D (except yuh forget Ian Morris ;D ;D ;D)
daz my lil history lesson fuh de day :beermug:
Today is the birthday of Trinidad and Tobago AS AN INDEPENDENT COUNTRY, not the birthday of Trinidad and Tobago on the whole. Â There is a difference.
To say happy birthday Trinidad and Tobago is to negate all the work that those who toiled PRIOR to 1962 did. Â So before 1962, was Trinidad and Tobago dead? Â Did it exist? Â The Water Riots, The fight for independence, other such pivotal moments in our history count for nothing then?
Come fellas, use the proper terminology.
Happy Independence Day Trinidad and Tobago.
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ah wonder if we dat independent? :-\ anyway :beermug:
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How Independence comes "birthday" now? This I would like to know. Trinidad and Tobago was not "born" today, as we existed as a country for many, many years prior.
We did gain our Independence, however. So Tongue, stop talking tata. Wha birthday yuh talking bout? I guess Columbus "discovered" Trinidad as well, right?
Happy Independence Day fellow Trinbagonians.
Well the islands existed from way back when and were inhabited by Amerindians......but the islands were not called Trinidad & Tobago. Those names were branded by the spaniards (Columbus) Trinidad (La Trinidad) is spanish for the holy Trinity (father, son & holy spirit) which was what Columbus was reminded of when he say the trinity (three) hills.....his first sight of Trinidad from the sea.....
Tobago, I think is a degeneration of the word "tobacco" which was a cash crop upon re-discovery. (correct me if I'm wrong)....
so sure today is not the birthday of the islands as a physical landmass inhabited by Caribs & Arawaks.....
but it is the birthday of Trinidad & Tobago as an independent country (as we know it)
........I wid yuh boy Tongue ;D (except yuh forget Ian Morris ;D ;D ;D)
daz my lil history lesson fuh de day :beermug:
Today is the birthday of Trinidad and Tobago AS AN INDEPENDENT COUNTRY, not the birthday of Trinidad and Tobago on the whole. Â There is a difference.
To say happy birthday Trinidad and Tobago is to negate all the work that those who toiled PRIOR to 1962 did. Â So before 1962, was Trinidad and Tobago dead? Â Did it exist? Â The Water Riots, The fight for independence, other such pivotal moments in our history count for nothing then?
Point taken but when you celebrate your birthday, do you celebrate it on the day you actually came into the world or the day when you were a recognizable zygote in your mother's womb?
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How Independence comes "birthday" now? This I would like to know. Trinidad and Tobago was not "born" today, as we existed as a country for many, many years prior.
We did gain our Independence, however. So Tongue, stop talking tata. Wha birthday yuh talking bout? I guess Columbus "discovered" Trinidad as well, right?
Happy Independence Day fellow Trinbagonians.
Well the islands existed from way back when and were inhabited by Amerindians......but the islands were not called Trinidad & Tobago. Those names were branded by the spaniards (Columbus) Trinidad (La Trinidad) is spanish for the holy Trinity (father, son & holy spirit) which was what Columbus was reminded of when he say the trinity (three) hills.....his first sight of Trinidad from the sea.....
Tobago, I think is a degeneration of the word "tobacco" which was a cash crop upon re-discovery. (correct me if I'm wrong)....
so sure today is not the birthday of the islands as a physical landmass inhabited by Caribs & Arawaks.....
but it is the birthday of Trinidad & Tobago as an independent country (as we know it)
........I wid yuh boy Tongue ;D (except yuh forget Ian Morris ;D ;D ;D)
daz my lil history lesson fuh de day :beermug:
Today is the birthday of Trinidad and Tobago AS AN INDEPENDENT COUNTRY, not the birthday of Trinidad and Tobago on the whole. Â There is a difference.
To say happy birthday Trinidad and Tobago is to negate all the work that those who toiled PRIOR to 1962 did. Â So before 1962, was Trinidad and Tobago dead? Â Did it exist? Â The Water Riots, The fight for independence, other such pivotal moments in our history count for nothing then?
Come fellas, use the proper terminology.
Happy Independence Day Trinidad and Tobago.
breds..u taking this way too serious. think of it as metaphor. not everything has to be addressed in a literal manner. wishing a happy 'birthday' to a nation is a common expression that is used by many a writer. It is a way of personalizing the country, and gives the greeting an informal feel, like greeting an old friend. nobody is negating anything or making light of the nation's history and to be honest, you are not saying anything we don't already know. I like the way you address our nation's history, and I personally would stick to Independence Day myself, but historical accuracy is not the point here. Given the context, people should feel free to express these things however they feel.
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How Independence comes "birthday" now? This I would like to know. Trinidad and Tobago was not "born" today, as we existed as a country for many, many years prior.
We did gain our Independence, however. So Tongue, stop talking tata. Wha birthday yuh talking bout? I guess Columbus "discovered" Trinidad as well, right?
Happy Independence Day fellow Trinbagonians.
Well the islands existed from way back when and were inhabited by Amerindians......but the islands were not called Trinidad & Tobago. Those names were branded by the spaniards (Columbus) Trinidad (La Trinidad) is spanish for the holy Trinity (father, son & holy spirit) which was what Columbus was reminded of when he say the trinity (three) hills.....his first sight of Trinidad from the sea.....
Tobago, I think is a degeneration of the word "tobacco" which was a cash crop upon re-discovery. (correct me if I'm wrong)....
so sure today is not the birthday of the islands as a physical landmass inhabited by Caribs & Arawaks.....
but it is the birthday of Trinidad & Tobago as an independent country (as we know it)
........I wid yuh boy Tongue ;D (except yuh forget Ian Morris ;D ;D ;D)
daz my lil history lesson fuh de day :beermug:
Today is the birthday of Trinidad and Tobago AS AN INDEPENDENT COUNTRY, not the birthday of Trinidad and Tobago on the whole. There is a difference.
To say happy birthday Trinidad and Tobago is to negate all the work that those who toiled PRIOR to 1962 did. So before 1962, was Trinidad and Tobago dead? Did it exist? The Water Riots, The fight for independence, other such pivotal moments in our history count for nothing then?
Come fellas, use the proper terminology.
Happy Independence Day Trinidad and Tobago.
oh gosh U....de man start ah thread wid good intentions and yuh come dry so like some chili bibbie... ;D....leh we just bask in de nostalgia nah and not get caught up in de terminology... :beermug: :beermug: :beermug: oh and tongue how yuh go leave out Giselle Laronde ;D
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How Independence comes "birthday" now? This I would like to know. Trinidad and Tobago was not "born" today, as we existed as a country for many, many years prior.
We did gain our Independence, however. So Tongue, stop talking tata. Wha birthday yuh talking bout? I guess Columbus "discovered" Trinidad as well, right?
Happy Independence Day fellow Trinbagonians.
Oh gorm man. Yuh know wha de man mean? Why allyuh ha t tek ting so literal?
And yeah tongue.....yuh cyah leff out BCL....probably de fuss name on de list yuh call dey.
Den again...is bess yuh didn't call no name because man already chattin a setta assholery bout Ian Morris and Stephen Ames. Nex ting yuh go be hearin wha bout Hardest.
hahaha...I was jess kixin' bout Ian Morris......but that 4th place was agonizing though....laawwd !!..he deserve a special mention ;D....in fact IAN MORRIS FUH PRESIDENT !!!! :D
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Happy "Birthday" Independence Trinidad and Tobago ;D
We have come a long way, but we still have a journey ahead of us.
Big Up!
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Birth of a Nation....our nation's dawning...Look 'Yout not today! ok ah lef out some people...so wham, allyuh kyah add tuh de list. doh spoil it nah :beermug: :beermug:
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look 'Yout not tuday! ok ah lef out some people...so wham, allyuh kyah add tuh de list. doh spoil it nah :beermug: :beermug:
hahahahahahha allyuh doh study it. Tongue is meh boy. ent manage? ;D
Add Dr. Eric Eustace Williams to that list one time please.
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God Bless my country.
Add Flex to that list, he making we country proud too, we never had such a wonderful, kicks-e and useful T&T football website in history and still going strong.
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;D ;D ;D ;D ;D Happy Independence Trinidad and Tobago
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To all the hard working people who love up the Country. Especially the good fathers who do not abdicate their responsibility and to all the Seniors who sacrificed for this Gimme Gimme generation. They are the true heroes as well as the celebrities that was mentioned
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It was a great year to be a trini no doubt, in my lifetime I have been blessed to live to see history unfold. HAPPY INDEPENDENCE T&T you will be forever my place I call home
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new heroes in Quow and Watkins gold medallists !!!
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my birthday is also on Independence Day ;D yes and I still feel de government should give meh ah gift since i was small :(
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Well is the 31st of August home.....and while i might not take on a thread about some other country's independence......I will always be mindful and respectful of mine.
Happy Independence Day Trinidad and Tobago.
And as a side question.......what stage of life would you consider our blessed country to be? Toddler...Adolescence......Adulthood....Geriatric.....what? and why?
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Happy Independence Day.
45 years and going strong.
May we all continue to say.
Home is where we belong.
:beermug: :beermug: :beermug:
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God bless our nation
By Marjorie Padmore
God bless our nation
Of many varied races
May we possess that common love
That binds and makes us One.
Let it be known around the World
That we can boast of Unity
And take a pride in Our Liberty.
God bless our isles
Of tropic beauty rare
Of flaming poinciana
And shady immortelle
The warm and sparkling waters
That beat upon our shores
Beat out a tune that seem to tell
We take a pride in Our Liberty.
God bless our leaders
Give them grace to guide
Bestow on them thy judgment wise
To rule our land aright
To keep the flag of freedom high that we may sing most lustily
We take a pride in Our Liberty.
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Happy Independence .. :beermug:
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my I also add
(http://users.rcn.com/alana.interport/anthem3.gif)
All the best TnT.
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Physically Independent Mentally Fettered
(http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u208/dragon1974_photo/trinidad_and_tobago-s.gif)
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Happy Independence all!!
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Fresh of my trinpad copy book
The Trinidad & Tobago National Pledge.
By: Marjorie Padmore.
I solemnly pledge
To dedicate my life
To the service of my God
And my country.
I will honour
My parents, my teachers,
My leaders and my elders
And those in authority.
I will be
Clean and honest
In all my thoughts,
My words and my deeds.
* I will strive
In everything I do
To work together with my fellowmen
Of every creed and race
For the greater happiness of all
And the honour and glory
Of my country.
_______________________________
*A remainder for us all especially the politicans.
Happy Independence to all, where ever you are,
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ah reach here late expecting tuh see some Happy Birthday messages to Trinidad and Tobago...but nutten. Anyway ladies and gents is Independence Day....leh we enjoy. :) :beermug: :beermug:
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Last year when man bawl happy bday T&T some soldiers start tuh hype up the thread wid ole talk about Trinidad being born b4 1962, and slavery, and emancipation, and Caribs and Arawaks and Columbus, and Colonialism, and who hornin' who and this, that and the other yadda yadda....... so that mus' be why men duck the topic...
Either that or it's in the general discussion ;D
Happy Birthday T&T!!!!!!
:beermug: :beermug: :beermug:
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Well is the 31st of August home.....and while i might not take on a thread about some other country's independence......I will always be mindful and respectful of mine.
Happy Independence Day Trinidad and Tobago.
And as a side question.......what stage of life would you consider our blessed country to be? Toddler...Adolescence......Adulthood....Geriatric.....what? and why?
go answer dat tomorrow...not today.
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God bless our nation
By Marjorie Padmore
God bless our nation
Of many varied races
May we possess that common love
That binds and makes us One.
Let it be known around the World
That we can boast of Unity
And take a pride in Our Liberty.
God bless our isles
Of tropic beauty rare
Of flaming poinciana
And shady immortelle
The warm and sparkling waters
That beat upon our shores
Beat out a tune that seem to tell
We take a pride in Our Liberty.
God bless our leaders
Give them grace to guide
Bestow on them thy judgment wise
To rule our land aright
To keep the flag of freedom high that we may sing most lustily
We take a pride in Our Liberty.
Great song....I remember learning it in cubs scouts... ;D
Happy Independence Day T&T
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anybody have a copy of Our Nations Dawning
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anybody have a copy of Our Nations Dawning
Our Nation's Dawning
By G. Carlton Sampson
Come, come away, hail to the day
This is our land's great morning
Birds in the trees waft to the breeze
Songs of our nation's dawning.
Hummingbird bright, lend your delight,
Ibis your scarlet feathers;
Kiskadee call, summon them all
This is a day of wonders!
O land of fairest beauty
We pledge our lives to duty
And vow this day to serve thee.
Flambouyant gay, make glad the day
Colourful blooms resplendent
Hibiscus hedge witness our pledge
And honour this day transcendent.
Fireflies bright, shine through the night:
Illumine our thanksgiving
Of this great day each heart can say
This is our Nation's Dawning!
Three sister hills, list to the trills
Echoing to high heaven
And from the sea, the blue Caribee
Breezes will join the revel.
Palm trees on high reach to the sky
While bells aloft are pealing
Man, bird and beast, earth, sea and sky
Raise chants of joy excelling.
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Happy Independence Day to all of you.
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LOVE YOU TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAPPY INDEPENDENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MAY GOD CONTINUE TO SHOWER HIS BLESSINGS ON OUR SWEET T&T !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THE BEST IN THE WORLD HANDS DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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happy independence day everyone...hope everyone has a good one
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happy independence Ierie(Trinidad & Tobago)
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neva mind crime rate high,corrupt officials,muslim extremist and ah jackass runnin de country,happy independence. :beermug:
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neva mind crime rate high,corrupt officials,muslim extremist and ah jackass runnin de country,happy independence. :beermug:
as they say "no place like home" and "home is where the heart is".
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bring back licks in school..........and borroughs
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Happy Independence Day sweet T & T. I really have to go home in a better time yes because years now I only going home in between some significant celebration in Trinidad. Well say wah I feel boss man go have to suffer come February yes. ;D
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Happy Independence Trinidad and Tobago
Ah know ah late but Sista Marvis does bring it home to meh :'(
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brAjR9rkThQ
allyuh sid down and take ein this for 4 mins.
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Thanks for the video
Dorrel Melda Claris
;D ;D
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Happy Independence Day to all and to Trinidad and Tobago!!! Together We Aspire - Together We Achieve
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Happy Independence day everybody , like dutty sat bring back Burroughs. I prefer dirty looks than dirty knifes.so we couold get back we sweet TnT .
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I vex me eh see no H I and was referred here because it full of shit talk. I agree because man askin 4 Burroughs to come back. Why all yuh feel drugs flowin like water and it have corrupt police. IS BECAUSE OF BURROUGHS
Any way 45 n.o.
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I vex me eh see no H I and was referred here because it full of shit talk. I agree because man askin 4 Burroughs to come back. Why all yuh feel drugs flowin like water and it have corrupt police. IS BECAUSE OF BURROUGHS
Any way 45 n.o.
see
ya fit right eeenn
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Thanks West I will have to drop by
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I vex me eh see no H I and was referred here because it full of shit talk. I agree because man askin 4 Burroughs to come back. Why all yuh feel drugs flowin like water and it have corrupt police. IS BECAUSE OF BURROUGHS
Any way 45 n.o.
Yeah but atleast he had them under control .
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So he provided d breathin ground 4 criminals and now that he dead and gone we have a problem and u talkin bout he had them under contro what utter rubbish. He was one of dem the leader of d pack.
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In the land of the blind the man with one eye is king .Plus yah can t blame he just so ,u ha no proof ,who tell yah that yah uncle steuppps . He would not distroy trini like that ,nah ah doubt that .Is really PNM with all them project they build .
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No I worked in d police service dat is how I know. I guess he was set up why he was charged 4 drugs.
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Which brings me back to my point .We know he was ah bad man ,who was involved in the system .He atleast coulda control them.Nobody could stop drugs ,who know maybe he was deep under cover ;D.Never the less everybody knew he run things from Maimi to Bogata ,they had to stop short ,now is ah set ah push overs . In the land of the blind ,the man wit one eye is king .
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So he provided d breathin ground 4 criminals and now that he dead and gone we have a problem and u talkin bout he had them under contro what utter rubbish. He was one of dem the leader of d pack.
weary I eh disagreein wit yuh dey nah.....But I eh know who else to bring back
I rather have ah draconian drugdealer leadin de police dan de current dunderhead
regardless of who in de commisioner seat it go always have drug dealing.......but innocent people wasnt gettin shot in dey house for ah gold chain in de night
Bring back Kojak
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As I said b4 I wuk police and d problems Paul etal have is because of burroughs. D man was a rogue and the crime nation was born under he watch. So all who feel that he should be back not thinking. Not to mention in 2007 yuh cyah b killin peeps just so.
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Ok point taken :beermug:
Bring back George Chambers and..... um???.......somebody help mih out here..dat nex fellah
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TT marks 45 years of independence (http://www.bbc.co.uk/caribbean/news/story/2007/08/070831_tt45.shtml)
Sterling Henderson
Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/images/2007/08/20070831163254trinidadoil203.jpg)
Trinidad and Tobago has benefitted from high world oil prices
Modern history began recording the story of Trinidad and Tobago in 1492 with what is accepted as its discovery by Christopher Columbus.
In 1797 British Colonial rule began and it was 165 years later that the now twin island state achieved Independence.
What should be expected some 45 years later? That’s the question as the republic marks the event.
Oil boom
Trinidad and Tobago's oil and natural gas reserves have helped it gain the title Godfather of the Caribbean.
The government recently boasted of reducing poverty levels to 16.7 percent and for some this is still too high considering the country’s resources.
Two weeks before the 2007/2008 Budget Presentation a report on the energy sector done by the American company Ryder Scott, predicted an exhaustion of the country’s natural gas reserves by 2019.
That resulted in many calls for the diversification of the economy with less focus on this sector which 'fuels' its existence.
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/images/2007/08/20070831163537ttnight.jpg)
Signs of economic progress in Trinidad and Tobago
The country is, however, considered a healthy democracy, with elections constitutionally due every five years.
The country's democracy has been secure, except for three noteworthy aberrations: the Black Power Revolution of 1970, a failed military uprising in the mid 70’s and an attempted coup in 1990.
This is not, though, to suggest that all is well on the most southerly of the Caribbean isles.
Racial tensions between the East Indian and African sectors of the population manifest most prominently in political arenas.
As a transhipment point in the international drug trade, illegal firearms fuel gang related violence and turf wars mar life on the characteristically laid back islands.
Measuring independence
Some of the country’s intellectuals have questioned the value of internal self-governance if you inherit the institutions of your coloniser.
Its features therefore speak of sovereignty and perhaps to a lesser extent independence.
Relationships with international lending agencies, new forms of imperialism and influential super-powers to some extent all dictate the pace of development.
No man is an island and this is as well true of nation states.
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/images/2004/02/20040221163156dsc04908203.jpg)
Trinidad is world-famous for its annual carnival
Having given the world the steel pan, limbo, calypso and so much more Trinidad and Tobago has a lot to be proud of.
It is a relatively young nation that may do well to realise that its indigenous products are the products that have so far brought it its greatest acclaims.
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Happy Independence all
I was driving to NY friday night and found this radio station was playing some historic calypso's.
10 yrs old by Chalkdust is only one Recall specfically but they were others by The Mighty Duke and Kitchner. Classic gems that I wish I was more knowledgeable about.
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Happy 46th T&T! Come on man, as de years go by we supposed to get mature and wiser. Do yuh do!
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Well done TnT! Lets clean-up we act.
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Happy Independence T&T...and to all Trinbagonians living across to the globe :beermug: :beermug:
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HAPPY 46 4 get d parade dis morning as I woulda b in church anyway but have 2 take in d OTT and c who gettin it. Dey blank meh nominee 4 ah award but I go deal wit dem nxt yr
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Well yeah! Big it up longside de growing pains.
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just to let all yuh know, i is ah independence day baby...happy b'day to me too ;D
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I shame tuh say that year after year I keep forgetting we Independence Anniversary until somebody mention it. Wasn't until I was in ah fete on Sunday and de deejay mention it that I ketch mihself.
Anyways, large up TnT... we growing, but we ent reach yet.
