Shubh Ganesh Chaturthi.


For the past eleven days - 9th September to 19th September 2013 - Hindus around the world and in my homeland have been observing the festival of Ganesh Utsav. It culminated today in Anant Chaturdashi. An extract from Wikipedia states:

"Ganesha Chaturthi is the Hindu festival celebrated on the birthday (rebirth) of the god Ganesha, the son of Shiva and Parvati.

It is believed that Lord Ganesh bestows his presence on earth for all his devotees during this festival. It is the day when Ganesha was born. Ganesha is widely worshipped as the god of wisdom, prosperity and good fortune and traditionally invoked at the beginning of any new venture or at the start of travel. The festival, also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi ("festival of Ganesha") is observed in the Hindu calendar month of Bhaadrapada, starting on the shukla chaturthi (fourth day of the waxing moon period). The date usually falls between 19 August and 20 September. The festival lasts for 10 days, ending on Anant Chaturdashi (fourteenth day of the waxing moon period).

While celebrated all over India, it is most elaborate in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Goa,[1] Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Outside India, it is celebrated widely in Nepal and by Hindus in the United States, Canada, Mauritius,[2] Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Burma, Fiji, Trinidad & Tobago, and Guyana." SOURCE

I am learning among other things that Lord Ganesh is worshipped as the patron of arts and sciences, that he is the deity of intellect, wisdom and auspicious beginnings and so I am glad that his guidance and blessings are being sought. When the murtis are immersed in the river or sea, it is said that the act symbolizes a ritual see-off of the Lord in his journey towards his abode in Kailash while taking away with him the misfortunes of all man.

I feel that we are approaching, if not already crossing, another threshold and I am expecting much better ahead. Shubh Ganesh Chaturthi.
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"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

I Gotta Be Me [Song]


Uploaded by edward spencer

I GOTTA BE ME
Music and lyrics by Walter Marks
Performed by The Mighty Sparrow
Album: Bang Bang Lulu in New York with Sparrow and the Troubadours.

Whether I'm right or whether I'm wrong
Whether I find a place in this world or never belong
I gotta be me, I gotta be me
What else can I be but what I am?

I want to live, not merely survive
And I won't give up this dream of life that keeps me alive
I gotta be me, I gotta be me
The dream that I see makes me what I am.

That far-away prize, a world of success
Is waiting for me if I heed the call
But I won't settle down, won't settle for less
As long as there's half a chance that I just grab it all.

I'll go it alone, that's how it must be
I can't be right for somebody else if I'm not right for me
I gotta be free, I gotta be free
Daring to try, to do it or die, I gotta be me.

I'll go it alone, that's how it must be
I can't be right for somebody else if I'm not right for me
I gotta be free, I gotta be free
Daring to try, to do it or die, I gotta be me.

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance! ..............................................................................................................................


A Note From The Gull

The Mighty Sparrow is now conscious and responsive. Bondyé...mèsi, mèsi, mèsi!

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Trinidad and Tobago - Geoffrey Jones [Video]

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO [1964]


Part 1/2

 
Part 2/2
By Geoffrey Jones | Uploaded by badmovie
"Since the 1950s, Geoffrey R. Llewellyn Jones has been making multi-award-winning short films that look, sound and feel like nothing else. With his extraordinary marriage of images, music and rhythm, he ranks alongside such luminaries as Norman McLaren and Len Lye, and remains one of Britain's true film artists.

"Born in London in 1931, of Welsh parents, Geoffrey Jones trained at Central School of Art in interior design, graphic design and photography. Mesmerised by cinema since he was a child and later inspired by Dziga Vertov and Luciano Emmer, his first film project, a satire on the commuter society, envisaged images cut to very rhythmic music, a technique that became his hallmark. Although the film was never actually made, the drawings led to work, when he was just 24 as a one man band: 'The Experimental Film and TV Department' of advertising agency Crawford International, where early work included an acclaimed commercial for Martini. He went on to make films for global companies like Shell and BP, and innovative animated shorts.

