“A hostile and recalcitrant minority”

Eric Williamsrecalcitrant


2. hard to deal with, manage, or operate.


Did Dr. Eric Williams brand all Indians “a hostile and recalcitrant minority”? And, why did he make such a statement?


Excerpt from Dr. Winston Mahabir

“When the PNM lost the Federal Election in 1958, Eric Williams looked no futher than the Indians for a scapegoat. In a most unfortunate speech he branded them as ‘a hostile and recalcitrant minority.’

“My wife and I arrived late at Woodford Square on the evening of that speech, while he was in the middle of his diatribe. I got an unusually subdued round of applause as I reached the platform to hear Eric Williams reveal something to the effect that he was not speaking about Indians like myself.

“It emerged that there were good Indians like myself and bad Indians like those who voted against the PNM. The speech and the experience were traumatic events in my life. I made my reactions abundantly clear to him that very evening. From that night onwards I never realy felt comfortable with Eric Williams. I felt USED, COMPROMISED, DECIEVED.” (Winston Mahabir, speech at University of California October 16, 1965).



Eric Williams and the Challenge of Caribbean Leadership

25th Annual Eric Williams Memorial Lecture, marking the centenary of Dr. Williams’s birth, delivered at the Central Bank Auditorium, Port of Spain, Trinidad, on 11 June 2011. Dr. Colin A Palmer is Director of the Scholars in Residence Programme at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.


Williams’s founding of The People’s National Movement in January 1956 gave institutional expression to his vision of a nonracial nationalism for his country. The party’s charter promoted the principle of interracial solidarity and cultural diversity. He explained that the PNM’s animating ideology stressed “political liberty, social equality, racial fraternity.”

These were important and commendable principles but the road to their achievement was sometimes quite rocky. Angered by the opposition of some Indians to the formation of the West Indies Federation and their support for the opposition party in the federal election of 1958, Williams denounced these dissenters as “a hostile and recalcitrant minority.” This intemperate outburst was only directed at the chief minister’s opponents but in its telling and retelling it came to mean for many people, a signifier of his racial ideology, and practice. It was a rhetorical misstep but given Williams’s record, any racially abusive comment would have meant a repudiation of all that he had stood for throughout his life. His words represented a harsh indictment of those with whom he disagreed, not an indictment of an entire ethnic group. After all, many Indians supported the federal idea and the designated leader of the opposition in the Federal Parliament was Ashford Sinanan, a prominent and distinguished Trinidadian of Indian descent.

Full Article:


African and Indian Consciousness

Tony Martin


In the prospect of PNM rule, the more extreme elements of Indian nationalism saw writ large all the fears of their forefathers, who had consistently sought communal representation since the early 1900s. For H. P. Singh in 1956, ‘A vote for a PNM candidate [would be] a vote against the Indian community …’ And PNM rule meant, in the words of a Singh disciple, ‘racist black fascist neo-colonial domination.’ Singh was an executive member of the DLP but chafed at the efforts of its leaders to impose a multi-racial executive on its Hindu base. He insisted on a totally ‘Indian organization – call it a political party if you will … We are conscious of the full implications of the advocacy of such a measure …,’

It was to this end that he formed the small Indian Association of Trinidad and Tobago in 1962.

Criticism of this nature, compounded by a PNM defeat at the federal elections of 1958, caused Williams to call the Hindu-based DLP a “’recalcitrant and hostile minority” … masquerading as the Indian Nation and prostituting the name of India “for its selfish and reactionary political ends.”’ In India itself, Williams showed, the (Trinidad) Maha Sabha’s namesake had been denounced by leader Jawaharlal Nehru as representing ‘small upper class reactionary groups taking advantage of the religious passions of the masses … ‘ He dismissed the local Maha Sabha types as ‘reactionary Indian politicians who see the political leader as a man of racialism. …’

The PDP/DLP group underwent various name changes in later years. In a coalition with African (often ex-PNM) and French Creole elements it shared power in the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) government of 1986–91, only to reconstitute itself as a separate party (this time called the United National Congress), when the NAR coalition unravelled. The UNC finally became the government in 1995, with the help of the Tobago-based remnants of the NAR.

The historic quest for Indian communalism has sometimes led, especially in recent years, to extremist demands for partition and/or secession. In the 1950s there were calls and rumours of calls for a Guyana-Trinidad unification, presumably to constitute ‘an East Indian Empire.’ Similar sentiments were said to have been expressed in the 1940s.

Trinidad’s Indian Association in its 1962 pre-independence memorandum to the British government demanded ‘parity’ (defined as 50 per cent of civil service, police, legislative and other appointments) or ‘partition’.