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just to let all yuh know, i is ah independence day baby...happy b'day to me too ;D
Happy belated breds
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A chinee virgo niceness
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Lawless at 46
By Raffique Shah
Sunday, August 31st 2008
If Prime Minister Patrick Manning and his government had a real grasp of the shaky legs on which this country wobbles in its 46th year of independence, they would have cancelled all the pomp and ceremony and celebrations, and instead declare today a Day of Mourning. No, stupid: it’s not the economy I refer to. That is booming-which is part of the problem. It’s the people who make up this nation, the majority among us, who are guilty of turning what should and could have been a paradise-on-earth into a failure in too many ways to count.
Take the recurring problem of flooding, the most recent of which I witnessed first-hand, since I live in Claxton Bay. Works Minister Colm Imbert blamed the deluge that almost drowned the district on unusually heavy rainfall (I can attest to that) and man-made problems. Well, we cannot control nature, nor are we, like most countries worldwide, inclined to take measures to mitigate the effects of global warming. But we certainly can regulate the rampant lawlessness that contributes to this annual problem.
It suddenly dawned on Imbert, after the Claxton Bay deluge that left the country cut in half, that people “build homes and other structures outside of the regulations.” Well, excuse me, Rip-van-Imbert: have you been asleep for 46 years of your life? This is not only a problem of errant individuals who build homes on natural watercourses, only to cry blood later when they are flooded out year after year. More damaging, it’s delinquency on the part of government and its agencies that allow entire housing developments to be built on river-beds. The lawlessness can be seen by the blind, to use a Trini-pun: all those mansions that are climbing up the Northern Range (and now Central), higher and higher, are not invisible. They don’t just appear, fully furnished, overnight.
Where are the regulatory authorities that either granted permits to build, or which did not, but refuse to intervene? One of the most prestigious, not to add outrageously expensive, housing estates in the east, was built in an area that was once a combination of watercourses and paddy-fields. Did officials at Town and Country Planning grant the developers a permit? If not, why did they not intervene before the first bulldozer moved in to clear the swamp? And the developers cannot claim to have rectified the problems: year after year gullible homeowners and commercial tenants suffer immense flood damage.
Throughout the country people ignore or defy the laws governing construction with no fear of being prosecuted, of having their structures demolished. I recall one ‘bigshot’ actually diverting the Couva river to claim more land: he stopped not because any agency intervened. I, as a journalist, clambered down the banks of the river to photograph what he was engaged in, published a story, and maybe out of shame he stopped.The lawless, rich and poor, do as they please when it comes to interfering with watercourses, knowing they will escape unscathed. People make reports to regional corporations, to the police, to Town and Country. No action is ever taken.
Besides this disgraceful, unacceptable behaviour of those who should know better, we are now sinking into lawlessness on the roads that is the cause of so many deaths of the innocent, since those who cause the carnage drive away to kill again another day. Scrap dealers pile junk on public roadways, or so close to the verges, they become deadly. Who intervenes? Do we need to look far away to find causes of the deadly dengue outbreak? The culpable are all around us-even the victims themselves, or their neighbours.
When we talk crime, we think only of the mindless gunmen who are becoming more brazen than ever before. Imagine someone having the gall to shoot at a target outside a court: what next-a siege of police headquarters? But crime and lawlessness extend far beyond the gunmen that have made our lives worthless. Those who discard junk or even their status-symbol “purified water” containers into drains, are more criminal than gunmen. The latter may kill a few of their fellow-gangsters. The former inflict millions of dollars of damage on law-abiding citizens, on farmers who answer the call to produce more local food.
A few days ago I joined a queue at a supermarket to pay for my purchases. One man ahead of me had many items, so those behind knew we’d be delayed. Another jackass behind, seemingly half-drunk but wanting to pay for beer to further “badden” his head, just jumped ahead and demanded to have his grog cashed. I looked at him and thought: should I cross a right-hook to his nose and floor him? In my younger days I might have done just that. But I am more mature, 46-plus-16, so I acted with restraint.
The nation is today 46 years old. I don’t know we have matured with age. Government, its many agencies, our politicians and far too many of our citizens have embraced lawlessness as a way of life. Tell me: what is there to celebrate?
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Happy Republic Day Trinidad. Today is also the birthday of Dr. Eric Williams.
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trini still cuttin teeth.
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Happy Rep day to Sweet T&T.."every creed and race find an equal place and may GOD bless our nation"
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I am not a big repub, day fan. I think it is a wasted holiday. It should be the same day as independence. The reasons I don't pay attention to this day is that we are not a full-fledge republic. After Abu-Bakr appealled to the Privy Council and win I realised we are a f---king joke republic. The Privy Council still has he last word in all cases. Then, this day happens to be Eric birthday!!!! You tell me. Father of the nation!!! They should have called it Eric Williams day.
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Father of the nation!!! They should have called it Eric Williams day.
Yes :applause:
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The 1962 Independence Day Address
Monday, August 31 2009
Dr. Eric Williams delivered the following speech to the nation over the radio on August 31, 1962, the first day of Trinidad and Tobago’s independence from Great Britain:
Fellow Citizens,
It is a great honour to me to address this morning the citizens of the Independent Nation of Trinidad and Tobago as their first Prime Minister. Your National Flag has been hoisted to the strains of your National Anthem, against the background of your National Coat of Arms, and amidst the beauty of your National Flower.
Your Parliament has been inaugurated by Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal, the representative of Her Majesty the Queen. You have your own Governor General and your own Chief Justice, both appointed on the advice of your own Prime Minister. You have your own National Guard, however small.
You are now a member of the Commonwealth Family in your own right, equal in status to any other of its members. You hope soon to be a member of the World Family of Nations, playing your part, however insignificant, in world affairs. You are on your own in a big world, in which you are one of many nations, some small, some medium size, some large. You are nobody’s boss and nobody is your boss.
What use will you make of your independence? What will you transmit to your children five years from today? Other countries ceased to exist in that period. Some, in much less time, have become totally disorganised, a prey to anarchy and civil war.
The first responsibility that devolves upon you is the protection and promotion of your democracy. Democracy means more, much more, than the right to vote and one vote for every man and every woman of the prescribed age. Democracy means recognition of the rights of others.
Democracy means equality of opportunity for all in education, in the public service, and in private employment—I repeat, and in private employment. Democracy means the protection of the weak against the strong. Democracy means the obligation of the minority to recognise the right of the majority. Democracy means responsibility of the Government to its citizens, the protection of the citizens from the exercise of arbitrary power and the violation of human freedoms and individual rights. Democracy means freedom of worship for all and the subordination of the right of any race to the overriding right of the human race. Democracy means freedom of expression and assemble of organisation.
All that is Democracy. All that is our Democracy, to which I call upon all citizens to dedicate themselves on this our Independence Day. This is what I meant when I gave the Nation its slogan for all time: Discipline, Production, Tolerance. Indiscipline, whether individual or sectional, is a threat to democracy. Slacking on the job jeopardises the national income, inflates costs, and merely sets a bad example. The medieval churchmen had a saying that to work is to pray. It is also to strengthen our democracy by improving our economic foundations.
That democracy is but a hollow mockery and a gigantic fraud which is based on a ruling group’s domination [of] slaves or helots or fellaheen or second class citizens or showing intolerance to others because of considerations of race, colour, creed, national origin, previous conditions of servitude or other irrationality.
Our National Flag belongs to all our citizens. Our National Coat of Arms, with our National Birds inscribed therein, is the sacred thrust of our citizens. So it is today, please, I urge you, let it always be so. Let us always be able to say, with the Psalmist, behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.
United at home in the common effort to build a democratic Nation and ostracise outmoded privileges, let us present to the outside world the united front of a Nation thinking for itself, knowing its own mind and speaking its own point of view.
Let us take our stand in the international family on the basic principles of international rectitude. When our time comes to vote, let it always be a vote for freedom and against slavery, for self-determination and against external control, for integration and against division.
Democracy at home and abroad, the symbol of it is our Parliament. Remember fellow citizens, we now have a Parliament, we no longer have the colonial assemblies which did not have the full rights of a Parliament of a sovereign country. The very name “Parliament” testifies to our new Independent status. By the same token, however, we at once become the object of comparison with other Parliamentary countries, inside and outside the Commonwealth.
This is a consideration which involves not only the Members of Parliament but also the individual citizen. The Members of Parliament have the traditional Parliamentary privileges guaranteed in the Constitution. The Speaker, the symbol of the power of Parliament, has his status guaranteed in the Order of Precedence.
ADDRESS from Page 4
We shall soon have a Privileges Bill protecting and prescribing the powers of Parliament itself. Measures are being taken to establish the responsibility of Parliament in the field of external relations.
The Constitution recognises the position of the Leader of the Opposition and the normal parliamentary convention of consultation between Government and Opposition are being steadily developed and expanded.
The Constitution itself, Independence itself, represent the agreement of the two political parties on the fundamental question of national unity.
The ordinary citizen must recognise the role of the Parliament in our democracy and must learn to differentiate between a Member of Parliament, whom he may like or dislike, and the respect that must be accorded to that same Member of Parliament ex-officio.
I call on all citizens from now on to accord the highest respect to our Parliamentary system and institutions and to our Parliament itself.
Democracy, finally, rests on a higher power than Parliament. It rests on an informed and cultivated and alert public opinion. The Members of Parliament are only representatives of the citizens. They cannot represent apathy and indifference. They can play the part allotted to them only if they represent intelligence and public spiritness.
Nothing has so demonstrated in the past six years the capacity of the People of Trinidad and Tobago than their remarkable interest in the public affairs. The development and expansion of that interest is the joint responsibility of the Government, the Parliament, the political parties and relevant civic organisations.
Those, fellow citizens, are the thoughts which, on my first day as Prime Minister, I wish to express to you on Independence Day. Your success in organising the Independence which you achieved will exercise a powerful influence on your neighbours with all of whom we are likely to have close associations in the next few years, the smallest and nearest, as part of our Independent Unitary State, the larger and more distant as part of the wider and integrated Caribbean community. Problems of difficulties there will be. These are always a challenge to a superior intelligence and to strength of character.
Whatever the challenge that faces you, from whatever quarter, place always first that national interest and the national cause. The strength of the Nation depends on the strength of its citizens. Our National Anthem invokes God’s blessings on our Nation, in response to those thousands of citizens of all faiths who demanded God’s protection in our Constitution.
Let us then as a Nation so conduct ourselves as to be able always to say in those noblest and most inspiring words of St. Paul, “By the Grace of God we as people are what we are, and His Grace in us hath not been void.”
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Our National Flag belongs to all our citizens. Our National Coat of Arms, with our National Birds inscribed therein, is the sacred thrust of our citizens. So it is today, please, I urge you, let it always be so. Let us always be able to say, with the Psalmist, behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity.
We must never forget that.
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Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
August 30, 2009
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On behalf of the people of the United States, I would like to congratulate the people of Trinidad and Tobago as they celebrate forty-seven years as an independent nation on August 31. President Obama and I had the pleasure of visiting Trinidad and Tobago in April for the Summit of the Americas and we were grateful for the warmth and hospitality of the people of these beautiful islands. We value the partnership between the United States and Trinidad and Tobago, which is based on mutual respect and mutual interest. Our two nations have much in common – our values, our history, and our hopes for a brighter future for the people of our Hemisphere. Many families in the United States trace their roots to Trinidad and Tobago and they have contributed so much to our culture and our prosperity.
Our warmest wishes will be with the people of Trinidad and Tobago as they take part in Independence Day parades and commemorations. The National Awards presented at the President’s House will celebrate the spirit and accomplishments of a proud nation. And the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting will once again provide Trinidad and Tobago with a well-deserved showcase on the world stage.
On this historic occasion, let me reaffirm the commitment of the United States to work together with Trinidad and Tobago to strengthen and deepen our partnership.
Trinidad and Tobago Independence Day
__________________
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Thanks Hillary
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i wonder who really writes these things..
do they have templates and jsut fill in the blank with platitudes and recent happenings?
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i wonder who really writes these things..
do they have templates and jsut fill in the blank with platitudes and recent happenings?
That sound about right.
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OJTs who just graduate.
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I thought it was decent man. thanks hillary. better dan nuttin. I goh have yuh in mind fuh de independence. Happy independence day everybody!
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Thanks HILLS
Happy Independence Day to ALL
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Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Washington, DC
August 30, 2009
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On behalf of the people of the United States, I would like to congratulate the people of Trinidad and Tobago as they celebrate forty-seven years as an independent nation on August 31. President Obama and I had the pleasure of visiting Trinidad and Tobago in April for the Summit of the Americas and we were grateful for the warmth and hospitality of the people of these beautiful islands. We value the partnership between the United States and Trinidad and Tobago, which is based on mutual respect and mutual interest. Our two nations have much in common – our values, our history, and our hopes for a brighter future for the people of our Hemisphere. Many families in the United States trace their roots to Trinidad and Tobago and they have contributed so much to our culture and our prosperity.
Our warmest wishes will be with the people of Trinidad and Tobago as they take part in Independence Day parades and commemorations. The National Awards presented at the President’s House will celebrate the spirit and accomplishments of a proud nation. And the upcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting will once again provide Trinidad and Tobago with a well-deserved showcase on the world stage.
On this historic occasion, let me reaffirm the commitment of the United States to work together with Trinidad and Tobago to strengthen and deepen our partnership.
Trinidad and Tobago Independence Day
__________________
http://www.state.gov/secretary/rm/2009a/08/128444.htm
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Formalities formalities, i would much rather know how she really feels about our twin island banana republic.
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Cops plan to boycott Independence parade
Published: 25 Aug 2010
With only five days away before T&T’s celebration of its 48th anniversary of becoming an independent nation, the general council of the Police Social and Welfare Association has taken the decision to boycott the annual Independence Day parade. Not only would they not be participating and attending the celebration but an immediate halt to all overtime work is also part of the council’s plan of major protest action. The decision comes after failure to increase salary and compensation for overtime due to officers, among other issues. A report on CNC3 last night quoted president of the association Sgt Anand Ramesar as saying officers have had enough of empty promises and disrespect. He also stated officers have reached a boiling point and so a strong message must be sent, not only to the police executive but also to the Minister of National Security and other relative officials.
He added that the salary being paid to police officers have not been finalised and the association believed officers could not continue to function on a 2007 salary in 2010. “In some cases officers have not received overtime payments in excess of a year. This is exploitation of officers,” said Ramesar. Ramesar, who had been in marathon meetings with the general council and other officials, said the recent announcement regarding the million dollar salary to be paid to new Commissioner of Police Dwayne Gibbs and the response of the Prime Minister and other senior Cabinet ministers to that reached the breaking point.
Apart from that, he said, the recent killings of officers, including the latest—the murder of PC Jason Thomas, a municipal police officer who was killed while plying his taxi—further angered officers. The association said nothing was being said to officers to address their concerns and there appeared to be no sign of resolution on the table. “Because of this all police officers will no longer work the extra 12 hours overtime, which was only recently hailed by the police executive as the main reason for the largest number of narcotics and weapons being seized in just one week,” said Ramesar. He said all police officers have been told to boycott the Independence Day celebrations. “This is the first step and further action would be taken by police officers,” warned Ramesar.
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woopdeefackingdoo... dey done boycotting the people of the country for years now with the pretense of protection and service.
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The national parade is done as national service. The Police cannot boycott the event as it would be considered industrial action which is prohibited by members of the protective services. The association knows this and just using the opportunity to grand charge on the government through the media.
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woopdeefackingdoo... dey done boycotting the people of the country for years now with the pretense of protection and service.
I get yuh point loud an' clear....................but still from d time d COP salary became public knowledge I knew the shit would hit d fan................we going an' pay two man ah set ah money, when ah much better idea would have been to retrained d trainers and d officers, bring ah team ah police training experts to give dem d trainin dey need
97% ah dem fellas cyah properly secure ah crime scene
cyah properly gather and secure evidence.
couldn't investigate dey ass out of ah latrine in pure daylight ..........wit out a "tip-off"
seems to have no clue how to handle accident and emergency...........ah policeman threaten to arrest people dat was tryin to resuscitate ah drownin victim not to long ago ???
.............and we bringin dese two men to do what exactly, what will they bring to the table in terms of getting our policemen up to scratch.......yuh not hearin nutten.
ah realise is slightly outside d point but it all comes to d issue of self worth ...................and as crooked as some ah dem is it jus feel like d govt and PSC take ah massive dump on dey head
grand charge or not but so it go..........
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from d time d COP salary became public knowledge I knew the shit would hit d fan...........
Lefty...Yuh on d money dey ....dem cops must be cussing now.....now self dey aint want to serve in d service...and if we to put we self in dem cops boots..we might feel d same malice
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The national parade is done as national service. The Police cannot boycott the event as it would be considered industrial action which is prohibited by members of the protective services. The association knows this and just using the opportunity to grand charge on the government through the media.
They could work to rule and/or sick out.
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The national parade is done as national service. The Police cannot boycott the event as it would be considered industrial action which is prohibited by members of the protective services. The association knows this and just using the opportunity to grand charge on the government through the media.
They could work to rule and/or sick out.
All dey have 2 to is sent a sick leave for tue.
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The national parade is done as national service. The Police cannot boycott the event as it would be considered industrial action which is prohibited by members of the protective services. The association knows this and just using the opportunity to grand charge on the government through the media.
They could work to rule and/or sick out.
Their Association President said the parade is mandatory for some (he didn't specify which officers) but voluntary for most.....
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The national parade is done as national service. The Police cannot boycott the event as it would be considered industrial action which is prohibited by members of the protective services. The association knows this and just using the opportunity to grand charge on the government through the media.
They could work to rule and/or sick out.
Their Association President said the parade is mandatory for some (he didn't specify which officers) but voluntary for most.....
D FDO'S -First Division Officers probably mandadory and yes they are peeps who like 2 Drill so dey volunteer but how u plannin 2 unvolunteer at dis hr?
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The national parade is done as national service. The Police cannot boycott the event as it would be considered industrial action which is prohibited by members of the protective services. The association knows this and just using the opportunity to grand charge on the government through the media.
They could work to rule and/or sick out.
Their Association President said the parade is mandatory for some (he didn't specify which officers) but voluntary for most.....
D FDO'S -First Division Officers probably mandadory and yes they are peeps who like 2 Drill so dey volunteer but how u plannin 2 unvolunteer at dis hr?
Mih eh really taking dem orn is only mouth they have.....
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Independence Message from the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, the Honourable Kamla Persad-Bissessar to nationals of Trinidad and Tobago on the occasion of the 48th Independence Anniversary of Trinidad and Tobago
On the occasion of our 48th Anniversary of Independence, it gives me great pleasure to extend warm greetings to all nationals of Trinidad and Tobago, currently residing away from the beautiful shores of our twin-island Republic. From my own experience, I know that it is on these special occasions that you feel more than a twinge of nostalgia for home; when the colours – red, white and black assume an even greater importance and the bond among non-resident nationals grows even stronger.
As you celebrate our Nation’s 48th Independence Anniversary, I encourage each of you to be true to our national watch words, “Discipline”, “Tolerance”, “Production”. Let us use these simple but powerful words to guide our daily interactions and to define us as a country and a people committed to the highest ethical standards personally and professionally.
Forty-eight years ago a small twin-island territory dared to imagine that it could move forward on its own, “with boundless faith” in its destiny. We took a leap of faith into the unknown, unsure of what we would encounter but certain that we would gain more by treading the path of independence. Today, that audacity to believe that we had the power within us to take control of our lives has resulted in a wonderful story of change, innovation and creativity.
Out of the debris of colonialism we have emerged a community of people at once resilient and resourceful, determined to build a strong, sovereign Nation. Our task now, as nationals of an independent Trinidad and Tobago, is to continue to channel that determination into a building a society which cherishes life, honours diversity, generates prosperity, encourages innovation and acts with compassion to its most vulnerable citizens.
To you, our nationals abroad, I also charge with the responsibility to ensure that Trinidad and Tobago does not gradually recede from the intellectual and cultural horizons of the new generations growing up overseas.