"Geoffrey Jones is best known as the director of three seminal films for British Transport Films; Snow (1963), which was nominated for an Oscar, Rail (1967) and Locomotion (1975), all shown at festivals around the world. In films such as Snow, where trains and railway workers battle against severe weather conditions, Rail, a commemoration of the steam age and celebration of the electric age, and the travelogue Trinidad & Tobago (1964), images react, combine and dance together to create a living, pulsing journey. In Locomotion, the entire history of the British railways is illustrated through a captivating and accelerating rhythm.

"The Rhythm of Film brings a selection of Geoffrey Jones' films together in one collection for the first time to show what makes his work so special. Most of his work was in the sometimes precarious area of industrial shorts, but his unique vision is also revealed in his more personal works such as the Seasons Project and the two Chair-a-plane films." SOURCE
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"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare
 

Songs Of Your Land [Song]


Uploaded by mightysparrowaz

SONGS OF YOUR LAND
By the Mighty Sparrow

This is not a simple song, this is not an old time melody
Yet you'll try to prove me wrong for that is your specialty
You wouldn't play in a band, you wouldn't beat a pan
You wouldn't even sing a song but you criticising all day long
You do not appreciate anything this land create
So you save up all your praise to give Isaac Hayes.

Woman of my heart, it is time you learn
To cherish your own and be more concerned
If you want to make, for your children sake
You've got to get up like everyone else and jump in a band
Singing the songs of your land.

All year long you digging funk, you spending your cash on soul records
You deem our music bunk, James Brown is your lord of lords
You wouldn't learn to jump but you could do the bump
You wouldn't even write a poem
Those who do, you criticising them
Frown your face on Carnival and the steelband festival
Then you rush to go and view Bruce Lee and Wang Yu.

Woman of my heart, it is time you learn
To cherish your own and be more concerned
If you want to make, for your children sake
You've got to get up like everyone else and jump in a band
Singing the songs of your land.

Christmas time the songs you know tells of falling snow and mistletoe
Boughs of holly, sleigh and myrrh, you hypocrite so and so
Is only mauvaise langue you throwing on parang
And then you talk about dignity,
Don't you know parang belong to we?
Certainly your foreign things so silly and out of place
Now checking out your creed and race, you're a damn disgrace!

Woman of my heart, it is time you learn
To cherish your own and be more concerned
If you want to make, for your children sake
You've got to get up like everyone else and jump in a band
Singing the songs of your land.

Everyone should do their share, everyone should play an active part
You act like if you ent care and so it does break my heart
You don't know to limbo, you don't know to bongo
And when it come to calypso, every calypsonian is pappyshow
Then you tell the steelband boys how they making too much noise
But no steelband in the town noisy like James Brown. Yes!

Woman of my heart, it is time you learn
To cherish your own and be more concerned
If you want to make for your children sake
You've got to get up like everyone else and jump in a band
Singing the songs of your land.


Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance! ..............................................................................................................................


A Note From The Gull

Thank you, Mighty Sparrow. In Derek Walcott's poem, "The Schooner Flight", the protagonist, Shabine, ends a description of himself with the line, "...and either I'm nobody, or I'm a nation." 

Birdie, you are a nation.

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Mighty Sparrow - Classic Hits Live


Uploaded by edward spencer
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A Note From The Gull

In times of distress, apart from offering a helping hand, words of consolation or silent companionship, there are some of us who often have nothing to give anyone but a song. We communicate best this way with the Great Spirit, with family, even when they are far away, with homeland, with the natural world around us...in sadness or with joy. These days I know that we have been singing to the Mighty Sparrow because we feel that if we all sing to him, he will hear us and get better.

Birdie, until you can sing again, we will sing for you. To borrow some lines from the Welsh song, "We'll Keep A Welcome":

"We'll keep a welcome in the hillsides
We'll keep a welcome in the vales
This land you knew will still be singing
When you come home again..."