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36 Responses to ““A hostile and recalcitrant minority””

  • Enough with this race card- PNM,DLP,ULF, UNC, NJAC, ANR PPP the race card issue have been responsible for the class wars during our history.Every body is still going by the books and no common sense prevails.
    I grew up when the Sugar -cane industry was in full bloom, the Coconut Growers Association had an impact. Both Afro and Indo Trinidadians contributed to the growth on these enterprises. Those were the days when Government was not that big, the curtain was more upon people and people oriented.
    Now Government has grown so big and have the tentacles to everything human. Why should this be? Where are the achievers and real developers in society?
    Government were instituted in society to keep the balance between the just rule of Prudence, to defend the rights of the individuals. Rights to freedom, rights to freedom of speech and expression, rights to movement and travel, rights to worship, rights to private property.
    Whenever Government has become destructive of these rights it is the rights and privileges of the People to dethrone such from ruling over them. Big businesses always have the strangle hold upon Government – Should this be the case? What about the small laboring class that have no voice in Policy, and Policy making? Most of the time the majority comes from this circle.
    Whenever we see new measures being implemented by government -most of the time, it’s small people who feels the brunt, who feels victimize most of the time. Small people always have to pay the price. This is injustice at the highest degree always.
    Just like America, people always have issues with Immigrants, immigrants this and immigrants that, but everybody in America is some form of Immigrant or the other. Only the natives to these shores would hold the crown of the day. But if you go really back into history, even these natives came here as nomads, wondering and exploring.
    Immigrants are the building blocks to the American society. But some people are seeking to spew venom and hate to this class. I remember TV and the Movies that have fooled people about the American dream. Whenever you come to America, you think and feel that there is a POT of GOLD waiting for you. YES! others think that you found the MONEY TREE.
    The core of the matter is life is not like the TV and MOVIE episodes that are highlighted, brain washing and deceiving the masses. The Cost of Housing, Taxes on Property, Job and other basic commodities are exceeding High and cannot be reach by a lot of people reaching and running after the American dream.
    The American dream has been filtered down into the Caribbean now at an alarming rate, Housing cost, food prices, basic commodities are catching up with people. Why are we fashioning ourselves after these PHANTOM dreams, these are the dreams of DREAMERS, YES DREAMERS that are not connected to society and the small people struggles and hardship.
    Now Government has been bought all over into copying this false and deceitful dreams of others, making life on Planet earth so hard for people to get by. STRESS and more STRESS are coming upon us like a heavy YOKE and BURDEN.
    Big fishes trying to live in small pools !!!!you don’t belong here, get real, the water is to shallow for your advancement and make belief dreams.This is what have hooked the various Parties of Politics of the Land-PNM, DLP, ULF, UNC, NAR, NJAC, PPP- don’t chase other man’s dream and become disconnected from where you came from and where you might think you’re taking the entire nations,and Hemispheres with you. Look around and start helping you OWN people, with the times and everyday realities of just living under the Sun.A lot of people right here in Trinidad need help in just Living- wake up and smell the Coffee !!!!

  • Williams was a man of the times. Racism was rampant during that era. It was not uncommon a practice to call people names such as “N” and “C”. History must be interpreted according to it’s context base on time and culture.

    The DLP did not morphed into the UNC. Rather the DLP died a natural death when Panday emerged on the scene and started the Workers and Farmers party and then ULF. Panday was a student of Williams and in some ways assisted in keeping Eric in power and by extension the PNM for a longer than anticipated period.

    Eric’s statement was a reflection of the racial tension that existed during that period of the nation’s history, post colonial period. Much like the Tamil and Sinhalese when the British left the Sinhalese just excluded the Tamils from power resulting in a 20 years war. Eric and the PNM simply became the new colonialist after the British left T&T. They were the burgeouis class and they knew that in order for power to be in their hands it must be controlled. The PNM became the masters of control, every public institution was exclusive to their membership. The result was a jobs and housing guarantee that exceed the expection of the PNM base. Children did not need an education to get a job, mommy and daddy simply waved their party cards and the jobs came. To the exclusion of others.

    The ethno centric exclusion resulted in the PNM becoming a cult rather than a party. People simply followed blindly the leader with Eric making the famous statement “if ah put ah crapaud here they will vote for him”. (lol). The politics of exclusion prospered under the PNM. The result was a party that simply became sick because of it’s excesses, mediocracy rule the day. This was Eric’s grandest stroke of genuis because he knew his supporters and understood their penchant for tribalism. By these excesses he had total control over the base and everyone responded to his machinations. This was the political side to Eric, a man who enjoyed total control. The children of the PNM was racist to the core and that was evident in their views of T&T. 85% of all government jobs was given to Afro PNMites with a few Indos sprinkled here and there.

    Indians on the other hand simply worked the land, sent their children to become doctors and lawyers. Many entered the teaching profession. Rural gloom existed but the people worked the land and was able to survive the excesses of the PNM. To Eric’s credit he saw the country as a whole and fostered national development, this was the stateman side of him. He gave a lot to his supporters but others also prospered from his dispersement of budgetry allocations.