The culture and values of T&T must be transmitted to the younger generations making new homes in distant lands. These are the intangible ties that bind and influence who we are –“of Trinidad and Tobago parentage or heritage” must be spoken often and with pride.
As a young Nation, our journey of exploration and unexpected discoveries has only just begun. How that journey will end is entirely up to us. Let us strive towards a destination of prosperity, peace and security.
I wish you a Happy Independence. God Bless You and God Bless Our Nation.
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Hmmmm. It didn't directly state return and give back etc. Hmmm. Pretty pragmatic on that score.
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Out of the debris of colonialism we have emerged a community of people at once resilient and resourceful, determined to build a strong, sovereign Nation.
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Imagine how we might have been if we used to follow our watchwords.
Well...despite what...Happy Independence. Tings eh perfect..but...I cant think of anywhere else i would rather be.
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(http://static.photo.net/attachments/bboard/00J/00JgeM-34625084.jpg)
Happy Independence day to all members of socawarriors.net. Just out of curiosity I would like to know how the foreign based usually celebrate Independence Day.
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Imagine how we might have been if we used to follow our watchwords.
Well...despite what...Happy Independence. Tings eh perfect..but...I cant think of anywhere else i would rather be.
:applause: :beermug:
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It very difficult to celebrate Independence day in foreign. If it on a Friday, Sat, Sun. There are activities(Independence balls) in the various cities. But weekday Independence day kinda hard to commemorate. That being said, I am really proud of TT. We are a young country and have done some good and extraordinary things. But we have tremendous strides to make for the betterment of the nation. I really feel patriotic about Independence.
Now republic day, I ain't really care about too much. After the Abu Baka situation and seeing how he went to the privy Council to save he neck, and we had to follow that order. What kinda joke republic we have. It is also a waste of holiday. It should have been celebrated with Independence day. Blame Eric on that one.
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Now republic day, I ain't really care about too much. After the Abu Baka situation and seeing how he went to the privy Council to save he neck, and we had to follow that order. What kinda joke republic we have. It is also a waste of holiday. It should have been celebrated with Independence day. Blame Eric on that one.
Try yuh best, I getting an extended long weekend this year because of it....in fact no Public Holiday is a waste.... ;D
That said, Happy Independence folks!!
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In de unlikely event that I living foreign in the future....I think I would keep my tail home and let who ever suck some salt. If is one holiday dat i go celebrate is dat.
Buh probably I being idealistic.
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After 48 years of independence T&T nothing but a failed state
Published: 17 Sep 2010
As we continue to mark the 48th anniversary of our independence, I reflect and ask myself: after 48 years, am I satisfied with the progress of my country? I am finding it very difficult to say that am satisfied.
What I am seeing is a nation full of deceit, deception, and dishonesty; with senior citizens not been given the respect that they are due and our young people losing purpose and direction.
I see a nation which has failed its people after 48 years, when we should be proud as a nation having progressed over the years with all facets in place and benefiting our citizenry. We are nothing but a failed state. How can we be truly happy and proud as a people when we see our Ag Commissioner of Police being unceremoniously terminated on the eve of our independence, having served this nation with distinction? In our 48 years as an independent nation it is the worse act perpetrated on a serving head. We are truly an ungrateful nation.
How can we be happy as a nation when the level of indiscipline is so intolerable among our young people who have lost purpose and direction? Where has our nation’s watchwords gone? The “Father of the Nation,” the late Dr Eric Eustace Williams, must be turning in his watery grave when he sees the direction that this country is headed in after he left a solid foundation on which to build and after giving to this nation independence 48 years ago. On this 48th anniversary of independence, all is no totally lost and I am calling on every citizen to rededicate their efforts to the rebuilding of our nation, always reminded of the watchwords: Discipline, Production and Tolerance. And let ever creed and race have an equal place.
Let us as a people preserve and protect our democracy. Let us respect and honour our senior citizens. Let us love one another and remove spite and vindictiveness. Let us truly love our nation. Let us be always thankful to the Father of the Nation for all he did for this nation. Today my joy and happiness are in congratulating Kamaluddin Mohammed, who has been recognised for his contribution to the national landscape with the nation’s highest award. You served under Williams with distinction and honour and should have been awarded this honour long before ,but nothing happens before its time.
Reginald Nidale
Port-of-Spain
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TT is a young country. Young countries encounter these growing pains. Even the US had its civil war that almost ripped it appart.
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good point Deeks..
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http://www.youtube.com/v/uPMTtiZEyTs
http://www.youtube.com/v/EgQzobAtQ-4&feature=related
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Good post ...Both videos of different speeches are special in T&T history
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to all my americans and all whop respect and show support to there adopted land ..
war
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Real barbecue and beers runnin today. Enjoy yourself everybody and be safe.
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Making a turn to Philly to link up with some friends... later on will check out headliners The Roots along with Earth, Wind and Fire, Michael McDonald, Estelle, Sara Bareilles, and DJ Jazzy Jeff in a free concert, culminating in some Fireworks at sunset. Should be a good time.
Hope everyone has a safe and happy Fourth.
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Happy July 4th...
A British woman just frowned at me when I ask her what she think about the American Revolution and how the Patriots won. ;D
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Happy July 4th...
A British woman just frowned at me when I ask her what she think about the American Revolution and how the Patriots won. ;D
Yuh look fuh dat. :heehee:
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Making a turn to Philly to link up with some friends... later on will check out headliners The Roots along with Earth, Wind and Fire, Michael McDonald, Estelle, Sara Bareilles, and DJ Jazzy Jeff in a free concert, culminating in some Fireworks at sunset. Should be a good time.
Hope everyone has a safe and happy Fourth.
So Bakes how was de concert? Just 2 days ago a friend of mine was saying how Jazzy Jeff was a guest dj at a club she was at and it was real stylz...he mix nuff dancehall and ting and mash up de place, and this was at a club in Pittsburgh, not no West Indian club.
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So Bakes how was de concert? Just 2 days ago a friend of mine was saying how Jazzy Jeff was a guest dj at a club she was at and it was real stylz...he mix nuff dancehall and ting and mash up de place, and this was at a club in Pittsburgh, not no West Indian club.
Ended up not even getting on de road... steups. Ah up against ah deadline here and was trying to finish up some stuff so ah decided against it. From what ah hear The Roots mash up doh... perform fuh three solid hours backing up everybody, including EWF who, I assume, didn't come with the full band. I have no doubt they rip though b/c years ago I saw them at the 9:30 Club in DC... one of the best live concerts I've ever been too... they that good.
Didn't hear anything specifically about Jazzy Jeff, but ah wouldn't be surprised... he's a DJ on one of the stations in Philly and produces as well. That and the fact that there's a large enough JA presence in Philly would explain the reggae touches.
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Jazzy Jeff is one of the greatest scratch dj's to ever grace the face of this earth. Most of the scratches that Dj's like Q'Bert & RJD2, uses in their repertoire are a spin off from stuff that Jazz invented. Really a joy to watch.
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Haven't seen the Roots in years - sound like a nice vibes...
Wha bout my lil niece bday is July 4th, so is BBQ, beers, cake and ice cream ;D get lash this weekend lol...
Feel like ah carryin' a extra stomach...and ah duckin' the gym this afternoon under tiredness :-\
still qualified as a good weekend.
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took on machelmontano at washington park.. my family decide to stay home... I took advantage of it.. Di man mash it up man..
war
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Curfew or not.
http://www.tv6tnt.tv/TV6_Brightcove/default2.html
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Watching the parade. Why these official vehicles have rims? I guess its promotional. But still...
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Message from Brother Resistance (on Facebook)
all trinbagonians...happy Independence Day...is 49years and we going still yes ...we lock down,we lock up,we lock out but we lock in to de love of building we nation bcuz we not turning back to look for no union jack...lewwe red white and black it up
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Happy Independence...
:beermug:
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Watching the parade. Why these official vehicles have rims? I guess its promotional. But still...
rims? like 'pretty' chrome rims? on government cars
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It would be good to know what businesses, institutions, traditions have the same age and are uniquely Trinidad and Tobago.
Happy Independence
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I find this man farse and out of place.....watch from min 1:00 - 2:00 thereabouts..... ;D ;D
http://www.youtube.com/v/eOe65dR41zU
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happy independence
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I find this man farse and out of place.....watch from min 1:00 - 2:00 thereabouts..... ;D ;D
He has a point lol...just kidding!!!
T&T!!!
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Happy independence.
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Happy 49th Year of Independence to all Trinbagonians on this forum & worldwide!!
http://www.youtube.com/v/SnYh2ih9NKg
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Happy Independence T&T :beermug:
http://www.youtube.com/v/mt-TE0yGwm4
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50th Anniversary of T&T Independence
Logo has been unveiled
(https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/524466_432845523393702_111492038862387_93450400_1264167908_n.jpg)
Kamla to launch 50th Independence anniversary celebrations - T&T Express - Apr 1 (http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Kamla_to_launch__50th_Independence_anniversary_celebrations-145709355.html)
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So...what exactly de plan is for this?
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I am hoping for a series of programs that highlight nationals who would have contributed towards national development.
Forgetting for once, party politics, race and religon, this should be all about contribution towards T&T.
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I am hoping for a series of programs that highlight nationals who would have contributed towards national development.
Forgetting for once, party politics, race and religon, this should be all about contribution towards T&T.
:beermug: agreed
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I am hoping for a series of programs that highlight nationals who would have contributed towards national development.
Forgetting for once, party politics, race and religon, this should be all about contribution towards T&T.
Well....from wha I hearing..a bit too late for that.
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(http://us.123rf.com/400wm/400/400/ahteng/ahteng0910/ahteng091000012/5706941-monkey-eating-banana.jpg)
this should be the logo instead.
50 yrs of nothing but incompetence! real monkey banana republic business.
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Happy 50th Independence T&T, let's let 50 criminals loose on you in celebration!
As if we don't have enough criminals on the loose including in the government already!
Why not give out 50 scholarships to our youngsters instead?
Can this PP government do anything sensible for a change even for our Independence?
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/PARDON__FOR_50-159965035.html
PARDON FOR 50
Volney: Criminals to be freed for T&T's Independence anniversary
By Ria Taitt Political Editor
Story Created: Jun 21, 2012 at 10:51 PM ECT
Fifty criminals are to be pardoned for the country's 50th Independence anniversary.
This announcement was made yesterday by Justice Minister Herbert Volney, who said in commemoration of the country's 50th anniversary of independence, Govern- ment is to recommend to President George Maxwell Richards that he pardons 50 criminals, who would become free people.
He was speaking at the post-Cabinet news conference at the Office of the Prime Minister in St Clair.
"The Government is going to announce, in the fullness of time, the pardon of 50 persons to commemorate (the country's 50th anniversary of independence)," he said.
Asked whether these persons had committed murder or other types of crimes, Volney said they were "worthy candidates, people who have spent all their lives in prison. It is on the recommendation of the Commissioner of Prisons, and it would be dealt with by the Mercy Committee, making the recommendation to the President".
He however assured that "we won't jeopardise public safety by releasing any dangerous person on the public".
The last presidential pardon was issued in May 2012 to Godson Neptune, 83, a graduate of the University of Caracas in Venezuela, who had chopped his wife to death in 1985. Neptune's defence was that he thought his wife was a snake. He later stated he was in an "alcohol intolerance condition" which caused him to do the most outrageous and dangerous things.
The notion and mechanism for pardoning persons exists in the Constitution. The Mercy Committee receives applications and considers the merits and justification of the applications and makes a recommendation to the President, who has the power under the Constitution to pardon anyone who commits and is convicted of a crime.
The committee is chaired by the National Security Minister and includes in its membership the Attorney General, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Justice Minister.
Such a large number of persons has never been pardoned in one go although the Mercy Committee has, over the years, consistently met and made recommendations.
Volney said as the country commemorated 50 years of independence, there was a lot to be thankful for and to celebrate.
Contacted yesterday for comment, Prisons Commissioner Martin Martinez said he knew of the move to free the prisoners but did not wish to say anything further.
Volney also announced that his ministry was hosting the North Atlantic Commonwealth Law Ministers conference at the Hilton Trinidad hotel next Monday and Tuesday. He said the historic conference was commemorative of all that has taken place over the last 50 years in criminal justice in the country.
It would also serve to bring together law delegates from the Caricom region, as well as experts from different parts of the world, particularly, the Commonwealth, who would share the experiences of their respective countries since leaving the yoke of colonialism.
Delegates from New Zealand, India, the United Kingdom and Canada, Caricom, as well as local attorneys such as Senior Counsel Dana Seetahal and Gilbert Peterson, will address the conference. "We would be taking a snapshot of where we were in 1962 and the problems we inherited in terms of criminal justice administration at that time and the problems that have developed since then," Volney said.
He added there would be some bragging rights for the initiatives taken by the Justice Ministry, such as the Electronic Monitoring Bill and the legislation to reform pretrial procedures such as the Preliminary Enquiry Act and the attack on the backlog on trials.
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Volney said as the country commemorated 50 years of independence, there was a lot to be thankful for and to celebrate.
Well, I'm fairly sure there are at least 50 families who won't be thankful, or celebrating. :banginghead:
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Volney said as the country commemorated 50 years of independence, there was a lot to be thankful for and to celebrate.
Well, I'm fairly sure there are at least 50 families who won't be thankful, or celebrating. :banginghead:
Not necessarily true.
What makes you beleive that only rapists, assaulter and killers will be released?
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Hedy Fry – Member of Parliament for Vancouver Centre, Canada
http://www.youtube.com/v/jzTek8TIXQM
Transcript of video
Canadian House of Commons
June 2012
Hon. Hedy Fry (Vancouver Centre, Liberal):
"Mr. Speaker, I stand to pay tribute to the land of my birth, Trinidad and Tobago, on its 50th anniversary of independence.
A small country of 1.3 million people, Trinidad and Tobago punches well above its weight in the Commonwealth and in the world.
Trinidad and Tobago is the original multicultural nation, its rich cultural diversity spawning renowned author like Vidya Naipaul and Nobel Prize poet Samuel Selvon; bringing to the world calypso, limbo and the only new musical instrument of the 20th century, the steel pan.
Through effective long-term management of its natural resources, this little island is now one of the wealthiest countries in the Americas. It was recently removed from the OECD's list of developing countries and named the third best place in the Commonwealth to raise a female child. I am one female grateful for the excellent opportunities Trinidad and Tobago gave me, as a child of poor parents.
On behalf of the Liberal caucus, I congratulate my fellow Trinnies on their 50th anniversary, and echo the last verse of the national anthem:
Here every creed and race find an equal place and may God bless our nation."
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The current government is full of gimmickry!
Why not give out 50 scholarships to 50 bright talented youngsters or something more beneficial to the country like that?
This is not as bad as their decision to call an SOE but it’s still ranking up there in dotishness and gimmickry!!
Can this PP government do anything sensible for a change even for our Independence to make me respect them as a government?
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The current government is full of gimmickry!
Why not give out 50 scholarships to 50 bright talented youngsters or something more beneficial to the country like that?
This is not as bad as their decision to call an SOE but it’s still ranking up there in dotishness and gimmickry!!
Can this PP government do anything sensible for a change even for our Independence to make me respect them as a government?
doing the pardon thing is not new to Trinidad and Tobago. juss this time we don't need that pompous lady you call majesty to initiate it
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Volney said as the country commemorated 50 years of independence, there was a lot to be thankful for and to celebrate.
Well, I'm fairly sure there are at least 50 families who won't be thankful, or celebrating. :banginghead:
Not necessarily true.
What makes you beleive that only rapists, assaulter and killers will be released?
True. But whatever their crimes, there most probably have been victims of some kind. Then there may also be witnesses who testified against them. Finally, some of the criminals families may not be too pleased to have them home early.
I'm sure Volney will not be releasing mass murderers or serial rapists, but although this can be viewed as a humane gesture, in the midst of todays crime wave (murders alone are 5 higher than last year already) it could be seen as celebrating criminals! I'm damn sure there could have been over projects that would have met public approval.
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and in dis papayshow land nearly everything is a pappyshow....... Mr. Rudder is so prophetic.
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and in dis papayshow land nearly everything is a pappyshow....... Mr. Rudder is so prophetic.
David Rudder - Another Day In Paradise (Live 1995)
http://www.youtube.com/v/_LQ2W1gwZKY
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There probably are many candidates for this.
Women that ended up being drug mules that may have served sufficient time to learn their lessons.
Murderers (crime of passion) on death row who are there for over 25 yrs and over 60yrs of age.
Young men who made mistakes like having a lil weed.
The prisons are overloaded as it is, so it may turn out to be a good move.
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I am not sure if a topic on the 50th Independence exists on this website. Lets use this to exchange information on events and discuss any 50th Independence related news.
On a side note... I currently live in Toronto and have noticed that little is being said about our Independence. There seems to be a lot of events for Jamaica's 50th Independence in Toronto. There are also articles and other types of literature available for Torontonians who want to know something about it. If anyone is involved with doing the same for Trinbago's 50th Independence in Toronto, let me know. I think it will be great if we can educate the wider community about our Independence as well.
Hats off to our Jamaican brothers and sisters for making their 50th anniversary visible for the people in Toronto.
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Smh...
I am pretty sure there are many Trinbagonians on this site who live in Toronto. I am so disappointed that they do not have much to contribute on a topic like this, but have a lot to contribute when it comes to the blasted "Turtle tragedy" or topics on Caribana fetes and limes. Thought that this would have generated a lot of discussion.
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I am pretty sure there are many Trinis on this site who live in Toronto. I am so disappointed that they do not have much to say about this, but have a lot to say on the blasted "Turtle tragedy" or about the Caribana fetes and limes. I find it so sad that the 50th anniversary in Toronto is not even being taken serious by many members in our Community. Is this a sign of lack or pride or lack of knowledge? or Both?
The celebrations shoud have been cordinated by the T&T Consulate. With some input from civic groups and businesses catering to T&T nationals. Talk done.
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I am pretty sure there are many Trinis on this site who live in Toronto. I am so disappointed that they do not have much to say about this, but have a lot to say on the blasted "Turtle tragedy" or about the Caribana fetes and limes. I find it so sad that the 50th anniversary in Toronto is not even being taken serious by many members in our Community. Is this a sign of lack or pride or lack of knowledge? or Both?
The celebrations shoud have been cordinated by the T&T Consulate. With some input from civic groups and businesses catering to T&T nationals. Talk done.
Youre right TT. But you have to see the difference between the Jamaicans and Trinbagonians when this comes up. I find that more of my Jamaican friends are participating in the celebrations more than my Trinis friends. I know a lot of it is media driven (White people just love Jamaica).
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I am pretty sure there are many Trinis on this site who live in Toronto. I am so disappointed that they do not have much to say about this, but have a lot to say on the blasted "Turtle tragedy" or about the Caribana fetes and limes. I find it so sad that the 50th anniversary in Toronto is not even being taken serious by many members in our Community. Is this a sign of lack or pride or lack of knowledge? or Both?
The celebrations shoud have been cordinated by the T&T Consulate. With some input from civic groups and businesses catering to T&T nationals. Talk done.
Youre right TT. But you have to see the difference between the Jamaicans and Trinbagonians when this comes up. I find that more of my Jamaican friends are participating in the celebrations more than my Trinis friends. I know a lot of it is media driven (White people just love Jamaica).
Successive T&T governments have failed the people, failed the people, failed the people.
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I know TT. But I can just watch on the sidelines. There is a reason for this complacency. It so sad. We Trini have lots to be proud of. I think its about time we take responsibility of telling we story. A lot of it is racial apathy too. Time to overcome it.
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I am pretty sure there are many Trinis on this site who live in Toronto. I am so disappointed that they do not have much to say about this, but have a lot to say on the blasted "Turtle tragedy" or about the Caribana fetes and limes. I find it so sad that the 50th anniversary in Toronto is not even being taken serious by many members in our Community. Is this a sign of lack or pride or lack of knowledge? or Both?
The celebrations shoud have been cordinated by the T&T Consulate. With some input from civic groups and businesses catering to T&T nationals. Talk done.
Youre right TT. But you have to see the difference between the Jamaicans and Trinbagonians when this comes up. I find that more of my Jamaican friends are participating in the celebrations more than my Trinis friends. I know a lot of it is media driven (White people just love Jamaica).