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Parables [Song]


Uploaded by shady P

PARABLES
By Mighty Sparrow

Long ago, boy, when I was young and anything at all go wrong
I used to run to mih grandmother for she to help me but oh, brother!
When she talk is only parable, when she done, I in more trouble
I know is good advice she giving but what the Devil she saying?

An ounce of prevention better than a whole pound of cure, doudou
Never trouble trouble until trouble trouble you
You scratch my back before yours get scratch
When you drinking gasoline, doh eat match
What sweet in goat mouth go sour in he pants
Egg have no right in rock stone dance
Exchange no robbery, any port for a storm
Can't clean ground for monkey run on.

I really thought she was madwoman because I really couldn't understand
All these parables she using, to me it was too confusing
You young, you quick to fall in love and always have problem to solve
I think I getting help from she but she telling me Nancy story.

Lalin kouwi jou pawe
One day, one day, congotay
Who have cocoa in sun always looking for rain
He who have cocobay doh 'fraid yaws again
Wise man will never practice what you hear him preach
So doh hang your hat where you hand can't reach
Love soon get cold when it run hot like caca
Many, many ways for one to skin a cat. [That's the one I like!]

Boy, oh boy, she was a real good sport, the real amusing sort
She could fix any problem, I'm sure, she had a plaster for every sore
When you live in glass house, don't pelt stone
The window you break might be your own
Who bring you news go carry back on you, everything she tell me is true.

Show me a thief, I go show you a liar
Birds of a feather flock together
Knowledge is power, wisdom is force
Zeal without knowledge is a runaway horse
Fool could make money but is wise man to spend it
Nobody could teach an old dog new tricks
One hand can't clap, once bitten twice shy
And you never miss the water 'til the well run dry.

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance! ..............................................................................................................................
 

A Note From The Gull

Birdie, until you can smile again...

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Birdie, We Love You! Get Well Soon...

Update [10/09/2013]: The  headline in the online Express has been updated to "Mighty Sparrow in coma." ... very sad.
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My heart sank when I saw this headline in the online Express - Mighty Sparrow ‘hospitalised in NY’. You see, he has been on my mind recently and it really bothers me when I've been thinking about someone and then I get worrying news about that person.

Mighty Sparrow, I dedicate the song "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" to you. I want to remind you that you are never alone, that the Great Spirit loves you and has blessed you abundantly and allowed you to touch in your lifetime more hearts than many others put together. For a while now I have been wishing that you would record yourself singing this very song...preferably a capella and quietly. It would be a treasure for me and I am sure for many others. I would especially love to hear your voice singing the lines:

I sing because I'm happy
I sing because I'm free
His eye is on the Sparrow
And I know He watches me.

He is watching over you. Be well, Birdie. Be happy again. I have never been introduced to you and I have only seen you perform on stage once but your music reached me as surely as if you had stretched out your hand and rested your songs in my heart. People all over the world have been similarly blessed. Thank you for everything that you have shared.


Uploaded by Tjmministries T. Moore


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"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare
 

Conversation Peace [Song]

"Pope Francis has made an impassioned appeal before 100,000 people to avert a widening of Syria's conflict, urging world leaders to pull humanity out of a "spiral of sorrow and death".

"Francis, who two days earlier had branded military action in Syria "a futile pursuit", led the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics in a global day of prayer and fasting for peace in Syria, the Middle East and the world.

"Violence and war lead only to death, they speak of death! Violence and war are the language of death!" Francis said at the midpoint of a five-hour prayer service. Police and the Vatican estimated a crowd of about 100,000 in St Peter's Square."

"...We have perfected our weapons, our conscience has fallen asleep and we have sharpened our ideas to justify ourselves. As if it were normal we continue to sow destruction, pain, death!" said Francis, who wore his simple white cassock instead of ceremonial robes to the service.