    • Did the PNM ruined the Hindu Credit Union ?? Did the PNM tried to cover-up the Piarco International Airport Scandal ?? would you agree that Sat Maharaj is a racist ?? Eric Eustace Williams was an intellectual and brilliant academic . People like Basdeo Panday and Sat Maharaj envied Dr. Williams .

      • Linda Edwards, class of '67

        The Indian(from India) Nobel LAureate economist Amatya Sen referred to his people as argumentative, revisioninst and unwilling to be governed by anyone else. He spoke of the Hindu nationalist organizations, including some with ties to Trinidad, as willing to lie about history, to get their own way. He says the great Bengali poet, Rabindranath Tagore, would be shocked at the extent of cultural seperatism in contemporary India. Read him: The Argumentatie Indian,ISBN 0-374-10583-9.

        Those in TnT who still see India as the source of all their being, are essentially separatist. It is no wonder Capildeo and others, did not want independence under Williams.

      • Don’t be overly sensitive.He was speaking of the PNM.Two wrongs don’t make a right.If you want to do a historical politacal piece on Indo-dominated parties go right ahead.The state of desolation and disposession urban black youth finds itself is the legacy of Eric Williams.Why should anyone be jealous?

      So mamboo ,using your twisted logic as a backdrop, is that the same reason why Indo Trini folks voted for ‘Mikala Panday , de tadpole,’ when she was put in what ,Oropouche East as a representative for the people, 2 days after finishing law school in England, by nepotistic Papa Basdeo de head of the UNC ?
      By the way , is anyone going to pay for that illegal loan she got from Clico crooked head huncho , at the expense of de people?
      You claimed that ,”85% of all government jobs was given to Afro PNMites with a few Indos sprinkled here and there?” I dare any of you self serving creatures , along with your bands of fake experts, to bring any cogent data anywhere from 1962 to 2009 to prove the above idiot statement, which is right up there with the equally ludicrous garbage of Afrikan genocide against your people, so as to get the sympathy of Europeans and Canadian immigration officials.
      Then what can one expect from an ardent member of what I call , ‘the me , me , gime , gime,dog with a bone crew?’ Guess what ,as sure as night follow day , you would suffer de same fate as that greedy , selfish dog my friend- loosing it all. To be forewarned , is to be forearmed – ‘beware of a man / or woman , with nothing to loose. ‘
      Ah , Baby America!


      By the way guy , this is what genocide entails ? It is also part of the ugly legacy of your much adored Mama imperil , divide and rule Britannia.


      Yours truly , de global humanist , digital activist,& few remainig voice of reason driving on dis here information highway.

    • http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xjazj6_channel-4-sri-lanka-s-killing-fields-part3-jun-14-2011-at-11-05-p-m_news

      Yes mamboo , you revolting bastard , T&T Indians, were subjected to this inhuman criminality ,at the hands of Afrikans, in like manner to the likewise British cuddled, Tamils of Sri Lanka.
      I’ll give you credit , for admitting that Indentured Indians were the darlings of de Brits, hence the reluctance of their numerous elites, to seek independence, unlike educated kids of former slave.
      In the mean time , since 1962 , just as many Afrikans, were raped and murdered , by the hands Indians , and likewise Indians , murdered, and raped , by their own kind , but you won’t hear about that.
      It is an establish fact that Afro Trini folks , are 10 times worst off socially , and economically in every enclave they live , under the four fake Afrikans leaders of deffy eric, dummy chambers , self serving ANR , and Patrick de , delusional . nepotistic ,Sando Clown , so go figure , what you are attempting to infer with your faulty logic!

  • Conclusions from this usual diatribe mamoo is dat , Afrikans led by,… yes , say it-IF YOU HAVE DE GUTS – Papa Eric , ‘de fada of de nation,’ made Basdeo , and his kind ,into lifetime racist.
    Yeah,but , how ridiculous!
    In the meantime ,your Indo Trini ancestors , were all only docile, hard working folks , who simply wanted to work their lands, and keep the little girls on the straight and narrow , away from dem, well… fill in the blanks.
    Eric …saw the country as a whole and fostered national development….He gave a lot to his supporters …,”but which one mammoo? Yes, we know ,and it’s certainly not those from Tobago East/ West, or the Afro centric enclaves throughout the nation.
    Maybe you meant , de ones brought into the PNM fold ,by deputy PM’s Errol Mahabir , of Japanese Garden fame , and Kamal, de ADB Ponzi scheme/ Mastana bahar genius.
    Could be his ever grateful ,French creole cousins in Westmoorings, Maraval, and such enclaves, ennnt?