You hit the nail on the head, it is media driven and a more co-ordinated effort from what ever jamaican entity that is funding their celebrations
I think I understand your frustration but any product/event etc that garners more 'air' time than another will always be assumed to be bigger or better?
Other than an equal media response from the T&T consulate or Trinbagonians in general, I'm not sure what you're expecting
In years past T&T independence day celebrations have always been very well attended at Queens Park, L'ameroux park and/or various minor venues throughout the city..they even have celebrations out in Brampton and Hamilton
The news outlets that cater to the caribbean community will continue broadcast what and where to find what would be of interest to you for the 50th
From my personal perspective, I tend to be very conservative on the ethnic overload, I could care less about the queen jubilee or Ghana Indep day, the sikh festivals,Latin week, Portugal day, Chuseok, Ukranian week etc ... and the plethora of other celebrations that compete for attention in a city as ethnically enriched as Toronto
I eh vex wit de people, leh dem enjoy deyself but I'm not overly concerned with what others are doing.
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In regards to the Jamaicans doing their thing
a lot of what is happening in around Toronto is being done by individual groups and promoters... probably with the blessing of their consulate. For example, a good friend of mine is bringing up Freddie McGregor in August for a show in Hamilton as part of the celebrations (now bear in mind that any promoter who does related work, will try to tie in any sort of thing they're doing with the Jamaican celebrations.. simple marketing). (we're planning a bbq for a day after the event.. if you're a fan and want to meet freddie.. link meh and I'll see what I can do).
When you listen to radio stations like G 98.7 you'll hear a lot of promo for the Jamaican independence.. promoters with paid ads, Grace Kennedy is a big sponsor of that radio station (as far as I know) and they also sponsor a lot of Jamaican (and some Caribbean) events and I believe the owner of the radio station Mr Fitzroy Gordon is Jamaican as well.
There are events going on in and around Toronto with a Trinbagonian flavor, but from a marketing standpoint, many are on the Caribana (or whatf**kingeverit'scallednow) wagon as they've done for years.
Maybe after Caribana we'll see more promotions being done from the independence angle?
BTW, them fackers down at the consulate is the wuss.. fackup attitude, never seem to have a clear answer for anything and don't ever expect a follow up (as they promise) call from them. Even when doing potentially huge business.
Dutty is on point about the event at Queens Park.. nice vibe for sure.
Keep checking those Caribbean type newspaper you find at restaurants etc to see what's happening... I'm sure there are some events. Toronto-lime.com rebranded (was bought by club crawlers) and Carib101.com usually have a lot of event listings as well.
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I am pretty sure there are many Trinis on this site who live in Toronto. I am so disappointed that they do not have much to say about this, but have a lot to say on the blasted "Turtle tragedy" or about the Caribana fetes and limes. I find it so sad that the 50th anniversary in Toronto is not even being taken serious by many members in our Community. Is this a sign of lack or pride or lack of knowledge? or Both?
The celebrations shoud have been cordinated by the T&T Consulate. With some input from civic groups and businesses catering to T&T nationals. Talk done.
Youre right TT. But you have to see the difference between the Jamaicans and Trinbagonians when this comes up. I find that more of my Jamaican friends are participating in the celebrations more than my Trinis friends. I know a lot of it is media driven (White people just love Jamaica).
I am not sure if a topic on the 50th Independence exists on this website. Lets use this to exchange information on events and discuss any 50th Independence related news.
On a side note... I currently live in Toronto and have noticed that little is being said about our Independence. There seems to be a lot of events for Jamaica's 50th Independence in Toronto. There are also articles and other types of literature available for Torontonians who want to know something about it. If anyone is involved with doing the same for Trinbago's 50th Independence in Toronto, let me know. I think it will be great if we can educate the wider community about our Independence as well.
Hats off to our Jamaican brothers and sisters for making their 50th anniversary visible for the people in Toronto.
Sorry man, been there done dat. It is hard to get everyone together when we're living all over de place. As Jumbie say, doh even bodder to get support from the TT Consulate with anything (yu swear yu putting ah gun to dey head). Don't know how long yu on de board, but take it from me it was fu*kin hard wukk to get anyone other than the usual suspects to come out to a football tournament/family day, I can't even think bout de 50th Ann. at this point. Anyway, we're you at the football tournament when we had it a couple of years ago??
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ah find the summer festivals in TO that do well are the ones organized around location - e.g. de event formerly known as caribana, taste of the danforth, etc. people know exactly WHERE to go for each of those events. taste of the danforth supposed to be about greek culture but dey selling any and everything there so is no longer about greek culture, its about de danforth. the beaches jazz festival - same thing. they playing all kind of music not just jazz and people still going strong cause dey like de locale.
and ting is trinbagonians scattered hither and yon around the city. look how jamaica have a strip along eglinton known as little jamaica. t&t eh have enough for a little trinbago yet. is about critical mass too.
so rock back and when man aks about 50th anniversary talk about de rolling stones ;)
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after vanetta calvin smith left toronto and sabga was gone, that was it for outreach and great events in the community, i had so much admiration for vanetta she was a great counsel general, the rest after failed
everyone studying caribana and the next fete and making money, alot of trinis don't care about independence sadly, thats a fact, im no longer involved with the high commission and consulate so i could imagine how bad their lapsing
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I am pretty sure there are many Trinis on this site who live in Toronto. I am so disappointed that they do not have much to say about this, but have a lot to say on the blasted "Turtle tragedy" or about the Caribana fetes and limes. I find it so sad that the 50th anniversary in Toronto is not even being taken serious by many members in our Community. Is this a sign of lack or pride or lack of knowledge? or Both?
The celebrations shoud have been cordinated by the T&T Consulate. With some input from civic groups and businesses catering to T&T nationals. Talk done.
Youre right TT. But you have to see the difference between the Jamaicans and Trinbagonians when this comes up. I find that more of my Jamaican friends are participating in the celebrations more than my Trinis friends. I know a lot of it is media driven (White people just love Jamaica).
trinis run toronto and im not just saying that, if whitfield and them say they not doing mas, caribana done, if the promoters and djs who are trini pull out of the toronto scene, real big parties done. the fact of it is, without trinis in the entertainment, toronto is lame and has nothing to offer
our yardie cousins don't have anything in toronto to claim as their own, other than their independence, caribana is trini so trinis almost treat that as an independence day parade for trinidad and tobago, all the focus is there, still a sad excuse but thats facts
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I am pretty sure there are many Trinis on this site who live in Toronto. I am so disappointed that they do not have much to say about this, but have a lot to say on the blasted "Turtle tragedy" or about the Caribana fetes and limes. I find it so sad that the 50th anniversary in Toronto is not even being taken serious by many members in our Community. Is this a sign of lack or pride or lack of knowledge? or Both?
The celebrations shoud have been cordinated by the T&T Consulate. With some input from civic groups and businesses catering to T&T nationals. Talk done.
Youre right TT. But you have to see the difference between the Jamaicans and Trinbagonians when this comes up. I find that more of my Jamaican friends are participating in the celebrations more than my Trinis friends. I know a lot of it is media driven (White people just love Jamaica).
I am not sure if a topic on the 50th Independence exists on this website. Lets use this to exchange information on events and discuss any 50th Independence related news.
On a side note... I currently live in Toronto and have noticed that little is being said about our Independence. There seems to be a lot of events for Jamaica's 50th Independence in Toronto. There are also articles and other types of literature available for Torontonians who want to know something about it. If anyone is involved with doing the same for Trinbago's 50th Independence in Toronto, let me know. I think it will be great if we can educate the wider community about our Independence as well.
Hats off to our Jamaican brothers and sisters for making their 50th anniversary visible for the people in Toronto.
Sorry man, been there done dat. It is hard to get everyone together when we're living all over de place. As Jumbie say, doh even bodder to get support from the TT Consulate with anything (yu swear yu putting ah gun to dey head). Don't know how long yu on de board, but take it from me it was fu*kin hard wukk to get anyone other than the usual suspects to come out to a football tournament/family day, I can't even think bout de 50th Ann. at this point. Anyway, we're you at the football tournament when we had it a couple of years ago??
Hmm. Interesting. No , I wasnt the the football tourney. I did not even know there was such an event.
So true though..hard for Trini to come out. But we need that to change. On another note, the ethnic celebrations is important. Diversity is so sweet.
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What allyuh thinks?
http://www.guardian.co.tt/columnist/2012-07-18/emergence-afro-trinis
Emergence of afro-trinis
Published: Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Tony Fraser
How have Afro-Trinis as a group in their social-class sub-divisions fared in the 50 years since political independence? Have they advanced or regressed? That’s the question being asked in relation to the Afro-Trinis and all of the major ethnic groups in this series of reflective articles. To begin with Afro-Trinis, the answer requires an historical perspective.
Afro-Trinis emerged in the post-slavery period as traders, hucksters, freeholders of small portions of lands for provision grounds and for sale in the markets—and this was notwithstanding the determination of the British Government and its crown colony creation in the island to set minimum landholding levels for farming at over 300 acres to preclude the emancipated “Negroes” from becoming small farmers. It was a policy to ensure labour for the continued existence of the plantation and the metropolitan market.
Segments of the population began acquiring something of an education through the arrangements (inadequate as they were) of the British Government to provide a level of funding for the freed population to begin to acquire the basics of an education and religious tutoring; the churches and missions were pre-eminent in providing schools.
To illustrate the point of the acquisition of an education, John Jacob Thomas, born three years after slavery was ended in 1838, emerged as the first black intellectual, perhaps the finest, of the 19th century and challenged the might of British scholarship and anti-black bias in Froudacity, his response to the bigoted interpretation of the state of the “Negro” by British historian James Anthony Froude.
Later in the 19th and into the 20th century, Emanuel Mzumbo Lazare and Henry Sylvester Williams were shining examples of the ability of the freed African to demonstrate the capacity to advance from the state of degradation, dehumanisation and subjugation. They both acquired legal qualifications, Lazare from the local base and Williams in London having gone there to expand his possibilities.
Both Lazare and Williams involved themselves in politics, Lazare becoming a member of the Port-of-Spain Borough Council and Williams as the main organiser of the first Pan African Congress. The achievements in education illustrated by these two Afro-Trinis turned into a tide in the 20th century. It continued to flow for the first 75 years with intellectuals of the ilk of CLR James, Eric Williams, HOB Wooding, Best, Demas, Ellis Clarke, the McShine brothers and a few generations of blacks acquiring scholarships, going abroad and demonstrating the capacity for intellectual accomplishment equal to any.
In business, the names of achievers such as Cyril Duprey and later on the likes of Bob Yorke and William Munroe achieved a measure of success. At the level of small traders and skilled artisans, the shoemakers, tailors, barbers, shopkeepers and others began the fight for space in the economy; and this notwithstanding what has been reported as a deliberate attempt by the finance houses to marginalise black business operators.
At the working class level, the assault against the colonial establishment was taken up in the 1930s by the then emerging labour movement. It took riots, the loss of life and limb and the confronting of the British military and the colonial constabulary to begin the construction of a society in which people of African heritage and indeed other non-European peoples had an equal place.
At the political level, the struggle of the African went back as far as the turn of the century and gained full momentum in the 1940s leading right up to Independence. Dr Eric Williams and a band of middle-class blacks, along with others including Indo, white and Chinese Trinidadians and Tobagonians, created the People’s National Movement to win political power from the colonial authorities and put in political office a party consisting predominantly of Afro-Trinis.
So here again in the initial organisation of the society out of crown colony government, Afro-Trinis and Tobagonians were out in front. They acquired and exercised political power in the run-up to independence and in the decades that followed.
Soon enough blacks began to fill the civil service and replace the British expatriates at the top of the service. The return from study abroad of doctors, lawyers, engineers and other high-level professionals placed blacks in a position of command in the professions.
At the broad level of culture, blacks not only developed their ancestral heritage, but created what President Richards, a good Creole, said last week was the only true innovation of the society. In the popular arts, including the Carnival creations, Afro-Trinis have been in the forefront of not only developing the cultural forms, but have exported them to distant lands.
• To be continued
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Dat fellah like he write dat with ah ink filled 3 line
mih boy call max a good creole oui. ;)....ha lawd
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http://www.trinidadexpress.com/commentaries/Heroes__pioneers__role_models-166351646.html
Heroes, pioneers, role models
By Bridget Brereton
Story Created: Aug 15, 2012 at 9:50 PM ECT
The approach of the 50th anniversary of national Independence has stimulated discussion about national "heroes'' (presumably used as a gender-neutral term) and "icons''.
Such discussions inevitably involve thinking about our history and the people who have helped to shape it.
Trinidad and Tobago does not have formally declared national heroes, unlike Jamaica. I recall that the NAR government (1986-91) took up the idea but, for whatever reason, didn't follow through with it. And one has to admit that the business of selecting heroes is inevitably more difficult in a multi-ethnic society like ours than in the much more homogenous (in terms of ethnicity, not class) Jamaica.
To mark the anniversary, Nasser Khan has produced a book, Profiles Heroes, Role Models and Pioneers of Trinidad and Tobago, published with support from First Citizens and aimed at young readers. There are 374 entries, divided into 24 sections; the entries range from two or three lines to two pages. Birth and death years are given for most but not all of the profiled individuals, and photos of some of them are also included. (Full disclosure: I am one of those profiled, in the education section).
Deciding on criteria for inclusion in a book of this kind is difficult. Khan states in his introduction that his chosen persons "are those who have made important contributions to our country's development, who have paved the way and continue to pave the way for others to follow''. Persons not born in T&T have been included if they made such contributions, and living as well as dead individuals appear in the book.
These are very broad criteria, and the inclusion of living persons means, inevitably, that not all will be pleased with Khan's selections, or perhaps more likely his omissions. For instance, I was surprised that Anthony Sabga and Sidney Knox were not included in the business section, and I thought that omitting nearly all of T&T's younger writers (that is, those born after around 1940), in the section Writing and Journalism, was a mistake. It's also a pity that only one Hindu religious leader (Pundit Capildeo) appears in the Religion section. But the selection for compilations of this kind will always be controversial to some extent, especially if living persons are included (the dead can't complain).
For my part, I wondered about the inclusion of "role models'' in the title. Might this mean that persons who did make important contributions, but are not judged to be role models, will be excluded? Is that why, for example, Picton is not in the section Colonial Governors? As British Trinidad's first governor, he most certainly helped to shape the island's development, though he ruled through violence and terror, mostly directed at the island's enslaved and "free coloured'' people.
Perhaps Khan should have explained in the introduction that a few persons who did help to make our history were excluded because they could not be seen as "role models'', if that was the case, though not all of the persons included were or are exactly saints. Generally, the principle behind dictionaries of national biography is to include everyone who did something noteworthy, without consideration of moral qualities, so famous criminals, for instance, are included. Of course I recognise that Khan's purpose was different but the "role model'' principle should have been explained, in my view.
Khan has selected his 374 individuals from a very wide range of areas — 24 categories in all — and he is to be commended for this; we also find a decent number of women in the book. Some of his "picks'' are quite innovative: for instance, he has included Samuel Elliot, the famous Papa Neza of Moruga, in his section on medicine (what will the medics think of this?)
It's also striking that by far the longest section is that devoted to culture and the arts, with 73 entries- and this section doesn't include writers, who are in a separate one with 19 entries. As a result, Khan's book is not biased towards politicians and others in public life, as many of these compilations tend to be. His section on politicians has only 11 entries, three of them devoted to living persons, though we must also add the section called modern leaders, which includes all T&T's governors-general, presidents and prime ministers.
Though I did note a few factual errors in some entries, and some omissions of relevant facts, overall this book is a very useful compilation.
It's good that the Ministry of Education will donate a copy to every school in the country and that Nalis will ensure all its branch libraries have it. Khan is to be commended for the research that went into this valuable contribution to documenting the nation's history and achievements.
Incidentally, I've read in the papers that as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations, my colleagues Paula Morgan and Brinsley Samaroo have been commissioned to come up with a list of 50 "icons'' of T&T. It will be interesting to see what criteria they have adopted and who they come up with and to compare their list with Khan's 374 "heroes, pioneers and role models''.
• Bridget Brereton is emerita professor of history at UWI, St Augustine, and has studied and written about the history of T&T, and the Caribbean, for many decades
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http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Memoriesof-meeting-the-Doc-167043095.html
Memories of meeting the 'Doc'
By Camille Bethel
Story Created: Aug 22, 2012 at 11:51 AM ECT
* First in a series on 1962 Independence Day babies by Camille Bethel
On August 31, 1962, the Union Jack was lowered and this country's red, white and black national flag was raised, symbolising not just freedom from British rule, but the birth of the independent nation of Trinidad and Tobago.
It was a momentous occasion for the people of Trinidad and Tobago, so ultimately there was celebration throughout the country.
Among the households celebrating that day was that of Kamaladin Emamali, who was born on that very same day.
One of the 180 babies born on Independence Day, according to the Ministry of Planning and Sustainable Development statistics, Emamali, who hails from Malabar, Arima, and who has lived all of his life in this country, has described life over the past 50 years as a fulfilling and exciting one.
"Growing up in Trinidad and Tobago, I have never had a dull moment. There have always been exciting moments in my life, including getting the opportunity to meet the first Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams and being featured in the Express newspapers as a child, along with several other children born on August 31, 1962," Emamali said in an interview with the Express last week.
It is therefore no surprise that Emamali feels more than just a passing sense of national pride.
The fact that his birthday falls on Independence Day has served as motivation for his involvement in activities that foster development of his community and country.
"From very early in my life I was involved in a lot of group activities. I was a part of the formation of the secondary body of the Ministry of Youth, as a teenager, being one of the founders of that youth body at the age of 20 and that impacted my life in a very positive way," he said.
Emamali, who also expressed pride in the development of the country over the past 50 years, said he has been motivated over the years by the country's first Prime Minister as well as South Africa's first black President Nelson Mandela.
He tries not to focus on the negatives of life but clings to and promotes the positives.
Now standing on the threshold of his 50th birthday and the country's 50th anniversary of Independence, as an adult he continues to be involved in activities all over this country and his community, working especially with the youth.
The development of the nation's young people is one of Emamali's heartfelt concerns.
And this is why he has been lobbying for the construction of a pool and a gymnasium in his community, so the young people can get involved in sports, he said.
"You see a vast difference in the young people when they are involved in group activities because when they are involved in sport and other things they are less likely to be involved in drugs and violence," he said.
Emamali said the country has really grown over the past 50 years and he believes that Trinidad and Tobago is going places.
"We are so blessed to have such a diverse cultural mix of people in this country but we have some issues on race and disrespect that we need to address.
"We need to get together and embrace each other, because we are really blessed and I think people should live as one. Of course we are only human and we will have differences but at the end of the day we have just one life to live and so we should love each other, that is how I live.
"I don't look at people's faces, if they have money or not, if they are white, black, yellow or what because I believe in oneness and we should all enjoy it as one," he said.
• Continued tomorrow
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http://www.trinidadexpress.com/featured-news/Making_our_mark_on_the_world_stage-166988926.html
Making our mark on the world stage
Story Created: Aug 21, 2012 at 11:00 PM ECT
The 'Express' continues its series looking back at some of the significant events and accomplishments since 1962 when Trinidad and Tobago became an Independent Nation. Wayne Bowman this week explores the achievements of some of our fellow Trinbagonians on the international arena in the spheres of music, acting and filmmaking.
The first name that pops to mind when exploring Trinbagonian success on the international music front is, Nicki Minaj who was defined recently by the New York Times as the most influential female hip-hop artiste ever.
Born, Onika Maraj in Trinidad, Minaj's parents migrated to the US when she was a toddler leaving her in the care of her grandmother. They sent for her a couple of years later and well, you know the progression from there.
Some Trinbagonians engage in bashing Minaj whenever she appears in the local newspapers saying her music and image are vacuous. That, however, does not change the fact that she is a global phenomenon and that her success has introduced this nation to many who knew nothing of it before Minaj began to take every opportunity to tell people about her homeland.