"At this point I ask myself: is it possible to change direction? Can we get out of this spiral of sorrow and death? Can we learn once again to walk and live in the ways of peace?"

Other services were held by Catholics and Christians of other denominations around the world, including in New York, Jerusalem, Assisi and Milan in Italy, Boston and Baghdad.

Yaha Pallavicini, a leader of Italy's Muslim community, attended a prayer service with other Muslims.

"Praying for the intention of peace is something that can only help fraternity and, God willing, avoid more war," he told Reuters. "As Muslims who want peace we have to work so that the values of faith and dialogue prevail over the destruction of peoples." SOURCE


Uploaded by Zinngara E

CONVERSATION PEACE
By Stevie Wonder
Album: Conversation Peace, Motown, 1995

Staring right at 2000 A.D.
As if mankind’s atrocities to man has no history
But just a glance at life in 2000 B.C.
We find traces of man’s inhumanity to man
There’s no mystery.

ALL FOR ONE, ONE FOR ALL
There’s no way we’ll reach our greatest heights
Unless we heed the call
ME FOR YOU, YOU FOR ME
There’s no chance of world salvation
Unless the conversation is peace.

We can’t pause, watch and say, "No, this can’t be."
When there’s a plan by any means to have
Cleansing of one’s ethnicity
And we shouldn’t act as if we don’t hear nor see
Like in the holocaust of six million Jews and
A hundred and fifty million blacks during slavery.

ALL FOR ONE, ONE FOR ALL
There’s no way we’ll reach our greatest heights
Unless we heed the call
ME FOR YOU, YOU FOR ME
There’s no chance of world salvation
Unless the conversation is peace.

When publicly or privately convened
May love, positivity and life’s preservation be the basic theme
And should you put your trust in some prophet in life
Give him trust but your faith must stay with The One
Who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

ALL FOR ONE, ONE FOR ALL
There’s no way we’ll reach our greatest heights
Unless we heed the call
ME FOR YOU, YOU FOR ME
There’s no chance of world salvation
Unless the conversation is peace.

ALL FOR ONE, ONE FOR ALL
There’s no way we’ll reach our greatest heights
Unless we heed the call
ME FOR YOU, YOU FOR ME
There’s no chance of world salvation
Unless the conversation is peace.

ALL FOR ONE, ONE FOR ALL
There’s no way we’ll reach our greatest heights
Unless we heed the call
ME FOR YOU, YOU FOR ME
There’s no chance of world salvation
Unless the conversation is peace.

Source: The lyrics posted on this blog are often transcribed directly from performances. Although it is my intention to faithfully transcribe I do not get all the words and I have a knack for hearing the wrong thing. Please feel free to correct me or to fill in the words that I miss by dropping me a message via e-mail. I'd be forever grateful. Thanks in advance!
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A Note From The Gull


Although I am thinking about my homeland as I post this song, I am also thinking about the volatile situation involving Syria and the USA. I have been reading that the overwhelming majority of calls to Congress from millions of Americans and even members of the Armed Forces have been against military strikes against Syria. Let us see if Congress will reflect the will of the people and also say, "NO!" And if they vote against a military strike, let us see if this President will respect the rule of law or choose to break domestic and international law to collude with the war hogs.

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Prime Minister's Statement at Post-Cabinet Briefing.

Prime Minister's statement at Post-Cabinet Briefing.
Date: September 5, 2013
Venue: Office of the Prime Minister


Good afternoon to Members of Cabinet, Members of the Media, and to the viewing audience on television.

For the past two weeks, there has been speculation in the media, on the blogs, and throughout the national community, that a Cabinet realignment was in the making. I have listened to the people, I have taken my time, and I have consulted.

The local government elections are being held midterm in this administration's period in office, a low point in the popularity of most governments as evidenced recently in the United States. But just as that administration bounced back to sweep the polls, the People's Partnership stands poised to do the same.