  • Capildeo sued the Trinidad & Tobago (PNM)government to stop us from seeking independence.
    For 500 years we AfroTrinis & Indigenous Carib Arawak Tino peoples toiled this land reducing hostile jungles to plains for rice and sugar plantations for paid labor from British East India Co 160 years ago. When we sought freedom from slavery, the British gave the BEIco migrants land and continued salaries while they invented an imposed the Loitering act urged and agreed to by the benefactors “Indians and Leftover Whites” that chase Africans and the Indigenous peoples/citizens of the land of both our ancestors.
    The Lands we made hospitable and promising came under direct ownership of indentured laborers and the”Stollmeyers”. Any Historian dare challenge me-I’d pay USD10,000.00 if he/she present facts/evidence to the contrary.

    • “Capildeo sued the Trinidad & Tobago (PNM)government to stop us from seeking independence”.

      Have you considered that the fears of Capildeo’s Hindu community were legitimate? The nation seemed to be moving forward with the support of Christian Indians and Muslim Indians. The Hindus were isolated by choice and strong religious sentiments.The rest of the nation to be formed seemed ready to adopt a set of common national social values which included a love of carnival and calypso.
      Today’s “multiculturalism” is a cooked up policy perpetuated to accommodate religion rather than culture, or are they the same?

      • Yeah T- Man ,still kicking de gift horse in de mouth , in true ungrateful fashion eh T-Man? Just think how today , under the same system that was feared ,but due to the control/ stewardship of educated , civilize , progressive Afrikans, for some 42 years of our independence , we had two Hindu PM’s -male and female- and a Muslim President, and your Indo Trini brothers and sisters dominating more than 50 % of the public service , and some 70% of the economic sector , while controlling 80% of our country’s choice lands, de latter due in great measure, to the efforts of dem conniving British imperial bastards, whose divide and rule penchant , has cause 98% of the global mayhem since…. well, you can fill in de blanks , eeeh? .
        You do not wish to speculate what would have occurred if Capildeo and his bunch had their way, do you my friend?
        You still do not wish to admit that the best thing that your ancestors ever did was to head to T&T , and not either stay in India, or worst yet ,go to Fiji, Guyana, Sri Lanka, Uganda, South Afrika,Surinam , Kenya,or heavens forbid Jamaica? Give it a rest my brother, and enjoy what democracy feels like , but just remember , this did not began two years ago , upon the accession of her Majesty Queen K , to the political throne, eeeeh?
        Hey folks , I simply cannot imaging any human being more despicable than a non patriotic , national ingrate, can you? Not saying dat T-Man is , mind you , but, yes, he is coming close , or simply misses home. Sorry buddy , all the political posts are already filled. OOOPS , Just heard some over zealous Afrikan frmale is under investigation for some inconsequential occurrence.Make hast T-Man, as I might beat you to the gun.
        Neyt! Neyt! Neyt! as I would prefer to dive in the Zoo York , Hudson East River ,to gather beer bottles , and sell ,for a living than return to my country of birth, and become a 5th class citizen, begging any modern day triumphalist ,or disgruntled former regime stooge , for any job.
        Let’s continue our writing catharsis my friend. Can you imaging how much we could have saved / prevented ,if blogging was available in 1970 , and 1990, when ….. well, you can fill in the blanks , ehhh?
        How those three guys remained free , is anyone guess, for just imagine where they would be ,if this was Afrika, Portugal, or India / Pakistan, ehh?

    Indians looked down on lowly paid time consuming government jobs as they preferred a 1/2 days work in their fields. Its now that everything is at the touch of a button Indians ventured into the oil fields and Customs services where goods and money changed hands rapidly with endless corruption. You Indians ever since the call of history been crying and complaining. PNM was a national party base on representation- can you say your Party and Government is same in principle deeds and nature?

  • “You Indians ever since the call of history been crying and complaining”.(Davy de Verteuil)

    Strong advocacy should not be interpreted as “crying and complaining” as most African Americans know. Indians in T&T have had many legitmate greviances against PNM governments over the years. To publicly air those greviances should not be negatively construed. Previous PNM governments, including the government of Eric Williams have responded to these complaints, even though somewhat slowly,with positive actions. Governments of T&T, including the present one have been responsive to complaints of all the people. This is what distinguishes us from nations saddled with strife and ethnic violence, in spite of all the corruption and talk show vitriol.

    • How can you dare to compare the struggle of African Americans who are decendents of slavery in the U.S. to the struggles of indentured servant Indians in the Caribbean and more specifically Trinidad and Tobago? If anything as I see it, the comparison is more like the social struggle between the former slaves in the U.S. and the new arrivals from Spanish speaking countries.
      The problem that I see is that instead of coming together, Trinidadians are allowing old school thoughts about ethnnicity destroy the social fabric of the nation.
      Indians (generally speaking) seem to have been threatend by the fact that Afro Trini’s had an advantage to operating in a Eurocentric system after emancipation and independence. The reason why it was an advantage was because of the exposure to values and culture held by the British and other European colonialist that the Africans had been a part of ( although unfavorable) since the begining of the once colony. There wasn’t as much to lose to reinvent ones self.
      Not only that, it seems that some people in Trinidad have a serious problem with assimilation to one norm which has up to recent years dominated the social fabric of the nation.
      TNT must get it together and know that TNT will not become a Guyana or some Indian satelite nation.
      If people can’t get it together, I suggest that they leave and go to the nation where they feel shares thier values and their culture. Western world nations are never intended to be social replicas of the nations that they came from. After emancipation and independence, the former colonies were suppossed to take their own path into the future, but that didn’t mean that the people were suppossed to eliminate one another and form a nation that was a tribute to any nation accross the atlantic.