Staying in the hip-hop arena we should mention Foxy Brown who was born in Brooklyn to Trinidadian parents. Although not born here, Brown does identify with her Trinbagonian roots and has actually in the past campaigned for the role of US Youth Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago as a means of giving back to where her parents came from. Only last week, Minaj hailed Brown as a mentor and the true, most influential woman in hip-hop.
Moving along we come to Billy Ocean who was born, Leslie Sebastian William Charles on 21 January, 1950 in Fyzabad. Interestingly Ocean, during his heyday, was not as open about his roots as is Minaj.
Ocean's run of success began in 1984 with the release of the album, Suddenly from which was spawned the mega hit, "Caribbean Queen". In subsequent years Ocean made it to the Billboard Charts with hits such as "Suddenly," "Loverboy," "When The Going Gets Tough," "There'll Be Sad Songs," "Love Is Forever" and "Get Outta My Dreams, Get Into My Car".
Brian Green is a Trinidadian opera singer/actor who during the 1980's left here to study in London where he attended the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts. From there Green ended up performing at the Sydney Theatre Company and then on to leading roles in theatre productions in places such as Sicily, Italy, Spain, New York and France where he is now based.
In 1969 Sullivan Walker won a trip to New York for participating in the Scouting for Talent competition. The young man from San Fernando saw an opportunity and grabbed it, remaining in the US to pursue a career in acting. He was a regular on the Cosby Show playing Heathcliff Huxtable's gregarious Trinidadian friend, Dr James Harmon. Walker also played the role of 50-Cent's uncle in Get Rich or Die Trying and Yale in the television series, Earth 2 among numerous other roles. Walker died of a heart attack on February 20 this year at his home in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Olun Riley is a senior lighting artist and digital artist who is considered to be among the top in his field out in the United States. He grew up in Cascade and studied fine arts at the University of Toronto before doing animation at Sheridan College. He works with Walt Disney Animation Studios and has worked on movies such as Anastasia, The Polar Express, Tangled, X-Men, Vanilla Sky, Bolt, Meet The Robinsons, Ocean's 11 and Monster House.
Shaun Esgayg is another Trinidadian making waves in the animation and film arenas out in the United States. He animated Bumblebee and the Worm in the Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon movie and his own short film, Fish made it to the final round of the You Film Festival 2012.
Heather Headley, born on October 5, 1974 is an R&B and soul singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She has won one Tony Award and one Grammy Award to date and her career is only really just building steam.
In 1997 Headley portrayed the role of Nala in The Lion King Broadway musical delivering a fantastic performance. This was followed by the title role in the Broadway adaptation of Aida, which earned her the Tony Award for Best Actress in 2000. In 2010 Headley won her first Grammy Award for Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album for the CD collection titled, Audience of One on the EMI Gospel label.
There have been sterling achievements by other Trinbagonians on the international stage, but space doesn't allow for elaboration on everyone. We must however make mention of Geoffrey Holder whose sterling career began in 1954 – even before Independence. He won a Tony Award in 1975 for his direction of the Broadway musical The Wiz. He also worked on movies such as The Little Mermaid, Boomerang, Annie and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Although he was born in the United States to Trinidadian parents, Ralph MacDonald considered himself a Trinbagonian. He was a respected songwriter of world renown and percussionist who in the early 1980s composed a song titled, "Just The Two Of Us," which is today a certified classic in the R&B and jazz arenas.
The song was originally recorded by Bill Withers and Grover Washington Jr alongside MacDonald who would tell you that the song was a love song for this nation. He always told the story of him offering the song to the then government at no charge whatsoever to be used as a jingle promoting the twin island nation as a tourist destination, but it was rejected. Someone surely was hitting their head on a wall when the song won a Grammy Award. MacDonald died of lung cancer on December 18, 2011.
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http://www.trinidadexpress.com/featured-news/Independence_gift_to_the_nation-167785605.html
Independence gift to the nation
By Louis B Homer
Story Created: Aug 28, 2012 at 11:01 PM ECT
When the first independent Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago was inaugurated on August 31, 1962, there were 30 members in the House of Representatives, and 24 in the Senate.
After the swearing-in ceremony, Senator J Hamilton Maurice was elected President of the Senate and three senators were appointed as Ministers. In the House of Representatives C Arnold Thomasos was elected Speaker and nine members of the House of Representatives, including Dr Eric Williams, were appointed as Ministers.
After 50 years since the first Parliament was opened in 1962, only one Senator, Nicholas Simonette, is still alive. In the House of Representatives, out of the 30 members, five are alive. This number included former MPs Kamaluddin Mohammed (Barataria,) ANR Robinson, (Tobago East) Balgobin Ramdeen, (Caroni East) Tajmool Hosein, (Chaguanas) and Alexander Alexis (La Brea.)
Robinson was appointed Minister of Finance and Mohammed Minister of Public Utilities in the first independent Cabinet of Dr Eric Williams. Mohammed was mandated to develop the ailing utilities of the country which had become a major priority. "In offering the portfolio to me, Williams had outlined four major challenges for me to pursue. Development of an effective railway system, a policy on water distribution, a sewerage and waste water disposal system and a new policy on shipping, aviation and postal services," said Mohammed.
"The task was enormous", he said, "because for the first time an attempt was made to place all public utilities functions under a single portfolio."
The islandwide sewerage project had preceded independence by three months. In June Mohammed announced the launch of the scheme in which the pipes to be used in the sewerage scheme would be manufactured by Lock Joint Pipe Company of New Jersey, USA, under a $30.7 million scheme earmarked for completion in 1964.
Mohammed said, "Initially when government first viewed the health provisions it was found that there were many inadequacies in the area of environmental health, and more specifically the disposal of sewerage. Only one sewer system existed in Trinidad at the time to serve the residents of Port of Spain."
The next major development was the establishment of a Port Authority. "The disorganisation of the wharves had cost Trinidad millions of dollars to Barbados Deep Water Harbour, and there was need for improved cargo handling, storing, bunkering and berthing," said Mohammed. To correct the problems at the port, in May 1962 a committee was appointed and headed by PET O'Connor, a former general manager of Kern Trinidad Oilfields Ltd, with Dr Zin Henry a consultant in Personnel Management, and members B I Lalsingh, Senator Inskip Julien, and Patrick Young Sing.
At the time of the appointment of the Authority the President of the Seamen and Waterfront Workers' Union, Daniel Reid, was appealing to the port workers to increase their productivity in the face of mounting challenges from the Barbados Deep Water Harbour.
Next came the airport development with plans to extend the facilities at Piarco by acquiring lands owned by Trinidad Sugar Estate at Maloney. The purpose of the acquisition was for the extension of the runway to accommodate larger aircraft to land.
Earlier in the year the runway at Crown Point Airport (renamed the ANR Robinson International Airport) was opened by Mohammed. Referring to the paving of the runway Mohammed said, "On completion the 6,500 feet long and 150 feet wide will be capable of taking aircraft up to 66,000 pounds."
A new terminal building was also erected at Piarco and completed in time for the arrival of Her Royal Highness Princess Royal who was the Queen's representative at the independence celebrations in August.
Improvement to the public transportation system was not an easy task for Mohammed. With the pending closure of the railway and the setting up of a Public Transport Service Corporation there was the need to acquire more buses to replace the intake of passengers travelling along the East West corridor and to San Fernando. The difficulties were in the area of concessions that were previously granted to several operators. Transportation in Port of Spain was run by the city transport; in Diego Martin and Carenage the system was operated by Sam's Super Service, Port of Spain to Sangre Grande by Arima bus service, Port of Spain to San Fernando and Point Fortin by the Trinidad Bus Service; San Fernando to Princes Town by Princes Town special bus service, and Tobago service was provided by Charles Mc Enearney and company Ltd.
The bus concessionaires had resisted any change in the existing operations, and in order for the government to take over the services previously offered by various concessionaires a Bill had to be introduced in Parliament devising a structure for a permanent national bus service. It was during that debate that Mohammed had announced the scrapping of the railway and the creation of a service to be run by government.
The winning and distribution of water was also a thorny issue in the 60s. There were 12 agencies responsible for matters relating to water. It was imperative that if an efficient supply was water was to be made available to the public all the agencies would have to be brought under one umbrella.
The Central Water Distribution Authority was responsible for the operation and maintenance of the distribution systems, the Works Department for drainage and flood control, private companies were responsible for the drilling and extraction of water, while the county councils and boroughs of Arima and San Fernando had their own water supply facilities and Port of Spain City Council was responsible for winning its own water and administering a sewerage scheme.
All agencies had to be brought under one management. It was decided to amalgamate all the organisations into one. To bring them under one authority was a tremendous task. "After extensive negotiations, by September 1965 the Water and Sewerage Authority was established as the sole body responsible for all matters relating to Water and Sewerage.
From the amalgamation of all the public utilities was born the Public Utilities Commission which was designed to regulate all utilities companies in Trinidad and Tobago.
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I guess one foolish pappyshow initiative deserves another, maybe we aiming for 50 such inititatives to mark our Independence?
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/commentaries/This__great__foolishness-167785915.html
This 'great' foolishness
By Ralph Maraj
Story Created: Aug 28, 2012 at 11:01 PM ECT
To mark 50 years of Independence, the Government has decided to choose 50 great "icons" of Trinidad and Tobago. According to the chairman of the Government-appointed committee spearheading the effort, these are "people that have created Trinidad and Tobago". Really? Wow! He went on to say that "the committee went through great pains to ensure a level of equity with respect to gender and ethnicity", that "young people received much focus in the project", that there was "a balance between Trinidad and Tobago", and that "an attempt was made to select persons from diverse backgrounds".
My God! Is this how we determine greatness in Trinidad and Tobago, not purely on merit but with gender, age, ethnicity and place of birth as criteria? Pathetic foolishness!
To start with, it is itself an absurdity to want to determine 50 "great" citizens of Trinidad and Tobago. For centuries, the greatest nations combined have produced just a handful of great people. For the past 2,000 years, since Christ, humanity in its entirety, now nearing eight billion, has not produced more than 50 great minds, if so much; the calibre of Plato, Shakespeare, Einstein, Lincoln, Gandhi, Mandela. These define greatness. But this small nation of 1.2 million is looking for 50 great "icons", to celebrate in just 50 years. "One great for every year", must have been the shallowness that produced this silliness. Fifty candles for the 50th birthday cake!
Couldn't they have reflected a little? Who after Gandhi, can be considered great in India, a nation of 1.2 billion and one of the world's great civilisations. Sachin Tendulkar? Shah Rukh Khan? Outstanding in their fields, but do they equate with Bapu, who defeated the British Empire with his beliefs and whose message of non-violence will resonate forever?
Who on the entire African continent can match the beloved Madiba, who sacrificed his freedom, was prepared to give his life to defeat apartheid and who, in triumph, forgave his oppressors and later relinquished the power he could have kept.
What greatness has England produced since Winston Churchill, or the US, after Abe Lincoln, except perhaps FDR, or Martin Luther King, a century later? And speak not of outstanding contributions in sports, entertainment, academics, and so forth. These are merely exceptional. Greatness is greater, almost almighty. It is enduring, with a deep transforming influence on society and civilisation. Greatness takes the human species forward.
Have we produced any such person? Naipaul comes closest. Williams had potential and opportunity, but faltered in the politics. So call our other achievers "outstanding", "exceptional" and other superlatives. Don't call them great. Twenty five great "icons" would have made Trinidad and Tobago into the most outstanding society in human history; 50 would have made it heaven on earth. But after 50 years, what we have here is a spreading social swampland.
We never nurtured greatness. We did not capitalise on the optimism after Independence when, for about two decades, a national soul was emerging. There was patriotism, respect for the humanities including West Indian literature and history, the quest for "peace, bread and justice" that culminated in the February Revolution of 1970, and considerable activity in the performing arts: music, dance and drama. We even made movies. But the political directorate of the era tragically failed to seize the moment. We have not stopped paying.
It has been mainly mediocrity since then and generations lost. Ruinous deficiencies persisted in the education of the young, in and out of school. In the adult world, they found little but corruption, decadence, divisiveness, materialism and selfishness. Generations of youth matured in a rudderless society woefully impoverished and downright corrosive in its political and cultural life.
And in our education system, every year we churned out thousands. And where are we? Where are they? To this day, a small percentage attains academic excellence, whilst the vast majority are either ordinary or dysfunctional. The proficient enter the professions to be wealthy; the mediocre remain middling, struggling to survive; the dysfunctional are trapped by inherited parameters. Nothing happens. And we look for greatness?!
Our education system does not develop the social conscience in Trinidad and Tobago. This is a national tragedy. Young people emerge with certificates but no burning passion to make the world a better place. Where is the idealism of youth that matures into a commitment to a just society? What is the nation's reward after so many billions spent on its young?
Not much. Citizens remain unmoved by Independence. The national mind grows increasingly distant from its history. Few now can still speak of colonialism, Cipriani, Butler, Gomes, Rienzi, Bhadase, Capildeo, Weekes; or of the Literature: Naipaul, Selvon, James, Walcott. Worse still, how many have even a smattering of the origin of the species, ancient civilisations, the Renaissance, the enlightenment, the scientific revolution, the British Empire, the French and Haitian Revolutions, American Independence and Civil War, all of which have shaped our lives? We live in vacancy, without context.
And now this Government will increase the vacuity with its trademark superficiality. Looking for great "icons"! Your great citizens either live in your hearts or don't exist. But to create a show, sustain the façade, live the lie, as we do with annual national awards, we will reward outstanding achievements as well as mediocrity or less, just to make up the number and call them all great. In the process we devalue the idea of greatness. We corrupt the concept and therefore sin against the children. We continue to make this society a suffocating space for youth where most eventually experience the inner strangulation that kills the capacity for magnificence. This way, we will still be looking for great citizens when we attain 100.
• Ralph Maraj is a former government minister
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http://www.trinidadexpress.com/commentaries/Our_first_50_years-167785905.html
Our first 50 years
By Tennyson Joseph
Story Created: Aug 28, 2012 at 11:01 PM ECT
Unbeknownst to many, between August 20 and 25, an opportunity was provided by the University of the West Indies' (UWI) Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies (SALISES) for reflection on the experience of 50 years of independence in the English-speaking Caribbean.
Occurring in a moment when younger Caribbean people, completely cut off from the deeper rationale and purpose for the initial impulse for independence, continue to harbour strong doubts about our statehood, the gathering could not have been timelier.
And, oh, what a gathering it was. Three generations of Caribbean academics, politicians, regional public servants and the wider society gathered to reflect on past experience and to discuss the challenges of the way forward.
From Kari Levitt, Sir Alister McIntyre and Owen Jefferson of New World Group fame at one end, to the likes of Norman Girvan, Chancellor Sir George Alleyne and Trevor Munroe in the middle, to the thirty-something Jamaica Opposition Leader Andrew Holness and his generation of Caribbeanists, including people like myself and other UWI colleagues, to the final group of twenty-something current students of Caribbean society, all were gathered in the name of taking stock of the national and regional independence enterprise.
An important feature of the meeting was the opportunity to listen to the perspectives of regional and international prime ministers, members of parliament and public servants on past and current challenges confronting Caribbean society.
Among the highlights were the addresses by Minister of Finance Peter Phillips of Jamaica, Girvan, governor of the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, Sir Dwight Venner, British MP Dianne Abbot and the Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves.
Girvan, Venner and Gonsalves in particular provided critical reflections on the past experience and suggested concrete ways in which Caribbean sovereignty could be advanced and deepened in the future.
Of course, no such gathering could take place without being impacted upon by the external ideological and economic shifts taking place in the wider global arena. In this regard, the strong tensions of two unsurprising fault lines could be palpably felt.
One such tension was that between a younger group which, intoxicated by the wine of neo-liberal ideology, repeated western notions that sovereignty was dead and outmoded. In response to this group was the view of Gonsalves that sovereignty was an important asset that Caribbean governments should not be afraid to use in the advancement of the goals determined by themselves and not others.
The other significant tension was between those who, like the young leader of the Jamaica Labour Party, steadfastly held on to the idea of single territory independence and, on the other, those like Venner who, using the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States example, advocated a more mature regionalist option.
Undoubtedly, the future politics of the Caribbean will revolve around the resolution of these tensions. The SALISES reflections provide a useful, though only a small, start.
• Tennyson Joseph is a political scientist at the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus, specialising in regional affairs
• Courtesy Barbados Nation
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http://www.trinidadexpress.com/commentaries/Dr_Williams_in_T_T_s_Independence-167785925.html
Dr Williams in T&T's Independence
By Rickey Singh
Story Created: Aug 28, 2012 at 11:01 PM ECT
AS the Government and people of Trinidad and Tobago celebrate half a century of political independence from British colonialism this Friday, even the sharpest critic of Dr Eric Williams would find it extremely difficult to ignore the tremendous intellectual and political contributions that have inscribed him on history's page as "Father of the Nation".
Three weeks ago, the government and people of Jamaica were also occupied in similar celebrations. And Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar was there, standing shoulder to shoulder with her Jamaican counterpart, the irrepressible "Sister P" (Portia Simpson-Miller) to demonstrate that infectious West Indian bond of friendship that binds us as the peoples of "One Caribbean".
Sadly, the degrading dimension of colonialism that partly explains the failure of the West Indian Federation that was buried in the ballot boxes of a myopic Jamaica referendum 51 years ago, continues to haunt us in different ways.
Most notably, perhaps, it shows itself in the persistent negative attitudes and policies that keep Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago — the first two to shed the yoke of colonialism — tied to Britain's Privy Council as their final appellate court.
Fifty years after securing political independence, both Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago continue with an endless word game about accessing the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
This is not a legacy that Eric Williams would have wanted to perpetuate, but it remains the political burden, sustained by the "politricks" of the People's National Movement and the current "People's Partnership" administration which, basically, is the United National Congress (UNC) in new clothing and struggling, against the odds, to make its own contributions.
Neither Norman Manley nor Eric Williams — national heroes of their respective nations — can be accurately described as "freedom fighters" for political independence, in contrast, for example, to Dr Cheddi Jagan, with whom they often locked horns on regional political issues, including a political federation with dominion status.
But if Jagan, undoubtedly the "father" figure of Guyana's independence struggle was, as often unflatteringly labelled the "enfante terrible" of British colonial politics in the English-speaking Caribbean, Eric Williams would forever be remembered for his admirable political battle against the US in retrieving for Trinidad and Tobago the Chaguaramas naval base.
And consistent with the pan-Caribbean vision that kept him committed to regional cultural and economic cooperation, Dr Williams had sufficiently recovered from the trauma of the failed West Indies Federation (remember his famous political arithmetic of "one from 10 leaves nought"?) to host the inaugural summit of the Caribbean Community at Chaguaramas —where else!
Though at times quite disagreeable, Williams was to be a prime mover, along with Barbados' Errol Barrow, Guyana's Forbes Burnham, Jamaica's Michael Manley and Antigua and Barbuda's Vere Bird, in the anchoring of Caricom with the promise of transformation into a seamless regional economy. This remains, in 2012, a work in progress that needs to be completed.
Williams perhaps did more than quite a few in his time to promote so much of what's positive about our "oneness" as a Caribbean people and in firmly anchoring independent Trinidad and Tobago as a sub-region of the so-called Third World, as Caricom nationals continue to impact the global family with their intellectual and cultural contributions.
An independent Trinidad and Tobago owes much to Eric Williams' vision and commitment to the educational and cultural advancements that distinguish this region. Yes, that commitment, as ironic as it may now seem, is also rooted in the nation's robust identification with press freedom and freedom of expression.
On this 50th independence anniversary of Trinidad and Tobago, homeland also of a section of my own family, please allow me a parting note to recall my moment as one of the few (I have been told perhaps one of three) journalists of the Caribbean to have had the privilege of a full-length interview with the author of Capitalism and Slavery and "Father of the Nation".
Happy 50th anniversary, Trinidad and Tobago.
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http://www.trinidadexpress.com/letters/Celebrate_everyone__not_a__top_50_-167505635.html
Celebrate everyone, not a 'top 50'
Story Created: Aug 26, 2012 at 10:52 PM ECT
The entire build-up to the 50th Independence celebrations has been nonsensical. The propaganda machinery rains praise on a top 50 citizens. Does that mean that all other citizens did not contribute to T&T's development over the last 50 years?