We were elected with the highest of expectations. In fact, one can say that our coalition is victim to its own success at raising the bar in what the electorate now demands in the new dispensation. And that is good, that is the way it should and must be. That is the change you voted for.

So while there have been missteps along the way of our multi-party government, let's be clear on one thing, in just over three years, the People's Partnership has achieved, or is about to achieve so many things for the betterment of the people of Trinidad and Tobago.

They include:

-The Bail-out of CLICO and HCU
-70,000 laptops given out to Form 1 students.
-Near completion of the Overpass at Grand Bazaar
-Development of the fashion industry
-Distribution of HDC homes to hundreds of people.
-Distribution of Food Cards to thousands of persons.
-Distribution of land to hundreds of former Caroni employees
-Partial completion of the Solomon Hochoy Highway to Point Fortin
-Increase in the Senior Citizens’ Grant
-Performance of the Ministry of the People and Social Development
-Prevention of flooding on highways
-Improvement in infrastructural development throughout the country.
-The Children’s Life Fund which is saving so many lives
-Trying to create a sense of national pride
-Construction of hospitals, including the Children’s Hospital in Couva.
-Construction of schools, day care, elementary, primary and secondary.
-An improved water supply for thousands of people, especially in rural areas.

And those are just some of the dramatic shifts for the better across the nation. But we recognize that good news doesn't always make for great headlines. So the negative stuff will always feature prominently. Who's to blame? We are. We have failed in some quarters in selling our message, in informing you adequately of all that has been positively taking place. We have also failed to spend enough time among you all sharing ideas and learning from you, whether you support the government or not.

And that is going to change as well. Starting today and as promised, I have taken stock of the performances in my Government over time, examined where more needs to be done and who is best suited to perform in what area in order to accelerate the speed of delivery to meet the expectations of the public.

In this regard, I have decided to make several changes which I will formally announce in a moment.

During my last Cabinet reconfiguration, I said then that I would review performances against the demands and satisfaction of the people and would make decisive moves for further changes as you require.

This ushers in a new era of my Government. I can assure you that no one will escape scrutiny of his or her performance and satisfaction of the public interest. This is lift off time, the launch of the most aggressive development and progressive period of governance in our nation's history. The groundwork has been laid, the foundation is there, now the transformation you elected us to achieve will occur and will do so at breathtaking pace.

But we will not do this alone. We will achieve it with you. We will embrace every group in this country. Through our diverse opinions and dreams we will not always agree on method but we will always mutually, respectfully agree to engage each other.

Decisions ultimately will be made by the government elected by the people that will not always find favour with everyone but everyone's view must be considered equally important. But having arrived at such decisions it is my duty and obligation to implement them as deemed appropriate to the development and improvement of our beloved nation.

I will not be guided merely by political considerations. It matters less to me whether decisions taken in your interest are inimical to my own political future. Let history judge me as being a leader who loved you more than she did pursuit of office. This is my solemn oath to you. And in this regard, I hold out an olive branch to all opposition groups to work with me in making a difference to the very nation they aspire to lead. In this regard, there will be no losers, only the country wins, only the people benefit.

It is not idealistic, ironically, it is quite the opposite, it is the only practical solution to the challenges we face. When we unite, the combined power of our resources are unbeatable. Trinidad and Tobago has been blessed with so many natural resources and gifted with such talented, inspiring people. All that has kept us back is the lack of common purpose, the discipline required, the coming together of all our resources to make this work for the benefit of all.

The battle to win your support cannot be compromised to the detriment of what is good for the country or at the risk of national security and further impoverishment. When you, the electorate, sees the genuine effort of all groups working together, you will be able to decide in peaceful ways what changes are necessary to be made and you will choose wisely accordingly. But know this now, the only choice the country has, is for everyone to be in this together for the greater good of all. This is not the time for posturing, this is not the time for fanning fires of discontent, this is not the time to destroy, this is not the time for irresponsibility, this is the time for true leaders at all levels of our society to emerge and take their rightful place. This is the time when red, white and black is the only thing that colours our view of the world around us.