    • There you go again Crying &complaining and the end result cum BLAME. You are always the victim. What ere your legitimate grievances: Control of UWI? More OIL field jobs once it became safer and easier? What’s that devilish about the PNM or Eric Williams in that you are at the head of our economy reaping 60% of the benefit? Name a single Indian entrepreneur and or Business where the employment rate of AfroTrinis are more than 5%.I have news for you My Grand mother is Indian from India and I loved her as much as any member of the family-in fact we were close. Of all the fears and invented stories of Christian & Muslims Capildeo fears were unfounded more so borne of an inferiority complex from his Hindu ancestral birth place-in short “CASTE” and there was no justification except among your own community- So cut the crap you presented as Capildeo’s desire not to be free hence everyone remained slaves. We can go on n on. The end game is I am as much of you as I am of my Father’s. I know my peoples.

    • “The fruits do not fall far from the tree” . Basdeo Panday is the tree and Kamla Bissessar is the fruit .

  • How come I never got one of those “party card” jobs? How come I had to leave my home in 1989? How come most of the ppl I knew NEVER had a solid cradle to the grave cushy do nothing job for the next 3 generations?

    • People are crying over spilled milk and then they wonder why TNT is not the country that it should be? I ask all of the Trini Masive living abroad if they feel culturally gratified and satisfied living abroad?
      From what I have seen in the U.S.and Europe, Indians from TNT always represent TNT over India, so why can they not do it in Trinidad and Tobago. From what I have seen in the U.S. and Europe “Afro” Trinidadians don’t represent any African nations, so why try to do so in TNT?
      This power trip and struggle is all rediculous. Especially because China is about to take over.
      One thing is for certain in sweet TNT and that is that nobody has to divide and conquor the nation because the nation will be conquored because it is already divided.
      While “Indians” and “Africans” fight over TNT, everyone else laughs because it is so rediculous.

      • Get real! you have little inclination of the meaning of history hence the confused state of mind -the senseless killing on e one hand and the lack of patriotic consciousness central. You have no idea of the meaning of travel and its contribution. SHUT UP! Please….

        • You have a rediculous objective that will not bare fruit in TNT! Your only comeback is to silence an idea that you cannot comprehend? If you favor tribe over nation, perhaps you should relocate to a nation that has only your tribe?

  • A label of recalcitrance and hostility is a reflection of suppression and suspicion. Would you say? Maybe excerpts of Morgan Job’s article describes the situation best.
    Failure: Rowley, LeeSing, M McDonald, Fitz Hinds, Amery Brown, D Cox, Harvey Burris, Black Agenda, Cudjoe, Eric Williams
    by Morgan Job on Tuesday, September 27, 2011 at 6:13pm

    One Baby born on March 25, 1911 was named Albert Gomes. Another baby born on September 25, 1911 was named Eric Williams. Keith Rowley demands that Parliament declare 2011 the year of Eric Williams, while following Williams to wipe out Gomes from the history of the people of Trinidad and Tobago. Fascists are the model of historiography animating Rowley, and Eric Williams’ one liner,”Butler, Solomon, and Cipriani labored in the vineyard only to produce the barren fruit of Albert Gomes.”

    What a barren Fruit was Albert Gomes! While Eric Williams was nowhere around Gomes from 1931 to 1933 squandered his father’s money on The Beacon, a pioneering magazine that laid the foundations for Ralph de Boissiere, Alfred Mendes, CLR James, creative artistes, musicians, ethnographers, anthropologists..and Gomes was Mayor of Port of Spain and Chief Minister and predecessor of Eric Williams. It was Gomes as Chief Minister in 1951 who secured repeal of the Shouter Baptist Prohibition Ordinace of 1917; and it was GOMES WHO PERSUADED THE GOVERNOR TO DESIST FROM INTERPRETING LIBEL LAWS in a manner injurious to calypsonians, and Gomes intervened with the police on behalf of the “noise” made by steel pan players. Surely a barren fruit? And Gomes represented Trinidad and Tobago at the Montego Bay Conference in 1947 to discuss Independence and Federation of British Caribbean territories. Eric Williams and Keith Rowley willfully and maliciously desire to wipe out a period, three decades before 1956, of seminal achievement and growth from the narrative of the history of the people of Trinidad and Tobago. That is what fascism is about. That is the fruit of racism.