It's as if T&T's other 1,299,950 citizens do not exist and their forefathers did not exist, hence there is nothing of them to highlight or mention. This is how the history books are recording this milestone — the Independence celebrations in which the contributions of common people were not worthy enough for acknowledgement, not colourful enough for mention, were excluded because theirs were not sufficiently impacting on nation-building.
At 50 the nation's stewards are still caught up in notions of superiority and inferiority; greater and lesser citizens. They still undervalue the contributions of the common citizen in nation-building.
It is like attending your school's graduation and witnessing all the praise and honour going to a select few well-liked graduates. Only their contributions are worth talking about. For 50 years only certain people's lives were archived and now only their stories are told. This national graduation ceremony (50th Independence celebration) is supposed to be a celebration recounting the triumphs of all 1.3 million citizens and those who went before, not hero- worshipping the top 50 citizens.
What is the unit of measure for determining national influence? Is frequency of reminder of greatness, "highness", sweetness, creativity, innovative gusto, selflessness, worldly admiration as sculpted by media propaganda useful standards for measure of national influence?
Come on, a top 50 people that made T&T what it is today? Just 50 in 50 years? What were the millions native to Trinidad and Tobago doing while the 50 heroes were shining their light with fuel provided by the nation?
It took informed ideas from many quarters to sculpt present- day Trinidad and Tobago. Some basked in artificial limelight of acclaim or are imputed as the genesis and momentum of these autonomous thinking and doing movements. Not so fast media-hype hero.
The average Hollywood movie's credit list does better at acknowledging contributors to movie creation than the organisers chosen to highlight persons who have helped define T&T as an independent nation from 1962 to 2012.
Celebrating Independence should be about showing gratitude for the contributions of everyone, not just raining praise and honour on a few pin-up names and faces. Many unfamiliar names and faces gave and do give to the country with unyielding zest, so where is their limelight?
I'd presume that the Independence celebration was about the common breakage of colonial bonds that oppressed every disenfranchised person. Since then no top 50 but millions have contributed to the best of their ability and resources to making T&T what it is today. Where are the faces of the millions, from Cedros to Toco, from Charlotteville to Bon Accord, who collectively contributed from the 1960s to present toward creating T&T?
Where are the faces of the housewives, teachers, preachers, healers, builders, farmers, fishermen, firemen, protective services officers, vendors, mechanics, inventors, plumbers, environmentalists, scientists, engineers, transportation workers, factory workers, commercial service workers etc that every day keep, sustain and expand T&T?
Independence ought to be about celebrating the independence of all citizens and the strength of interdependence of all nationals, not picking a few to perch on pedestals above the commoners. At 50, T&T should have dropped such colonial practices that focus the largest share of honour and gratitude at a few poster children at the top, while downplaying the roles played by the mass of the population in T&T's deliverance from colonialism and its progress as an independent nation.
B Joseph
Via e-mail
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http://www.trinidadexpress.com/letters/Route_to_real__independence-167505625.html
Route to real independence
Story Created: Aug 26, 2012 at 10:52 PM ECT
FIFTY years ago we were given our Independence from the United Kingdom and we were entrusted with the responsibility of running our own affairs under the leadership two of the greatest men our country had produced, Dr Eric Williams and Dr Rudranath Capildeo.
They were the twin collaborators of our Independence.
While Dr Williams seemed preoccupied with the politics of Independence it was Dr Capildeo who preached development of education and agriculture, food production and the development of our energy and educational resources.
Dr Capildeo called for the development of education as a virtual industry that could produce technocrats and middle managers among other highly trained individuals to assist in the overall development of the new nation. We all laughed at him and scoffed at his suggestions for solar energy and agriculture and to control in a meaningful way our destiny.
So today we are politically independent but we have to rely on other countries for our food supplies over which we have no control, while thousands of acres of fertile lands lie fallow and thousands of people are unemployed.
Even thousands of acres of citrus planted by Caroni lie abandoned while our fish farm in Valsayn is overgrown with grass, and in the meantime we import our fish and citrus juices from the mighty US.
We have to get off our behinds and chart a new course which would make us truly independent and become masters of our own destiny.
Dr Clifford Ramcharan
St Augustine
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http://www.trinidadexpress.com/letters/Stand_and_sing_the_anthem-167639355.html
Stand and sing the anthem
Story Created: Aug 27, 2012 at 10:59 PM ECT
It is not enough to stand in silence and listen to our country's National Anthem.
I have been struck by the fact that people simply stand and listen to the music played solemnly by various means — especially our wonderful steelband, as was the case the other night with the marvellous playing of the anthem by the Defence Force Orchestra at the Military Tattoo.
I think that everyone, when called upon anywhere, should stand and sing the words and be conscious of the meaning of these words which are prayerful, melodic and inspirational.
I am sure that no one listening to the voices of the Olympic audiences singing the national anthem of Great Britain – "God Save the Queen" – could miss the fervour and pride that resulted from the resounding chorus.
We, at this point in our nation's life, need to use whatever means possible to instill pride and respect for ourselves and for our past and hope for the future.
The words of our anthem are soul-stirring and moving. They constitute a national, hopeful, optimistic prayer.
Currently, when an announcer asks people to "stand for the National Anthem" the implication is that they should stand and listen to it. He should say instead: "Stand and sing the National Anthem" – for we need publicly to express our boundless faith in our destiny, as side by side we stand.
We need to promise that, despite the sometimes awful reality, our ideals are above question and we thank God for reminding us of them.
Marlene Davis
Cascade
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Just a note to say thanks to Socapro for his posts, both during the Olympics and for the 50th Independence anniversary. World Class. Thnaturally good. :beermug:
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Happy Birthday Trinidad and Tobago
It is with great pride that I extend best wishes on the nation's 50th anniversary. I have lived prior to nationhood and blessed to see our nation grow to such heights. Despite the ills which plagues us, the hardships, the crime, I am reminded of the struggles that many of us endure in our personal lives,These said struggles we witness at times with our nation. May those entrusted with stewardship do so in a manner to dignify those who came before. May we all seek some solace through the following tribute from a daughter:
Are we favoured or forever lost?
Published:
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Anthony Wilson
For many people, especially as they get older, birthdays are days of both celebration and reflection. For special birthdays, such as 30 or 40, there should be a period of increased introspection— a weighing of positives and negatives, assets and liabilities, pros and cons. As it is with individuals, so should it be with nations. First of all, it must be said that, as a country, T&T has much going for it. We live in a country in which, generally, the rule of law prevails and in which government action—or lack of action—is subject to judicial review by a fiercely independent judiciary. We live in a country that has enshrined in its Constitution the right of the population to review the performance of the government every five years or so. What’s more, we live in a country in which all of the political leaders since Independence have had an interest in ensuring that the population gets an opportunity to share in the nation’s wealth. I have used this space on a number of occasions to make the point about the linkage between the creation of wealth offshore and the distribution of that wealth onshore. Still, many people do not get the point that when the Government subsidises the provision of education from nursery to tertiary that that is a means by which the Government ensures that the country’s wealth gets to trickle down to the poorest of the poor and everyone else.
The ability of this country to afford free education on the scale that it does is not only a huge investment in building up the country’s human capital, it also saves the working mothers and fathers from having to pay out a significant percentage of their take-home pay in ensuring that their children are properly educated. There is very little appreciation of the fact that free education is the primary means through which the population shares in the wealth of the nation and, I suspect, that there is little communication by parents and teachers of how fortunate today’s generation is in being able to attend school without the payment of school fees by their guardians. There are still people in this country who are critical of past administrations—of both political complexions—for not sharing the nation’s wealth. I am not sure this population appreciates how much of the nation’s wealth they share. While there are many people who see wealth in terms of cash, shares, property or hard assets such as gold and silver, there are very few people who see the Government’s provision of free education and free health—among other services that are heavily subsidised—as the distribution of wealth.
As T&T celebrates its 50th anniversary, one of the things that every citizen—whether living in Trinidad and Tobago or outside of it—should do is to reflect on their contribution to making this country a better place for all of us to live. There are not enough of us who ask what we can do for our country. In comparing the performance of nations, much attention is placed on the role of leaders and in this magazine Erica Williams-Connell, the daughter of T&T’s Independence Prime Minister, Eric Williams, places a great deal of emphasis on the role that her father played in building T&T into a great nation. Erica has made keeping the Eric Williams flame burning in the consciousness of the T&T citizenry a significant part of her life’s work and is the driving force behind The Eric Williams Memorial Collection. In discussing her contribution to this magazine, she sent this private correspondence that she had received from Rachel Manley—who has the rare distinction of herself being the daughter and granddaughter of Caribbean prime ministers (Michael Manley and Norman Manley). (See Erica’s contribution on Page 12) In an e-mail to Erica in 2009, used with the permission of both women, after she visited The Eric Williams Memorial Collection—which is housed at the St Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies, Rachel Manley wrote:
“Dear Erica I just wanted to drop a line to tell you how utterly moved I was by the permanent exhibition of your father's papers and mementos at the library in St Augustine. I was there for a week teaching and Funso Aiyejina kindly arranged for me to see the room. I felt so many memories flood over me. Federation was a like a magic Kingdom when I was a child watching your dad and my grandfather and the other members around our dining room table. I always wondered if your father knew how it broke NW's (Norman Washington’s) heart..his sense that he had failed your father and that brave band of national warriors who each in their own territory established our new futures. We have been planning for ages to have a memorial for NW...since then my grandmother died and Dad, and now the plan is to have a combined museum at their small house Regardless (their retreat after NW lost in 1962). I felt so ashamed when I saw what a lovely job you have done and how much it evokes of your father and that time. It has spurred me on to see that we get our mission accomplished. Thank you so much for doing this for Trinidad and the Caribbean...for our history. For your beloved and precious father. He would be so proud; well he always was of you! Rachel (Manley)”
I have chosen to republish the Rachel Manley email in full because it says something about the country and its people. This is an example of a proud Jamaican—the daughter of a prime minister and the granddaughter of a prime minister—lavishing praise on a proud Trinidadian— who is the daughter of a prime minister— for the work that the Trinidadian has done in keeping the memory of the country’s first indigenous political leader alive. This is one example of someone honouring the country’s past in a way that the T&T population is often criticised for not doing
Business Guardian
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Just a note to say thanks to Socapro for his posts, both during the Olympics and for the 50th Independence anniversary. World Class. Thnaturally good. :beermug:
:beermug:
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Trinidad & Tobago celebrates 50 years of independence
Neki Mohan blogs from Trinidad & Tobago (http://www.local10.com/news/Trinidad-Tobago-celebrates-50-years-of-independence/-/1717324/16431628/-/yrci5f/-/index.html)
Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, 5:37 p.m. Thursday
It's surreal to be on the ground in the capital of my youth on assignment. Photographer Bob Palumbo and I are in a busy Port of Spain, which is draped in red, white and black -- the national colors.
We are in the Port of Spain to cover Trinidad and Tobago's 50th anniversary of independence. A big deal in the twin island republic which so many South Floridians claim as their native homeland.
Ten of thousands of Trinidadians and Tobagonians live in the State of Florida. Lieutenant Governor Jennifer Carroll is a native of the country. Chances are you have a neighbor, a friend or a co-worker that hails from the twin island republic.
Trinidad and Tobago is very unique as Caribbean islands go because of its natural resources. It's vibrant industry of petroleum and petroleum products, making it a vital supplier to the region, including the United States. Lt. Gov Carroll just led a trade delegation to T&T this summer to build a stronger economic link between the two places.
Signs of the culture here in South Florida are everywhere. The steel band, which was created in Trinidad, is part of the soundtrack for our Caribbean lifestyle and tourism industry. Every year, Miami Gardens plays host to the hundreds of thousands who come in to town for the annual Carnival in October. In almost every city in South Florida, there are Caribbean markets and restaurants. Even groceries stores are stocking their shelves with more imports to keep up with demand to satisfy their Caribbean clientele.
I was born in New York to two Trinidadian-born parents who were struggling to find opportunity in their new not so tropical homeland that had many job opportunities. Caring for a child was not easy without family support, so at 3-years-old, I went to live with my grandparents in Port of Spain until it was time to go to college.
My story is one of thousands of similar experiences shared by Caribbean Immigrants in South Florida. We have embraced American culture and lifestyle but there will always be a feeling inside that makes T&T our home, too.
This is a big day for T&T, and I am honored to cover it for Local 10.
At midnight Friday, they will reenact the lowering of the British Flag and hoisting on Trinidad and Tobago's red, white and black flag for the first time 50 years ago. We are here on the ground to bring this special time to you.
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Yeh, 50 fackin yrs of incompetence and total mismanagement of ah little arse county (in size and population) with trillions of dollars @ their disposal over two and a half oil booms!
happy what mdcnt birthday allyuh talking bout, there's nothing happy about T&T, especially trinidad!! allyuh really believe that we was ever free of colonialism?? these black skin white boys who took over the reins from the colonial oppressors are all neo colonialist!
them boy is the new slavers!! them fackers stay there and steal out the treasury, not just once or twice but from the time the british got on the plane till the present day, bringing the country to it's knees! what they didn't manage to steal they squandered! in reality they didn't have a solitary facking clue how to nurture and build a nation, let alone prepare for the future.
imagine, after such a big oil boom these ppl barely could have brought the country through it's first post independence recession? and after two and a half oil booms, 25% of the population is "still" living under the poverty level, with the highest level of violent crime and corruption from the inception of the country!
to think that hundreds of thousands of the brightest and ambitious minds flooded out your nation bc of the lack of employment opportunities, when you had hundreds of billions with a miniscule population and relatively small land mass, now that my friend is unheard off! only in trinidad and tobago!
IMO this is why the standard in the country dropped so drastically, and i attribute that to the life blood of your nation running out for fear of stagnation, especially the young exuberant enthusiastic and in some cases, bright citizens who filed out your land looking for a brighter more hopeful future, leaving only the most mediocre citizens, then what else is expected??
i really hate these ppl, and i will never celebrate with ah nation of crooks, dunces, gluttons for money, spineless civil servants and bribe takers! fack that!! they shoulda leave the white people with the place, @ least we would have been able to walk down the street in peace not worrying for our safety, instead of living as a prisoner in your own home surrounded by burglar proofing.
"and may god bless our nation" :cursing: :pissedoff:
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JUST COOL YUH BEAT MIH TO IT. (and I probably would not have been as articulate.)
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE NAYSHUN
4 murders in 5 hours
By ALEXANDER BRUZUAL Friday, August 31 2012
ON THE EVE of the country’s 50th anniversary of Independence, four more young lives were brutally snuffed out in shooting incidents in Laventille, Chaguanas and La Horquetta, pushing the murder toll to 283 according to Newsday statistics.
Dead are Daniel Boudree, 18; Akile Reveillac, 25; Juanza Jones, 30, and Kerron Atwell, 33.
All four were killed in separate incidents between 10 pm on Wednesday and 3 am yesterday.
The first two murders occurred in Enterprise, Chaguanas.
Police reported that at about 10 pm on Wednesday, Atwell of George Street, St Madeleine and Boudree of Taradale, were both sitting in the front seat of a Nissan B14 Sentra car which was parked along Tobago Road in Enterprise. Residents later heard several loud explosions.
Upon investigating, residents found both men dead in the car with gunshot wounds to their heads and upper bodies.
A party of officers from the Central Division Police and the Homicide Bureau of Investigations, including Senior Superintendent Deodath Dulalchan, Superintendent Johnny Abraham and Inspector Wayne Lawrence, visited the scene.
The area was cordoned off as Crime Scene Investigators searched the scene for clues, following which, the two bodies were ordered removed to the Forensic Science Centre, St James. Next, Reveillac was killed by bandits during a robbery in La Horquetta.
Police reported, at about 2 am yesterday, Reveillac was walking along Slinger Francisco Boulevard in La Horquetta, when he was approached by a group of persons who demanded his jewelry.
The young man, who was said to be a bartender working on the Treasure Queen pleasure cruise sea vessel, resisted and was shot multiple times.
Residents found Reveillac on the road in a pool of blood with gunshot injuries to his face and upper chest.
The jewelry he gave up his life for, was stolen along with cash and a cellular phone.
The police were notified and a party of officers from the La Horquetta Police Station and the Homicide Bureau of Investigations visited the scene.
A mere 45-minutes later, Homicide Bureau investigators received yet another report of a murder — this time along Church Street, Laventille — walking distance from Dorata Street where last weekend, four murders were committed.
Police reported, at about 2.45 am, residents of Church Street heard several loud explosions and upon investigating, saw Jones lying in a pool of blood on the roadway.
They notified the police and a party of officers from the Besson Street Police Station as well as the Homicide Bureau visited the scene. All four bodies were ordered to be taken to the Forensic Science Centre, and investigations into to each of these killings. No arrests have been made.
All of the bodies are now at the Forensic Science Centre in St James.
With today being a public holiday, the Centre will be closed and with police expecting a brace of murders and fatal accidents over the long weekend, the scene could be set for major chaos and a pile up of bodies at the centre all awaiting autopsies.
From Eric to Kamla, successive vampires that feed and destroy this nation
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From Eric to Kamla, successive vampires that feed and destroy this nation
But is the people who vote these vampires into power!
We can't keep blaming the vampires for their behaviour when its the common people who keep voting them into power and supporting them. As you make your bed is so you have to lay down in it.
PS: I don't agree with Eric being a vampire though not when compared with these recent T&T politicians.
Since Eric died in March 1981 however it has become more and more of a sucking spree between these vamperial T&T parties in power trying to out do each other. The current PP government seems to be one of the most clueless yet. Is like PP stands for the People's Pappishow and not much else. :-\
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From Eric to Kamla, successive vampires that feed and destroy this nation
But is the people who vote these vampires into power!
We can't keep blaming the vampires for their behaviour when its the common people who keep voting them into power and supporting them. As you make your bed is so you have to lay down in it.
PS: I don't agree with Eric being a vampire though not when compared with these recent T&T politicians.
Since Eric died in March 1981 however it has become more and more of a sucking spree between these vamperial T&T parties in power trying to out do each other. The current PP government seems to be one of the most clueless yet. Is like PP stands for the People's Pappishow and not much else. :-\
Socapro the man right !! eric was ah fackin vampire too! fack dat father of the nation bullsh!t, our parents and grandparents full we head wid ah set of fairytales and fantacies, but in reality they didn't know any better bc they held the man in high esteem like ah demi god, but in reality he was just another political product of his day, same as barrow, gairy, manley and forbes burnham, socialist minded bright boys without a plan.
eric perpetuated ah whole lot of fackry, and is responsible for the lackluster attitude you seeing today amongst trinis. this ten days business was madness, man liming from 7 am to 10 am and no one lift as much as a shovel or a cutlass, not even a supervisor to come and make sure that things were getting done, just free money for the badjohn foreman and dem that were running the dewd project.
IMO that was ah bad example to set for the nation. ppl in the civil service would work from 8 am to 3 pm and in some instances till noon. by 4pm the rum shops was full to capacity, especially on ah friday evenings where if yuh pass down charlotte st, prince street or curepe junction is only saga boy in they fancy dandans and iz iron knocking and liqor swilling till the wee hours of the morning.
eric caught his ministers taking bribes and running racket and instead of reprimanding them, he reshuffle his cabinet and it was business as usual. i not saying that he was ah bad fella, all i'm saying is rather, he facked up big time, bc he had the capacity to do much much better, but instead opted for a good time!
BTW, eric was one of the biggest rum drinking womanizing leaders we ever had, no wonder he was cool with the anyhow attitude of the poor ppl especially behind the bridge.
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fishes, i was preparing this in my head for @ least ah week. i was like goat sh!t on ah hill, waiting for any one to even utter those words "happy 50th" to me so i could blow them out, but no one bit, so i have tuh vent on here.
fack dem lazy anyhow shameless people, they facked up what could have been a real paradise on earth, one of the best and progressive little nations on the planet, ever!! bc we have the talent!
ah go tell yuh dis, one thing no body could ever say is that God never bless us with talent and skill! but our monkey leaders didn't know how to recognize it and nurtured the ppl and the nation into something phenomenally great!
trust meh, trinidad and tobago had soooooo much to offer the world, and still do, but these monkeys who wielding the stick eh care bout that, bc their minds small, and they seriously lack facking pride, ambition and genuine patriotism.