We can recall how crime all but disappeared during our World Cup football qualification. Look at the euphoria when Keshorn Walcott won our second Olympic Gold Medal in London in 2012. Just weeks ago, Jehue Gordon won our second World Championship Gold Medal. All differences and avarice dissolved. what more could a citizen have asked for than the collective celebration of themselves in a moment of completeness, of profound understanding of who we truly are at heart, citizens of Trinidad and Tobago. Proud, identified, and inspired.

It is time to reclaim that spirit. It is time for balisier, rising sun, circles, cane stalk and refinery, fist, tree and any other political symbols to be overwhelmed by national aspirations symbolised through the scarlet ibis and the flag.

For it is this, that matters most at the end of the day. If I had my will, I would form a national government comprised of all groups but our coalition government happens to be the closest ideal to that pursuit. It is an expression of several parties and interest groups. But that doesn't cancel out our ability to share authority with others who have different ideas of the path forward. And that is one of the ideals of the National Conversation.

Let the process of collaboration replace that of confrontation. Let open hands replace clenched fists. Let us embrace opposite views rather than wrestle against them. Let us sit and eat at the same table even as we recognise the divergent views of each other.

If Mandela persuaded forgiveness and unity for the good of South Africa, if Gandhi demonstrated the power of non violence in India, if Martin Luther King could have birthed a dream for a different America why can't Daaga, Ramadhar, Rowley, Warner, London, Kamla or any other embrace the same noble aspirations for the good of all who follow us?

Ask not how this will work, ask when does it start and begin the process of collaborative politics now. I pledge my full commitment to it. No one expects the road will be easy but the world is filled with countless examples of inspired success where the history and complexity of societies proved even more challenging than ours. I am well aware of the critics that will scramble out of everywhere to condemn this initiative of inclusion across all boundaries but I am determined to present its immense potential to the national community.

As part of the process of a reinviograted government, I have proposed the following changes be made to my Cabinet by His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago.


MINISTERIAL RE-ALIGNMENT 2013

Minister of Gender, Youth & Child Development- Hon. Clifton De Coteau
Minister of Housing and Urban Development- Hon. Dr. Roodal Moonilal
Minister of Land & Marine Resources- Hon. Jairam Seemungal
Minister of Local Government- Hon. Senator Marlene Coudray
Minister of National Diversity & Social Integration- Hon. Rodger Samuel
Minister of Tourism- Hon. Chandresh Sharma
Minister of Transport- Hon. Stephen Cadiz
Minister of Works & Infrastructure- Hon. Dr. Surujrattan Rambachan


SENATORIAL APPOINTMENTS 2013

Minister of Communications- Mr. Gerald Hadeed
Minister of State in the Ministry of Gender, Youth & Child Development- Ms. Raziah Ahmed
Minister of Justice- Sen. Emmanuel George
Minister of National Security- Mr. Gary Griffith


Every single member listed here has been advised of the accelerated progress expected in each area for which they are responsible. Performance reviews will be conducted on a regular basis and if necessary further changes will be made. You, the citizens, will also have an opportunity to make your opinions known through the National Conversation platform.

The local government elections are upon us and I expect a tough battle and it is our objective to ensure every community is supported by a level of localised representation that ensures our accelerated development plan helps every area meets its target. At the end of the day, we are the government with the capacity and political will to meet the needs of the people. And so as we go into local government elections each of our candidates knows what will be expected of them to deliver as never before.

The euphoria and dreams of May 2010 still echoes in hearts but has been overcome by the urgency of needs still to be met and a justifiable weariness of political battles.

The refrain of “We will rise” still resonates deeply among us but has been dulled by the cries of crime victims, We will rise is muffled too by the pain of an imperfect health care sector and the demand for more jobs. But we will rise to conquer these odds and meet these challenges.