    “Eric Williams is a failure. After monopolizing the PNM Cult and the Treasury and leaving a legacy of the PNM as the vehicle to promote Black supremacy in Trinidad, every day on radio or Parliament or TV, the so-called Africans led by Rowley, Amery Brown, Shirma Williams, Fitzgerald Hinds, Harvey Burris, Wendell Stephen, Marlene Mc Donald, Donna Cox, Selwyn Cudjoe, Louis LeeSing, Khafra Kambon, Leroi Clarke, are whelping complaints against “Indians” who “have built concentration camps for Africans, and are daily taking advantage of Africans”. Wendell Stephens’ response to Job’s observation was to make a noise, or annoyingly suggest that Job was jealous of Eric Williams. The man does not understand English. Job’ assertion is simple: if after PNM Cult hegemony since 1956, the “Indians” are rampant in their disregard for the rights of Africans, and Africans are impotent to resist the “Indian” onslaught, while African youth are an increasingly illiterate, feral, lethal, marauding herd wantonly killing, raping, looting Trinidad and Tobago Eric Williams has failed. The daily radio talk from the PNM Cult MPs and talk shows is a confession of failure.

    Williams’ Ex-cathedra pontifications have materialized as an impoverished criminal “African” underclass, misled by a set of African pimps and Brer “Nanse conmen, still inciting Black racial feeling as the currency of political mobilization. March 23, 1970 Williams bragged,” I am redirecting, reconstructing the society we have inherited. Political power is the key to everything. I am promoting a multi-racial society with emphasis on the economic and social uplifment of the two major disadvantaged groups. Our goal: Afro-Asian unity. We have consciously sought to promote Black economic power.” Listen to Rowley and you cannot believe Black power was Williams agenda in 1956, or ”66, or ”76! Amery Brown and a cabal of PNM clowns are blaming “Indians” for the manifest disaster of the criminal undercaste the PNM Cult cultivated.

    Williams was a liar, a deceitful manipulator like Hitler: “We have in five years created 1,523 black small farmers all over the country”. Morgan Job told Patrick Alleyne and PS Braithwaite, “you are mistaken to support the State land development project as a way to give land to Black people. You must give land to farmers or potential farmers.” Alleyne is not yet dead. Find him and ask him of Job’s objection to settling ex-Wharfmen, PNM Cult supporters from Bequia, Carriacou, Montserat, St. Vincent, and Grenada at Waller Field, Turure and elsewhere. Williams was wickedly manipulating historical facts or popular myths to sustain the populist UWI mythology concerning “slaves got no land, and indentured Indians got land” to justify his racist incitement concerning creating 1,523 black small farmers. Millions of dollars were unfairly, and wastefully and corruptly dumped into the hands of people from the islands who never milked a cow and who’s loyalty was never to farming or agriculture or development but to the same mentality with which they stole, looted and exploited political connections to ruin the port. Waller Field is another PNM Cult -Eric Williams failure.

    Talk radio is exposing every day another Wiliams failure: PNM Cult education that has produced scores of thousands of Wendell Stephens, a new kind of citizen intellectual riven in the anti-intellectual world of Obeah, miracles, pentecostal fundamentalism, Hindu RSS fundamentalism or mixtures of all these while discoursing on parochial concerns, traffic woes, poor public service, mauvais langue, Koochoor, janjhaat, racist driveling, and malicious rumor mongering. You hear illiteracy displayed. You hear a population uncomfortable with books written in English, or any other language. You never hear a discourse on the destruction people like George Lamming has produced by their sincere missionary literary productions to produce Black race pride. No idea that The symbols in Williams’ language need to be decoded:” Massa Day Done,” where he dismissed Whites, Reds, high browns. No wonder the PNM Cult MPs and talk show devotees see Williams as a Black hero, not as a hero. In this sense he has failed to instill a colour blind pride in excellence and achievement.

    Our enemy is not the British Colonial Office. It is not capitalism. It is not White people or Massa. Our enemy is ignorance and venality as manifested by Rowley, Amery Brown and the PNM Cult. Our enemy is ignorance and PNM Cult racism, not “Indians”. The enemy is the mimic men playing “Indians” while regurgitating RSS Hindutva propaganda, and it is the mimic men pimping a utopian idea of Africa.