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fishes, i was preparing this in my head for @ least ah week. i was like goat sh!t on ah hill, waiting for any one to even utter those words "happy 50th" to me so i could blow them out, but no one bit, so i have tuh vent on here.
fack dem lazy anyhow shameless people, they facked up what could have been a real paradise on earth, one of the best and progressive little nations on the planet, ever!! bc we have the talent!
ah go tell yuh dis, one thing no body could ever say is that God never bless us with talent and skill! but our monkey leaders didn't know how to recognize it and nurtured the ppl and the nation into something phenomenally great!
trust meh, trinidad and tobago had soooooo much to offer the world, and still do, but these monkeys who wielding the stick eh care bout that, bc their minds small, and they seriously lack facking pride, ambition and genuine patriotism.
Everything yuh express dey is how I think.
Soo much potential jus obscenely blown away by self serving blood suckers.
Still corrupt to the core and what so goddamn depressing is no end of it in sight
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Happy Independence Day TnT!
50 years strong!
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http://www.youtube.com/v/BJbXvESgJ5s
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http://www.youtube.com/v/LJJCfqHBkMY
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Independence Parade live on C
http://www.ctntworld.com/livestream/
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http://www.youtube.com/v/K_ItBb6GqNI
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I echo some of socapro and just cool sentiments. I am of the opinion that the citizens of t&t should enjoy the wealth of the land however, this is not the case while the politicians continue to rape the country.
Happy 50th to T&T.
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Allyuh wet blankets need to cool allyuh self..
Today we celebrate 50 years as an independent nation, in effect our 50th birthday.
On our Golden Jubilee, let us celebrate all that is good about our nation, what we have accomplished and how far we have come. It is not every day that we as a nation could come together on a momentous occasion like this to celebrate everything that is inherently great about Trinidad and Tobago.
The cry down and the lambast could wait till tomorrow.
Happy 50th Independence Day to one and to all.
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From Eric to Kamla, successive vampires that feed and destroy this nation
But is the people who vote these vampires into power!
We can't keep blaming the vampires for their behaviour when its the common people who keep voting them into power and supporting them. As you make your bed is so you have to lay down in it.
PS: I don't agree with Eric being a vampire though not when compared with these recent T&T politicians.
Since Eric died in March 1981 however it has become more and more of a sucking spree between these vamperial T&T parties in power trying to out do each other. The current PP government seems to be one of the most clueless yet. Is like PP stands for the People's Pappishow and not much else. :-\
Socapro the man right !! eric was ah fackin vampire too! fack dat father of the nation bullsh!t, our parents and grandparents full we head wid ah set of fairytales and fantacies, but in reality they didn't know any better bc they held the man in high esteem like ah demi god, but in reality he was just another political product of his day, same as barrow, gairy, manley and forbes burnham, socialist minded bright boys without a plan.
eric perpetuated ah whole lot of fackry, and is responsible for the lackluster attitude you seeing today amongst trinis. this ten days business was madness, man liming from 7 am to 10 am and no one lift as much as a shovel or a cutlass, not even a supervisor to come and make sure that things were getting done, just free money for the badjohn foreman and dem that were running the dewd project.
IMO that was ah bad example to set for the nation. ppl in the civil service would work from 8 am to 3 pm and in some instances till noon. by 4pm the rum shops was full to capacity, especially on ah friday evenings where if yuh pass down charlotte st, prince street or curepe junction is only saga boy in they fancy dandans and iz iron knocking and liqor swilling till the wee hours of the morning.
eric caught his ministers taking bribes and running racket and instead of reprimanding them, he reshuffle his cabinet and it was business as usual. i not saying that he was ah bad fella, all i'm saying is rather, he facked up big time, bc he had the capacity to do much much better, but instead opted for a good time!
BTW, eric was one of the biggest rum drinking womanizing leaders we ever had, no wonder he was cool with the anyhow attitude of the poor ppl especially behind the bridge.
Just Cool, you seem like a very conscious brother ..i.e Africa, home for Africans...
I do not agree that Williams was a vampire. But being a child of history and knowledge, I will certainly change my position and agree with you if you can provide some reliable sources (evidence) that leads to the conclusion that Williams was a vampire. Because, many sources exists that prove otherwise regarding Williams. Please do not take this the wrong way, I have read many of your posts... You seem like a knowledgable brother. Please share any links to reliable sources so we can read. All the best. Happy 50th
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Allyuh wet blankets need to cool allyuh self..
Today we celebrate 50 years as an independent nation, in effect our 50th birthday.
On our Golden Jubilee, let us celebrate all that is good about our nation, what we have accomplished and how far we have come. It is not every day that we as a nation could come together on a momentous occasion like this to celebrate everything that is inherently great about Trinidad and Tobago.
The cry down and the lambast could wait till tomorrow.
Happy 50th Independence Day to one and to all.
I agree. While Socapro and Just Cool have made some very valid points, I think that one is still justified in extending the very best wishes to our country on the occasion of its jubilee anniversary.
Of course, problems abound, but which country does not have problems?
So on this occasion, I would like to wish Trinidad and Tobago a happy jubilee and all the best for the future.
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Happy 50th TT.God Bless Toute Moun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :beermug: :beermug: :beermug: :beermug: ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :wavetowel: :wavetowel: :wavetowel: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :applause: :applause: :applause:
Today I will celebrate. No recriminations. from tomorrow I will start back cussin from Eric to Kamla
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TOGETHER WE ASPIRE TOGETHER WE ACHIEVE that is true ? sometimes i wonder if the next 50yrs would be any. different ]
INDEPENDENCE GREETINGS TO ALL TRINBAGONIANS
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Well I get vex today.
I living in Canada and just today, I found out that some neighbours down the road spen 3 weeks in Trinidad back in June/July 2012. We talking about the children and travel and they happen to mention they just returned from Trinidad. So naturally, we have a common subject to talk about, the food (she like currants role, curry goat but doh care for roti,) etc, etc. So finally, the question why she and she husband went to Trinidad came up. Vacation? business?
Well get this. She and the husband and others from their church went down there on frigging missionary work. To feed the poor and conduct bible classes!
Why de hell the country eh taking care of their own?
I know that poverty exist in all countries and disparities exist in even the wealthiest nations, but these neighbours of mind perceived a need that compelled them to help out. She said she was feeding the poorest of the poor somewhere in Chaguanas. A country with Trinidad's resources should not have to rely on foreign aid to take care of its poor. Is Trinidad a third world country that need this type of help?
So while I can say Happy Independence, you sometimes wonder what's been going on over the last 50 years when people still traveling from Canada to do missionary work.
Steups
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Allyuh wet blankets need to cool allyuh self..
Today we celebrate 50 years as an independent nation, in effect our 50th birthday.
On our Golden Jubilee, let us celebrate all that is good about our nation, what we have accomplished and how far we have come. not every day that we as a nation could come together on a momentous occasion like this to celebrate everything that is inherently great about Trinidad and Tobago.
The cry down and the lambast could wait till tomorrow.
Happy 50th Independence Day to one and to all.
How you so contrary man?? it's almost like yuh does want tuh wait tuh dun man just bc you could do it.
all this talk about diamond jubilee, tell the mdfckrs in sea lots and paramin bout that, is pure sea cat and iguanna meat keeping them ppl alive. it's not every body who is afforded the opportunity tuh get ah good start in life yuh know, remember it have ppl right there in that so called oil wealthy country who living in abject poverty, so speak for your self!
and yeh mister, it can't wait till tomorrow bc today is as good as any! just yesterday three ppl get lick down so they couldn't wait and neither wiil i, any given day you could be in the mix as an innocent bystander when gun shot barkin, what ah way tuh life in such ah :"small" country, an though it could happen to me, but your odds are greater bc of the lack of policing and the amount of cold blooded care free criminals in your mids that the system can't seem to convict and take off the streets as opposed to where i am where if they tired tuh see yuh face yuh could end up in jail forever..
this is a country with billions @ their disposal and the place still have "third world" status. so instead of vexing wid me bc i say yuh house stink on your birthday, yuh should appreciate the heads up and get tuh cleaning!
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From Eric to Kamla, successive vampires that feed and destroy this nation
But is the people who vote these vampires into power!
We can't keep blaming the vampires for their behaviour when its the common people who keep voting them into power and supporting them. As you make your bed is so you have to lay down in it.
PS: I don't agree with Eric being a vampire though not when compared with these recent T&T politicians.
Since Eric died in March 1981 however it has become more and more of a sucking spree between these vamperial T&T parties in power trying to out do each other. The current PP government seems to be one of the most clueless yet. Is like PP stands for the People's Pappishow and not much else. :-\
Socapro the man right !! eric was ah fackin vampire too! fack dat father of the nation bullsh!t, our parents and grandparents full we head wid ah set of fairytales and fantacies, but in reality they didn't know any better bc they held the man in high esteem like ah demi god, but in reality he was just another political product of his day, same as barrow, gairy, manley and forbes burnham, socialist minded bright boys without a plan.
eric perpetuated ah whole lot of fackry, and is responsible for the lackluster attitude you seeing today amongst trinis. this ten days business was madness, man liming from 7 am to 10 am and no one lift as much as a shovel or a cutlass, not even a supervisor to come and make sure that things were getting done, just free money for the badjohn foreman and dem that were running the dewd project.
IMO that was ah bad example to set for the nation. ppl in the civil service would work from 8 am to 3 pm and in some instances till noon. by 4pm the rum shops was full to capacity, especially on ah friday evenings where if yuh pass down charlotte st, prince street or curepe junction is only saga boy in they fancy dandans and iz iron knocking and liqor swilling till the wee hours of the morning.
eric caught his ministers taking bribes and running racket and instead of reprimanding them, he reshuffle his cabinet and it was business as usual. i not saying that he was ah bad fella, all i'm saying is rather, he facked up big time, bc he had the capacity to do much much better, but instead opted for a good time!
BTW, eric was one of the biggest rum drinking womanizing leaders we ever had, no wonder he was cool with the anyhow attitude of the poor ppl especially behind the bridge.
Just Cool, you seem like a very conscious brother ..i.e Africa, home for Africans...
I do not agree that Williams was a vampire. But being a child of history and knowledge, I will certainly change my position and agree with you if you can provide some reliable sources (evidence) that leads to the conclusion that Williams was a vampire. Because, many sources exists that prove otherwise regarding Williams. Please do not take this the wrong way, I have read many of your posts... You seem like a knowledgable brother. Please share any links to reliable sources so we can read. All the best. Happy 50th
Breds i didn't say the man was a vampire initially, it was fishes who said it, and socapro objected and i agreed with fishes. apart from what i wrote in the first post, that's just about all i know of williams.
IMO he harbored and protect politicians who was sucking the country, so therefore he was. i rate him as an aider and abettor who turned a blind eye. this man was capable of so much more, and instead of being frank and cleaning house, he opted to play along with all the bullsh!t.
IMO williams was way too cunning for his own good.
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Right now on CTNTWORLD, I see a program call Journey to Jubilee. It look like a replay of the summit of the americas show. Still it is damn ENJOYABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :thumbsup: :notworthy:
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From Eric to Kamla, successive vampires that feed and destroy this nation
But is the people who vote these vampires into power!
We can't keep blaming the vampires for their behaviour when its the common people who keep voting them into power and supporting them. As you make your bed is so you have to lay down in it.
PS: I don't agree with Eric being a vampire though not when compared with these recent T&T politicians.
Since Eric died in March 1981 however it has become more and more of a sucking spree between these vamperial T&T parties in power trying to out do each other. The current PP government seems to be one of the most clueless yet. Is like PP stands for the People's Pappishow and not much else. :-\
Socapro the man right !! eric was ah fackin vampire too! fack dat father of the nation bullsh!t, our parents and grandparents full we head wid ah set of fairytales and fantacies, but in reality they didn't know any better bc they held the man in high esteem like ah demi god, but in reality he was just another political product of his day, same as barrow, gairy, manley and forbes burnham, socialist minded bright boys without a plan.
eric perpetuated ah whole lot of fackry, and is responsible for the lackluster attitude you seeing today amongst trinis. this ten days business was madness, man liming from 7 am to 10 am and no one lift as much as a shovel or a cutlass, not even a supervisor to come and make sure that things were getting done, just free money for the badjohn foreman and dem that were running the dewd project.
IMO that was ah bad example to set for the nation. ppl in the civil service would work from 8 am to 3 pm and in some instances till noon. by 4pm the rum shops was full to capacity, especially on ah friday evenings where if yuh pass down charlotte st, prince street or curepe junction is only saga boy in they fancy dandans and iz iron knocking and liqor swilling till the wee hours of the morning.
eric caught his ministers taking bribes and running racket and instead of reprimanding them, he reshuffle his cabinet and it was business as usual. i not saying that he was ah bad fella, all i'm saying is rather, he facked up big time, bc he had the capacity to do much much better, but instead opted for a good time!
BTW, eric was one of the biggest rum drinking womanizing leaders we ever had, no wonder he was cool with the anyhow attitude of the poor ppl especially behind the bridge.
Just Cool, you seem like a very conscious brother ..i.e Africa, home for Africans...
I do not agree that Williams was a vampire. But being a child of history and knowledge, I will certainly change my position and agree with you if you can provide some reliable sources (evidence) that leads to the conclusion that Williams was a vampire. Because, many sources exists that prove otherwise regarding Williams. Please do not take this the wrong way, I have read many of your posts... You seem like a knowledgable brother. Please share any links to reliable sources so we can read. All the best. Happy 50th
Breds i didn't say the man was a vampire initially, it was fishes who said it, and socapro objected and i agreed with fishes. apart from what i wrote in the first post, that's just about all i know of williams.
IMO he harbored and protect politicians who was sucking the country, so therefore he was. i rate him as an aider and abettor who turned a blind eye. this man was capable of so much more, and instead of being frank and cleaning house, he opted to play along with all the bullsh!t.
IMO williams was way too cunning for his own good.
Interesting Just.. I think the man had good intentions. But if he was cunning, I think it is due to the nature of politics. I have listened to some of his speeches. The man was about Africa. Had great ideas and was committed to organizing something to challenge the power of the North..
The man also wrote the first academic paper challenging the Eurocentric view of emancipation being motivated by humanitarian or "change of heart" views. He was the first to say in a paper that slavery was abolished for economic and political reasons. Not for altruism. I think a person who holds those opinions are sufficient for providing leadership to a people oppressed by an alien power.
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http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,165637.html
1962, and 50 years later
By Clint Chan Tack Saturday, September 1 2012
THE past intertwined with the present in Woodford Square, Port-of-Spain in the late hours of Thursday night and the early hours of yesterday morning with the Government’s re-enactment of the historic flag-raising ceremony of August 31, 1962 which witnessed the birth of Trinidad and Tobago as an independent nation.
Notwithstanding a few glitches in the ceremony which included the national flag being raised at 11.45 pm on Thursday night instead of 12.01 am yesterday morning as actually took place 50 years ago and an announcer saying “October 31st” is this country’s Independence Day, the crowd who assembled at Woodford Square seemed to enjoy this trip down memory lane and then a fast forward back to modern day TT.
Following a cultural extravangaza which started in the square at about 5.30 pm on Thursday, a contingent of British sailors and TT Coast Guardsmen marched into the square to re-enact the flag raising ceremony at 11.30 pm. The crowd cheered as they marched to the beat of a drum.
They were followed by actors from the Brown Cotton Theatre Ensemble portraying the country’s first Prime Minister Dr Eric Williams, first Opposition Leader Rudranath Capildeo, Governor General Sir Solomon Hochoy and Princess Royal Mary who were present at the ceremony in 1962. The announcement of the arrival of “Williams” (the actor) was cheered by the crowd. While the 1962 ceremony took place on the grounds of the Red House, the traditional seat of this country’s Parliament, Thursday night’s ceremony which continued into yesterday morning took place at the square where two temporary flag poles were erected in front of the main stage.
The Parliament was relocated to the Port-of-Spain International Waterfront Centre last year to facilitate upgrade works at the Red House which are expected to be completed in 2014.
Unlike the ceremony of 1962 when the British flag was still flying on its flagpole outside the Red House, both of these flagpoles were empty. The British flag was hastily raised and lowered at about 11.32, two minutes later. Bells chimed from the nearby Trinity Cathedral at 11.35 pm as officers from the TT Regiment arrived with the national flag.
However instead of giving the flag to the actor who was playing Williams, the officer carrying the flag gave it to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar as the head of modern day TT. Persad-Bissessar bowed respectfully to the officer and raised the flag over her head to the crowd and received subdued applause.
She handed it back to the officer who made his way over to the flagpoles where the actors stood alongside the formations of British sailors, TT Coast Guardsmen and soldiers in their ceremonial dress uniforms. There was an announcement from one of the actors from Brown Cotton Theatre Ensemble, who was narrating the events of 1962 as they happened 50 years ago, who told the crowd there would be a pause until midnight for the TT flag to be raised but the flag was raised at 11.45 pm.
As the flag was raised and bells chimed again from the Trinity Cathedral, some members of the crowd sang the National Anthem. The actors portraying Princess Royal Mary, Williams, Capildeo and Sir Solomon then quoted the speeches made by their respective characters at the original ceremony in 1962. There was also a brief skit where another actor playing labour leader Uriah “Buzz” Butler was thanking the actor playing Williams for getting his pension approved in 1962.
This was followed by a blessing of the nation by Inter-Religious Organisation president Brother Harrypersad Maharaj and Mavis John’s performance of “God Bless our Nation” which moved the crowd.
In her address to the crowd, Persad-Bissessar declared, “I greet and welcome you this evening with a very profound sense of honour to be the one destiny has chosen to herald this moment in history. Fifty years ago when our independent nation was born.”
The Prime Minister said while the country has faced and overcome dangers it faced in the past, “today dangers to our democracy have not receded.” She told the crowd that “at times it is your vigilance that may have waned.”
“We must not become so hypnotised by nostalgia and by our past glory that we take our eyes off our future or become less vigilant.”
While Government has been criticised by the Opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) in the run up to the ceremony in Woodford Square about not doing enough to recognise the contribution of Williams (this country’s first prime minister and its founder) in guiding TT to independence 50 years ago, yesterday Persad-Bissessar said, “Our first Prime Minister, the Father of our Nation, Dr Eric Eustace Williams stood right here representing a people, filled with an unusual sense of exhilaration, filled with a sense of anxiety and hope, to witness the hoisting of our flag for the very first time.”
“Let us pay tribute to the founding father of our nation, the right honourable Dr Williams,” she added. Paying similar homage to the country’s first Opposition Leader Dr Rudranath Capildeo and this country’s first President Sir Ellis Clarke (both) deceased, the Prime Minister said, “We say thank you to them and we say thank God for them for taking us on this pathway to self-determination.”
Saying she was honoured on May 24, 2010 “to inherit a tradition of liberty and freedom and a long-standing covenant to uphold the principles of our democracy” from her prime ministerial predecessors, Persad-Bissessar said all of the country’s leaders needed to “rise above partisanship in service to the citizens of our land.”
She urged her audience “as we revisit this great moment in our history, we must resolve to heal old wounds, let go of old grudges and perceptions based only on personal feelings, and protect, and if necessary, rebuild the foundations of mutual respect and trust.
“The key to our security, our stability and our future lies in the mind of each and every one of our citizens.” Noting over the last 50 years, Woodford Square became known as the “University of Woodford Square” and the “parliament of the common man” where many promises were made, Persad-Bissessar identified politics as one area where TT nationals have excelled.
Persad-Bissessar then welcomed TT’s Olympic gold medallist Keshorn Walcott on stage to the delight of the crowd. Walcott, former labour leader Adrian Cola Rienzi and former Prime Minister George Chambers all received this country’s highest award, the Order of the Republic of TT, at Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s yesterday evening. Chambers and Cola Rienzi received the award posthumously.
