Stories about Trinidad & Tobago from August, 2006
Trinidad & Tobago: Independence Day
“Does anyone really ‘celebrate’ our Independence as a nation?” wonders Elspeth Duncan, as Trinidad and Tobago observes the 44th anniversary of its independence from Great Britain.
Trinidad & Tobago: Appetite for self-destruction
Is Trinidad and Tobago's opposition party trying to self-destruct? Jeremy Taylor thinks so.
Trinidad & Tobago: Santa Rosa Festival
Maximilian C. Forte offers a substanial analysis of the 220th anniversary celebrations of the Santa Rosa Carib community in Arima, Trinidad, complete with audio files from the live radio broadcast.
Trinidad & Tobago: Port of Stain
Walking through Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago's capital city, The Manicou expresses despair at the amount of litter in the streets, but has little hope that this will ever change.
Trinidad & Tobago: Reviewing the draft constitution
Jeremy Taylor parses Trinidad & Tobago's new draft constitution, and concludes that “there are some very strange things in this draft, which would have the effect of increasing the power of the country's political leader at the expense of the judiciary and the parliament.”
Trinidad & Tobago: Parliament TV
“I'm wholly in favour of wasting a TV channel on this, because it will show just how absurdly tedious parliamentary affairs have become,” writes Jeremy Taylor, reporting on Trinidad & Tobago's newly launched Parliament Television.
Trinidad & Tobago: Eco-friendly
Is the eco-resort you plan on visiting really that eco-friendly? Karen Walrond shows you how to make sure.
Caribbean: Exporting Carnival
“. . . it's interesting how these festivals have echoed, in a small way, the evolution of their original model in Trinidad, as a vehicle of solidarity, an assertion of identity, a gesture of defiance in a hostile environment,” says Jeremy Taylor, writing about the Carnivals “exported” by the Caribbean...
Trinidad & Tobago: Tourism truth
Asks Trinidadian Elspeth Duncan: “Can our ‘tourism truth’ continue to lie in pretty cliches, unchanging statistics and glossy, tropical images Photoshopped to seduce foreigners?“
Trinidad & Tobago: An open letter to Flickr
Unable to renew his Flickr Pro account because PayPay doesn't accept credit cards with addresses in certain countries (Trinidad and Tobago included) Taran Rampersad writes an open letter to Flickr.com.
Trinidad & Tobago: Oil down
Franka Philip makes good on her promise to cook oil-down, the classic Trinidadian dish made with breadfruit, and offers two recipes.
Jamaica, USA: Harry Belafonte
Jeremy Taylor considers the career of Harry Belafonte in relation to the latter's Caribbean roots and political activism: “. . . people should be judged for what they are, rather than what they are not. In his own way, Belafonte identified with the Caribbean from early on. . . ....
Trinidad & Tobago: Men!
Attillah Springer has had it with the heckling and cat-calling to which women are subjected daily in Trinidad: “Why do men think that we need their reassurance? Why do they think that we want to know what base thoughts they are thinking. . . . .“
Trinidad & Tobago: CSME politics
Jamaican Francis Wade is disturbed at the Trinidad and Tobago opposition leader's efforts to politicise the Caricom Single Market and Economy and tries to discern the thinking behind it.
Caribbean: Languages spoken here
Island Tips posts a list — by island — of the languages spoken in the Caribbean.
Trinidad & Tobago: 72 medals
The Manicou reports that Trinidad & Tobago has won 72 medals in the World Championship of Performing Arts in Hollywood, California, adding “I have to admit though, I've never heard of the competition before.”
Trinidad & Tobago: Stilt walkers get website
Photographer Stefan Falke announces that the Dragon Keylemanjahro School of Arts and Culture, a stilt walking school in Trinidad, now has a website.
Caribbean: Brooklyn Labor Day Carnival
Carib World Radio releases a podcast of a panel discussion on the Labor Day Carnival in Brooklyn, New York, and its benefits to the Caribbean community.
Caribbean: Colonial artifacts
Jeremy Taylor ponders the appropriate uses of colonial forms and artifacts in the Caribbean context.
Trinidad & Tobago, UK: Views on the bomb plot
Trinidadian bloggers Jeremy Taylor and Seldo offer their two cents’ on today's thwarted airport bomb plot in England.
Trinidad & Tobago: Rock band music video
Caribbean Free Radio posts a music video by Orange Sky, one of Trinidad and Tobago's premier rock bands.