    “The blackest thing in slavery was not the Black man”, then what was? It is in this sense that Williams is a monumental failure: his political success depended, especially after 1970, on casting himself as the great Black hope. His PNM Cult has now matured into a racist shield of vulgar words purposed to saving Blacks from hegemonic or rampant Indians forty years after he crassly boasted of promoting “a muli-racial society, an Afro-Asian unity.” The widespread illiteracy and individual irresponsibility that devalues our lives daily are the ineluctable consequences of the success of Eric Williams’ PNM Cult ideas that took root and flourished. Williams’ encouragement of O’ Halloran, Prevatt, Dr. Rat. Steve Yeates, Rudolph Charles, Dr. Ouwai, Desperadoes, conmen, badjohns as foremen has nurtured a culture that corrupted the whole place called Trinidad and Tobago. George Lamming and Selwyn Ryan two early devotees have admitted they were besotted as young men and seduced and deceived by Williams yard fowl politics. Only a resolute language of brutal rejection of the perverse incitement in Williams’ language will liberate us. Total destruction of the Rowley, Amery Brown, Wendell Stephen, Donna Cox, Harvey Burris, Crocro Lick Bottom African possibility must be concurrent: A REPEAL OF THE PNM-CULT-UWI SCHOOL LANGUAGE AND MYTHS IS A NECESSARY CONDITION FOR LIBERATION.

  • “How come most of the ppl I knew NEVER had a solid cradle to the grave cushy do nothing job for the next 3 generations?” Mike of Toronto
    That’s because you too , as a Trini low caste , was also given a 6 for a 9 Mike from Toronto, by most of your selfish leaders ,led by… who else , Basdeo Panday.
    His daughters never suffered such fate , but got crusty scholarship at the people’s expense- a la Clico-and his numerous pals, got crusty jobs , so you know where to get your revenge , as you suffer since 1986 – not 89 as erroneously stated – in the cold ,dreary , cockroach infested enclaves of Toronto.
    Let me give you a lesson about some people , dat your comedian neighbor T-Man, generously refer to as activists , Mike . They enjoy lauding over gullible , mostly illiterate , poor ,and desperate creatures , like your self Mike.
    Victimhood works fine and dandy for them. Call names Mike , and I would whistle. Let me give you a clue , as to who I am referring to , in 1986 , he was able to get his act together , and form a coalition , and so finally became part of a government led by a fine distinguish honest Afrikan from Tobago, but not satisfied with the generous returns , he kicked down the entire political pot , and the rest we shall say is fake refugee history , for you, as well as thousand of others , along with an attempted coup for fake islamist, Lennox Phillip ,aka Yasin Abu Bakr.
    In 1995, due in great measure ,to the generosity of our people , he again ,was given a chance , which was quickly squandered, with his dis is our time policy purges. In 2003 , his efforts of coronation of his upstart , wet behind de ears daughter, was thwarted , due to the prudent actions, of a tied tongue , financially heavy baller name Jack , and his own princess , called Queen K.
    Quit crying , and like Guyanese cousins did since Jagdeo, feel free, to pack your doggy bags , send in a CV, and return home mike , but a word of warning , just don’t give up your day job in Toronto , selling newspapers , on the smelly metro – is dat what you bozos call it out there, eeeeeh?
    PS.For the record Mike , notice you never heard any Trini – Afrikan cry when they walk into one of thousands Indo Trini businesses across our nation , and never see someone looking like themselves in the employ , ehh Mike from Toronto?
    Notice how they never complain as their four alleged Afrikan leaders since 1956 , never did a single thing to look out for their full interest in terms of land regularization, long over due infrastructure in their enclaves.
    By the way, I make no apologies for saying dat I would personally spit on any statue that might be erected in honor of any one of these four self serving creatures, be it self opinionated papa deffy Eric,delusional Tobago user, ANR Robinson ,clueless chambers, and Eric williams wannabe, manning ,the Sando , nepotistic clown. How ever I digress.
    They have accepted the neglect , abuses, and taking for granted each time an election ends,as well as watch the appeasements to others who continually grab all the spoils of their country , then await the slightest economic crisis to back their bags and run to European shores, and lie about their own country of birth. Yet you folks cannot understand , why peace/ security , can never accrue in T&T , even if we hire the entire Toronto Police , Canadian Mounties, Scotland Yard , and FBI?
    ‘No justice no peace,’ Mike from Toronto . Tell dem for me , to “beware of a man/ woman , with nothing to loose .” Your call.
    A word to de wise , and it’s to Luv country over tribe folks- as the consequences for doing otherwise can be dire, hummm?




    The one enduring reality I have observed in this blog is that Indian racist seem to have much difficulty understanding and interpreting english. This comes from the deceiful traite that inundate their psyche.

    Williams made the remark with referrence to the behaviour of a particular organization that was attempting to introduce the superiority/inferiority definition of human value in which they were enculterated. When the indentured labourers arrived in the Caribbean and encountered people of African descent, they saw an opportunity for upward ego mobility into the ranks of Bramhins. This has been the patern i n every part of the World where Indians came into a geography and encountered Africans. So damn brazen is this disposition that even in nations in Africa the indigenous home of Africans, where they have been fleeing to seeking upward economic mobility, they are attempting to apply that neanderthal type of thinking in their interaction with Africans.