President George Maxwell Richards then delivered what was his final independence message to the nation, before he demits office next year. The President spoke about citizens needing be committed to integrity and constitutional reform, particularly where Tobago was concerned. Richards was first elected in 2003 for a five-year term and re-elected in 2008 for a second five-year term. Under the Constitution, Richards can only serve two five-year terms as President. In July, Persad-Bissessar hinted at Richards serving a third term.
The festivities at Woodford Square concluded after 2 am with a spectacular fireworks display which illuminated the sky over Port-of-Spain followed by a concert by Road March 2012 champion Machel Montano. Montano performed several of his popular songs and excited the crowd when he was joined on stage by Drupatee Ramgoonai to perform their “Real Unity” song.
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I feeling a sense of pride that the papers ent report nobody murdered today !!!
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51 and counting. We hadda get it right at some point. Carry on!
(https://sphotos-b-mia.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/1238958_567855289928350_126269122_n.jpg)
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51 and counting. We hadda get it right at some point. Carry on!
Boi and we pray
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OTT - Daaga d so call Chief Servant. I wonder who he serving these days.
Ramesh Deosoran - Social Scientist parading as a Criminologist
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Happy Independence SW.net
One day early, but I want to wish Happy Independence to all SW.net members and all Trinbagonians. What are your plans for the Independence weekend?
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August 31st, 1962
http://www.youtube.com/v/uPMTtiZEyTs
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(http://s11.postimg.org/6wqu467mr/Beautiful_Leaves_Christa.jpg)
Leaves changing...
I live in Canada , the last Independence day I spent in Trinidad was in 1968 ..
This long weekend in Canada ..go to the Cottage in Kingston , Ontario , the leaves are
starting to change a couple of weeks early this year . Relax with my husband and kids ,
summer is ending.
Soon skiing season starts ...yeaaaaaaaa... :beermug: :rotfl:
(http://s27.postimg.org/ljdvif0v7/141681.jpg)
Happy Independence Day to all Trinibago Citizens...
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What so independent about today's TNT? True Independence could be celebrated when we have a new governance ; when all guns missing are found ; when all rouge police are dismissed ; when all murders are ceased; when big crime. Ashes are resolved; when we catch so called big fish.
Right now we eh independent to live a life of freedom- what quality of life is it when yuh have to live in fear? Locking up yuh house like yuh living in yuh own jail? When gunmen roaming the streets and shooting at free will- yes there is nothing to celebrate on this Independence-
In my opinion that is how I see it in my opinion
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What so independent about today's TNT? True Independence could be celebrated when we have a new governance ; when all guns missing are found ; when all rouge police are dismissed ; when all murders are ceased; when big crime. Ashes are resolved; when we catch so called big fish.
Right now we eh independent to live a life of freedom- what quality of life is it when yuh have to live in fear? Locking up yuh house like yuh living in yuh own jail? When gunmen roaming the streets and shooting at free will- yes there is nothing to celebrate on this Independence-
In my opinion that is how I see it in my opinion
What you are looking for is wishful thinking or perfection ...
I don't think such exists on Earth today ...
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Well with morally upright competent governance possibilities may exist - in some parts of the world it is possible to live a life without daily fear or threats
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Well with morally upright competent governance possibilities may exist - in some parts of the world it is possible to live a life without daily fear or threats
Can you inform me where such Utopia exists ... I might move to such a place...
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Go live in Mason Hall Tobago lol why yuh eh move back and live in TNT and tell meh if that is living ah life of freedom? Tell meh if that is being independent? Yuh tainted by living inCanada too long go back to cottage country in Oswego and enjoy the lake and the free life lol ah boi life is good eh
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Go live in Mason Hall Tobago lol why yuh eh move back and live in TNT and tell meh if that is living ah life of freedom? Tell meh if that is being independent? Yuh tainted by living inCanada too long go back to cottage country in Oswego and enjoy the lake and the free life lol ah boi life is good eh
hahahaha...
Living the life at the cottage , Kingston , Ontario , I must meander around Black Bears , wolves , Coyotes ,Foxes , moose etc.....so its not close to utopia .lol
We have areas in Ottawa , its not ideal to be in after dark , so such incidents as in T&T
do occur . Now I must admit living behind iron bars is not what I would envision , my
recollection were two beautiful islands , that during that era were classified as safe with little
crime.
I do have relatives in T&T and they have had no problem to date , they live normal lives
and not in gated communities . They are primarily Farmers growing crops on previously
sugar cane lands in the country side. They live a low keyed life and enjoy the land of the Hummingbird and would not leave. They have eaten the cascadura and will be part of the legend..lol
I have come to realize that life is what we make it to be...
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True- but them animals doh go with guns to seek yuh out then doh go attach tub house just so? Them doh live in communities like yuh do come now- yuh know that TNT eh fuh you so doh try to say it like all the other places? If it was you would have gone back and buy ah house overlooking POS in the hills
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True- but them animals doh go with guns to seek yuh out then doh go attach tub house just so? Them doh live in communities like yuh do come now- yuh know that TNT eh fuh you so doh try to say it like all the other places? If it was you would have gone back and buy ah house overlooking POS in the hills
Dem animals badder than the ones that live in T&T ... :rotfl:
A house in the hills , you trying to get me covered in mud in one of dem mudslides or what ...
The only mud I get on my body is at a spa.... :rotfl: :rotfl:
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Lolo yuh too funny yes look live yuh life and be happy we cause it eh so for so many enjoy the independence weekend where ever you are and play safe with the animals lol hubby eh have ah snake tub could pet ? Lol?
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I hope you and family have the safest and best Independence day possible ...
and may God bless our two islands ...
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I hope you and family have the safest and best Independence day possible ...
and may God bless our two islands ...
The Elections Amendment Bill passed by the PP government has served to put a big damper on the 52nd Independence celebrations of intelligent Trinbagonians as democracy has clearly been eroded with that bill and we are now being rapidly taken back to the days of colonial dictatorship.
I wonder why the PP government keeps giving the nation these sour gifts as a nail in the coffin of democracy for every Independence?
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I hope you and family have the safest and best Independence day possible ...
and may God bless our two islands ...
The Elections Amendment Bill passed by the PP government has served to put a big damper on the 52nd Independence celebrations of intelligent Trinbagonians as democracy has clearly been eroded with that bill and we are now being rapidly taken back to the days of colonial dictatorship.
I wonder why the PP government keeps giving the nation these sour gifts as a nail in the coffin of democracy for every Independence?
Socapro ..
I hope you enjoy the day ...forget politics...
Have fun with your family...
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I hope you and family have the safest and best Independence day possible ...
and may God bless our two islands ...
The Elections Amendment Bill passed by the PP government has served to put a big damper on the 52nd Independence celebrations of intelligent Trinbagonians as democracy has clearly been eroded with that bill and we are now being rapidly taken back to the days of colonial dictatorship.
I wonder why the PP government keeps giving the nation these sour gifts as a nail in the coffin of democracy for every Independence?
Socapro ..
I hope you enjoy the day ...forget politics...
Have fun with your family...
I will enjoy the day but that would be despite the undemocratic and corrupt things the current T&T government is doing which will negatively affect my family members living in T&T.
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Rowley: We have come a long way (http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2014-08-31/rowley-we-have-come-long-way)
Published: Sunday, August 31, 2014 (T&T Guardian)
Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley has urged citizens to reflect on T&T’s journey from August 31, 1962, when the national flag was first hoisted to the present time. In his Independence Day message he said, “As a young developing nation, Trinidad and Tobago has come a long way. We have experienced the proverbial highs and lows along the way. However, through it all, our people have demonstrated formidable will and strong resilience, with the ability to work together to overcome challenges.
“Our dedication to our democratic rights and freedoms serves as the cornerstone upon which our nation is built. Trinidad and Tobago was, is and will always be forged from the love of liberty.” Dr Rowley said as the country faced what was seen by many as an interference with fundamental democratic principles he remained confident that the majority of the people of T&T are “right-thinking and are ready, willing and able to work steadfastly towards a better, brighter future.”
He added, “And it is with that in mind that I, on behalf of the People's National Movement, wish you all a thoughtful, safe and happy Independence Day 2014. May God bless each and every one of you and may he richly bless our nation.”
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I guess if the government could have prevented Dana's murder or in the least could have captured her murderers by now the family may have accepted the award.
Can't blame them for not allowing themselves to be part of the PP government pappyshow.
Dana’s family blanks award (http://www.guardian.co.tt/news/2014-08-31/dana%E2%80%99s-family-blanks-award)
By Renuka Singh (T&T Guardian)
Published: Sunday, August 31, 2014
The family of murdered Senior Counsel Dana Seetahal will not be collecting her Chaconia Medal (Gold) at the National Awards function at Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s, this evening. Seetahal was posthumously awarded the nation’s second highest award along with four others—Prof Brinsley Samaroo, Brig Gen Joseph Theodore (posthumously), businessman Issa Nicholas and social worker Rasheeda Ibrahim.
The nation’s highest award, the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago (ORTT), was not given this year. Former prime ministers Patrick Manning and Basdeo Panday, who were offered that honour, both declined. Seetahal’s sister Susan Francois, who heads the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), told the Sunday Guardian: “The family will not be attending the awards.”
Francois said Seetahal had risked her life seeking justice for T&T and should have been awarded the ORTT. She said she was shocked that Seetahal was not given that award. “While I appreciate all the positive feedback on my sister’s life and contribution, when it comes to official national recognition from her country, anything less than the nation’s highest award is shocking,” Francois said.
“She knowingly risked her life and paid the ultimate price for her contribution and service to country. She fought for order and justice in this country. She knew the risks involved and she continued to make her contribution despite that.” Seetahal is being given the national award more than three months after she was assassinated on her way home just after midnight on May 3. Her murder remains unsolved.
On August 20, David “Junior” Baker, 28, was killed in a shoot-out with police. Senior police officers directly involved in Seetahal’s murder probe said Baker was one of the key suspects involved in Seetahal’s well-planned assassination.
At the time of her death, Seetahal was the lead prosecutor in a high-profile case—the murder trial of Vindra Naipaul-Coolman. She had only recently taken pro bono the case of two young girls who were sent to the adult women’s prison because the State could not find accommodation for them in any other facility.
DANA’S BIO
Seetahal, born on July 8, 1954, was first appointed to Parliament in April 2002 as an Independent senator. She was again appointed an Independent senator in October 2002 and December 2007. Her first contribution in the Senate was The Appropriation Bill, 2003, which she introduced on October 28, 2002. In January 2006, she was made Senior Counsel.
In 2008, Seetahal opened her own private law practice, El Dorado Chambers, in Port-of-Spain. Before being appointed as an Independent senator, Seetahal served as a state prosecutor, assistant solicitor general and magistrate. Her first book, The Commonwealth Caribbean on Criminal Procedure, was popular with law students.
NATIONAL AWARDS 2014
Chaconia Medal (Gold)
Prof Brinsley Samaroo—Lecturer—Education/Public Service
Brig Gen Joseph Theodore—Retired chief of defence staff—Military Service
Issa Nicholas—Entrepreneur/businessman—Business
Rasheeda Ibrahim—Voluntary Social Worker—Community Service
Dana Seetahal—Attorney-at-Law—Law
Chaconia Medal (Silver)
Rudolph Charles—Pan Tuner/Innovator-Culture/ Community Service
Michael Ronald Als—Trade Unionist/Community Activist—Community Service
Pastor Clive Dottin—Pastor—Religion/Education/Community-Service
Chaconia Medal (Bronze)
Pastor Winston Mansingh—Pastor—Religion/Community Service
Rt Rev Bishop Adlyn Williams—St Louis—Minister of Religion—Religion/Community Service
Velma Jardine—Educator—Education
Humming Bird Medal (Gold)
Maurice Soong—Businessman—Business
Bolan Ramdass Amar—Businessman—Business
Azad Abass Ali—Businessman—Business
Gregorio Marchan—Retired engineer—Community Service
Humming Bird Medal (Silver)
John Gillespie—Architect—Architecture
The Trinidad and Tobago React Team 2496—Provider of two-way radio communication—Community Service
Nicholas Seucharan—Electrician—Gallantry
Humming Bird Medal (Bronze)
Michael Jack—Fisherman—Gallantry
Winston Ayers—Fisherman—Gallantry
Subesh Ramjattan—Businessman—Community Service
Joan Seudat—Cosmetologist—Business
Anisa Mohammed—Cricketer—Sport
Rudolph Sitahal—Music—Culture
Jameer Hosein—Singer—Culture
Jowelle De Souza—Activist for animal welfare—Community Service
Pundit Nandram Dan Maharaj—Pundit—Community Service
Public Service Medal Of Merit (Gold)
Gordon Narayansingh—Medical practitioner—Medicine
Jennifer Boucaud-Blake—Retired permanent secretary—Public Service
John Pilgrim Rougier—Retired commissioner of prisons—Public Service
Dr Allan Irving Mc Kenzie—Retired principal—Education
Maj Fr Matthew Hugh Ahye—Priest/Defence Force chaplin—Religion/Public Service
Rev Daniel Teelucksingh—Former independent senator—Religion/Community Service
Public Service Medal Of Merit (Silver)
Dr Brader Adaleine Brathwaite—Retired senior lecturer—Education
Clyde Sylvester Forde—Retired public servant—Sport
Public Service Medal Of Merit (Bronze)
Harold Nemai—Retired public servant—Public & Community Service
Earl Skeete—Retired police officer—Sport
Irving Hoosainie—Retired principal—Public Service
Medal For The Development Of Women (Gold)
Helen Tara Persad-Maharaj—Attorney-at-Law—Community Service
Dr Daphne Phillips—Retired educator and former minister of government—Public Service & Education
Mary Care Centre—Organisation—Community Service
Debrah Lewis—Midwife—Community Service & Midwifery
Sister Hemlata Sanghi—President of Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga Centre—Community Service
Women in Action for the Needy and Destitute—Organisation—Community Service
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Silver snatched
.......from Jehue Gordon’s coach (http://www.trinidadexpress.com/sports/Silver-snatched-273349661.html)
Story Created: Aug 30, 2014 at 11:47 PM ECT (T&T Express)
Communication was made with the Office of the President about arrangements for Dr Ian Hypolite to receive the Chaconia medal silver. The only problem is that the Ministry of Sport has since informed the intended recipient that the national award has been rescinded.
“It is embarrassing,” Dr Ian Hypolite, coach of 400 metres hurdles world champion Jehue Gordon told the Sunday Express yesterday.
Today’s, Independence Day celebrations will see three recipients receiving national medals for their contribution to sport. Female cricketer Anisa Mohammed receives the Hummingbird Medal bronze; athletics administrator Clyde Forde gets the Medal of Merit silver and retired policeman Earl Skeete, the Public Service Medal of Merit bronze. Promised the Chaconia silver medal by former sport minister Anil Roberts a year ago, Dr Hypolite, however is not among today’s awardees.
After winning 400m World Championship gold last year, then Sport Minister Roberts announced that Gordon would receive Chaconia Medal, a house, and $.8m. Roberts also announced rewards for Dr Hypolite
“His local coach, Dr Ian Hypolite, has been recommended in next year’s award ceremony for the Chaconia Silver Medal and shall receive $200,000 this year for his contribution to coaching Jehue,” Roberts was reported as saying.
Yesterday, however, Dr Hypolite confirmed that this month, he received a letter signed by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sport, informing him that he would no longer receive the national award.
“In August 2014, I received a letter signed by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Sport, in an envelope labelled Private and Confidential dated July 30, 2014, advising that the award to me of the Chaconia Medal silver by a decision of Cabinet in “subparagraph “a”, “iii” of minute # 2453 of August 29, 2013” had been rescinded. No reason was given for the rescission.
“The obvious question that my family, as well as my friends and I have had to consider is what did I do in the interim to become undeserving?,” he said by letter yesterday. “I have had to deal with the public announcement of an award and a “private and confidential” rescission of the said award. Therein, lies my embarrassment.”
Hypolite revealed that he did receive the cash award, and had communication from the Office of the President about the ceremony to receive the Chaconia Medal silver, until the latest turn of events.
Further, Hypolite stated he never solicited the award in the first place, and even now is not doing so.
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Happy Independence Day everyone.
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:beermug: :beermug:
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Some countries still fighting for Independence
(https://scontent-2.2914.fna.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/v/t1.0-9/10672259_10152698070643659_6305967338701723627_n.jpg?oh=c11cdde771bc71cdd52015654fa99f75&oe=547C852F)
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Things eh perfect. But...It could always be worse. Happy Independence to all.
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Aye plenty talk about protecting and respecting our democracy this Independence day. If we are serious about protecting our democracy then consultations on real Constitution reform (not this gimmick that was rushed into law by the PM) will address the fact how easily it is for any government to make such drastic changes to how we elect our Parliament reps with a simple majority.
“On that fateful day in 1962, the man who steered our nation to Independence, our first prime minister, Dr Eric Williams, addressed the people saying “The first responsibility that devolves upon you is the protection and promotion of your democracy. Democracy means more, much more, than the right to vote and one vote for every man and every woman of the prescribed age. Democracy means recognition of the rights of others.
“Democracy means equality of opportunity for all in education, in the public service, and in private employment—I repeat, and in private employment. Democracy means the protection of the weak against the strong. Democracy means the obligation of the minority to recognise the right of the majority,” Rowley said.
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Rowley-bats-for-democracy-273348001.html
“The protection and promotion of our democracy and our dignity will depend on the positions we take and the resilience we display during this critical period in our nation’s history.”
These were the words of Tobago House of Assembly (THA)Chief Secretary Orville London, in his Independence Day message yesterday.
“The present issues facing the island and the country are not just the concern and the responsibility of the politicians, the interest groups and the more vocal members of the public.
“This is the time, in the midst of the crises that now beset our island and our country, for all of us to reflect on the words of the ‘Father of the Nation’ and to step up to the Independence plate.”
http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/London-Citizens-must-step-up-protect-democracy-273347041.html
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Hope everyone enjoy the holiday
"United at home in the common effort to build a democratic Nation and ostracize outmoded privileges, let us present to the outside world the united front of a Nation thinking for itself, knowing its own mind and speaking its own point of view" - Dr Eric Williams
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https://www.youtube.com/v/EgQzobAtQ-4
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:beermug: :beermug: :beermug:
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In case you missed this Independence program yesterday on Tv, here it is "Movement of the People"
https://www.facebook.com/PNMTT/videos/10156012465690472/ (https://www.facebook.com/PNMTT/videos/10156012465690472/)
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Ten days away from 54th Independence
Let us look back at this memorable day!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/Trinbagolife/2060607344163947/?notif_t=like¬if_id=1471798539872827
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Five days before Independence day 2016
Here is another feature, this one on our national flag :beermug:
https://www.facebook.com/cnewslive/videos/10154357451010610/
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https://www.youtube.com/v/IwvJL9cxeU0
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How could it be a happy independence and we have 260 murders. No. Is a sad dependence we celebrating.
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How could it be a happy independence and we have 260 murders. No. Is a sad dependence we celebrating.
301 to date.
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With three days before T&T 54th Independence here is another special feature on the Coat of Arms
Watch: https://www.facebook.com/cnewslive/videos/10154357215815610/
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Happy 54th Independence Day to everyone on the forum ! :beermug: 🇹🇹 🇹🇹
https://www.facebook.com/tntthrowbacks/videos/1719162941677061/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE
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https://www.youtube.com/v/2Uc9b4cCIPc
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Happy 54th Independence Day to everyone on the forum ! :beermug: 🇹🇹 🇹🇹
https://www.facebook.com/tntthrowbacks/videos/1719162941677061/?hc_ref=PAGES_TIMELINE
:beermug:
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It eh happy. Enjoy the day off, to everyone at home.
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Happy 56th Independence Sweet TnT 🇹🇹
https://tinyurl.com/ycjsqqq2
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Happy 57th Birthday T&T!
Fireworks celebrations https://tinyurl.com/y37qltjs
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https://www.youtube.com/v/aE1HMQZo6jM
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Some interesting Independence footage here
http://socamusictv.blogspot.com/2020/09/seven-trinidad-and-tobago-videos-you.html