The revolution you won cannot overcome everything within just three years. It is impossible to turn around decades of neglect in just three years. But it is not impossible for us to demand that more be done. In fact, it is an urgent requirement that your government delivers more.

We accepted the job of national restoration and while everything is not in place, I can assure you my heart is in the right place. I care more for the welfare of my country and your well being than I do anything in this world. And I will stop at nothing to ensure that you see a Trinidad and Tobago that is on the rise again.

Let not your hearts be troubled as the welfare or Trinidad and Tobago is in capable hands, your economy that wobbled on the brink of disaster when we took office has been stabilised even as the world economy totters, there has been record reduction in inflation, social programmes have been expanded, even crime which remains a huge challenge has gone from X to Y and development is no longer centered just in the city and north of the island but touches the most remote and rural of areas that were hitherto sorely neglected.

I am heartened by the response of the Honourable Leader of the Opposition to hold talks with my Government on how to find ways to deal with the crime problem, especially in the depressed areas of our country.

Too many of our young people are dying through violence. We must find a way to stop this! We have to return to the churches, temples, and mosques. Our teachers have a vital role to play from a child’s early upbringing.

We have to confront this problem from the home. We have to encourage parents to take control of their children’s lives from a very young age. It is only then, would we put a handle on the social problems affecting young people in our society.

The shift has certainly begun. But is any of this enough? No, it is not! There is so much more to be done. If 18 hours a day isn't enough for us to deliver then we shall have to give 20, find a way to power nap to recharge and deliver, deliver, deliver. No excuses. No explanations. Just execution beyond the call of duty. That is our mantra now.

I thank you for the belief in a dream we forged together. A dream which is still possible.

God bless you all, and May God bless Trinidad and Tobago.

I thank you.

-END- SOURCE

..............................................................................................................................  



A Note From The Gull


I have highlighted the parts of this speech which are especially important to me.

Only time will tell if in the future we will refer to this speech as the watershed moment in the history of the People's Partnership and our country. I am particularly interested in the National Conversation Platform mentioned by the PM and how it will be operationalised.

Words can signal beginnings and words have been known to become flesh. A government is nothing without the power of the people behind it and if this government is saying now that it has realised this fact, then this is the time for all the people in this country to step forward to offer their hands and minds. No one is asking us to be less vigilant. No one is saying that we should surrender our power but maybe we are being asked to consider that a government's failure is also our failure.

Wishing only the best for my homeland, I can only hope that our PM's resolve is sincere and pivotal and that it is around this promise that all are now being invited to wheel and come again. Bring down the power!

Uploaded by IsDePanInMe

BRING DOWN THE POWER
By Ella Andall

Bring down the power of love I say. Bring down the power!
The power of love, I say, is the greatest power!
Stop hell and damnation. Bring down the power!
Love to heal a nation is the greatest power!

A wind of destruction is blowing over this land [Over this land]
And now the earth is a-trembling with man's oppression of man. [Bring down the power!]
Now the time come to sit down and rediscover what's life. [What is life]
Show the world the true meaning of real love power, not strife. [Bring down the power!]

Bring down the power of love I say [Bring down the power!]
The power of love, I say, is the greatest power.
Stop hell and damnation [Bring down the power!]
Love to heal a nation. [Is the greatest power!]

Put a hand, fan the fire and cleanse the wicked right now. [Right now]
All of them who does worship greed and vanity, must bow. [Bring down the power!]
Unity is the banner, so come together, I say, [I say]
And this love is for freedom, it growing stronger each day. [Bring down the power!]

Bring down the power of love, I say, [Bring down the power!]
The power of love, I say, is the greatest power.
Stop hell and damnation, [Bring down the power!]
Love to heal a nation. [Is the greatest power!]

So rejoice in a rhythm of celebration, come on [Come on!]
Lift your voice with a feeling of satisfaction as one [Bring down the power!]
And let we move with a purpose, all freedom-lovers hold tight [Hold tight!]
Stepping out of the darkness with one direction in sight [Bring down the power!]

Bring down the power of love, I say [Bring down the power!]
The power of love, I say, is the greatest power
Stop hell and damnation [Bring down the power!]
Love to heal a nation [Is the greatest power]
[Bring down the power!]
Bring down the power of love, I say [Bring down the power!]
The power of love I say [Bring down the power!]
Stop hell and damnation. [Bring down the power!]

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation
Blessed be my beautiful people
Blessed be the day of our awakening
Blessed is my country
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare

Le Blanchiment, Or, Who Taught You To Hate Yourself?

In a previous post, when I was discussing whitewashing a culture or the culture of whitewashing, I did not make particular reference to physical interventions that come as close to achieving phenotypic plasticity as technology allows at this time. Of course, it was at the back of my mind. Most of us can think of at least one person of colour who has engaged in skin bleaching, hair straightening, and modification by surgery of some facial or bodily features. When I am treated to arguments about why these "fixes" are required, I must confess that I have had scant compassion for the persons behind the voices. I tend to forget that they are also victims and have instead viewed them as active perpetuators of racial discrimination.

I am focusing on the taming of blackness in this post but the industry is just one of many which exist to manipulate human beings struggling to come to terms with inherited societal biases or, if you like, congenital wounds to the psyche. Malcolm X, as someone bound to attempt to repair the self esteem of his people, had even less patience with this determination to alter by whatever means available, the physical characteristics of blackness. In one of his famous speeches featured below, he confronts his black audience with the question, "Who taught you to hate yourself?"

 
WHO TAUGHT YOU TO HATE YOURSELF? | Uploaded by mrholtshistory

I searched for other explorations of this problem and I found the following videos on the Internet. What they all have in common is an exposition of the woundedness of people who have been taught to disparage themselves and others because of skin colour.

BLACK OR WHITE: SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT. | Uploaded by PhotoEditor69

 
CNN STUDY: WHITE AND BLACK CHILDREN BIASED TOWARD LIGHTER SKIN.
Read the full CNN Commissioned Doll Study Results

 
  101 EAST: A WHITER SHADE OF PALE. | Uploaded by AlJazeeraEnglish

 
  WHY ARE INDIANS OBSESSED WITH FAIRNESS? | Uploaded by ndtv

 
  SKIN BLEACHING EPIDEMIC IN JAMAICA: SHORT DOCUMENTARY. | Uploaded by WickedHype1

 
BLEACHING EPIDEMIC IN JAMAICA. | Uploaded by TasmanianAngel3000

 
JAMAICA, BLEACHING CREAM, BROWN SKIN BETTER JOB. | Uploaded by richkid639

And recognising today, as human beings of conscience have always, that all men are made equal, what is it that prevents us from throwing off the biases which we know to be unfounded? What causes many of us to cling to the comfortable discomfort of subjugation? In that previous post, I asked in my comment, with the naivete of the armchair social engineer, why is it that a society cannot make a decision to dissipate its poisons? If it has been calculated that the body takes one hour to dissipate one unit of alcohol, has any social scientist studied how long it will take to dissipate self-hatred?

Can it happen over the course of one year, over one generation or three or did the Iroquois already answer this question? If, according to their Seventh Generation Principle, the effects of our actions today will affect humanity even as far as the seventh generation, we are in for a long wait, and that is assuming that we are have already begun to make sincere and intelligent efforts to change our future for the better. 
............................................................................................................................. 

"Patria est communis omnium parens" - Our native land is the common parent of us all. Keep it beautiful, make it even more so.

Blessed is all of creation 
Blessed be my beautiful people 
Blessed be the day of our awakening 
Blessed is my country 
Blessed are her patient hills.

Mweh ka allay!
Guanaguanare