    The probelm is that Africans continue to ignore what is blatantly obvious about these people, and fail to make it plain to them. They sit in Cricket gounds hurling racial slurs at black sports figures, then with utter hypocrisy scream in protest when the same thing is done to them in places like Australia. And that is how you can discern when prejudice has become an irreplaceable character trait in people. Belie dat.

  • You are in Government and you are still crying complaining and blaming is this you refer to as:Strong advocacy? You built your fortunes on tears of victim-hood and complaints of Jealousy while we built ours from whips marginalization with certain but predictable social upheavals. Speaking of Upheavals: when in our Nations history has the Indigenous&AfroTrini community ever targeted our IndoTrini community burn or lay waste to their communities as you periodically experience in India. You slander Eric Williams rather you should be thankful cause even when he scolded your leaders who were bent on the Idea of an Indian reservation at no time he unlawfully waged war or ethnic violence or stir such hatred towards our Indian brothers and Sisters.

  • Linda Edwards, class of '67

    The single fact I want to comment on here, is that Morgan Job hates his African skin. He was at UWI with me studying Agriculture, then went off to either Uganda or Tanzania to manage an aribusines growing tobacco. Not food for Africans but a nonsense crop to pollute the lungs of Africans. Whatever happened to him there in East Africa is diffucult to say. He ent talking, but he returned a bitter man strongly condemnatory of his own kind. Before anyone accepts Job’s viewpoint as valid, they should try to find out what went wrong with him in Africa, what informs his world view.Others of his year group wet on to do significant things for this country- The Unit Trust Corporation being the brightest gem in the crown.Williams returned from abroad determined to set our country free from the shackles of backwardness. Job returned from another colonial outpost, hating his own.Hmmm.

  • Forget East Afrika Madame L, as Afrika cannot always get the blame for everything , including the idiot ways of it’s people dispersed across the globe.
    In this case it had absolutely nothing to do with his alleged hatred, as he simply followed a trend followed by many. Papa Eric for example , went to England , experienced white, and black hatred/ racism , and yet ,gravitated to his special white wife , which produced two mulatto kids. Just don’t know where he adopted Erica, for how else … well, you can fill in the blanks on dat, as he had no kids with his East Asian lady ,whose unconsummated marriage to him , was annulled , thank goodness, after one week , Hollywood style , yes? Can you imagine , Mandarin being the official language of T&T today , and not only South Asians , but East being the competitor of Afrikan folks ? (Then … maybe , dat would have been not too bad an idea, huh? Your history insights are much better dan mine , so was Mao still alive back den? Ah papa deffy , you smelled de rat, or Central Chicken farmer Khan did not , and the rest we can say is your pal Manning buddy , Canadian crooked Hart , history , ehhhh? However I digress.)
    Your Tapia House obscure ,theoretical economic expert buddy , Lloyd Best de same, so did Guyana’s Chedi Jagan , Jamaica’s Norman Manley, the crooked East Afrikan bum,Barrack Obama Snr,Bajan Grantly Adams, India’s Rajiv Gandhi,and least we forget , T&T’s national ingrate in chief, V.S Naipaul . No one condemned any of them for that , as even you have admitted , dis was the time , and I would add,it’s just the way of dem neo imperial folks.
    He returned home and saw the little Tobago island he was born on, ignored , and neglected as usual, led by Papa Eric . He looked across the landscape ,and saw other races doing quite well, and his people locked at the bottom of the barrel , as usual, and again knew who were the culprit.
    In the end, reality checked in and he simply found a useful way to garner a few dollars by utilizing a special niche, that some perceive as self hatred.
    No , he is no different from ‘little black boy’ hating kaisonian Gypsey, your other tie tongue class mate, Jack Warner, Speaker Wade Mark,once relevant , OWTU trade unionist stalwarts , Errol Mc Cloud, and his half East Asian twin brother David Abdullah,and de list goes on.
    You alls should just leave Uncle Job alone, and focus on what really ills our country, as democracy remains under threat, and no job creation plan is in place to tackle overwhelming unemployment , to cater for an educated , sophisticated , and desperate population. Where is ‘the vision thing,’ dat G. H. Bush spoke about Madame L? You claimed that female leaders are different, but …. all I hear is daily sick reports of grandson , husband , and self . Rewind back wards to 1981, and Papa Eric died in office ,yet no one even knew if de man ever had a head cold , much less hyper tension. Such an inspiration to a nation , of selflessness, and resiliency ehh, but again he was flawed, with his vindictive self. Oh Tobago , my neglected neck of the wood, oh Afrikans, when are you going to have a leader emerge in T&T , A frika, Europe , USA, Latin America, Pacific Island , or any global institution of worth, dat would make your interests and needs a priority. Some call it self hatred, and who am I to argue . Maybe you are correct Madame L, but Uncle Job is only scratching the surface.
    By the way ,how is your boy Herman Cain coming along with that idiotic 9999 tax plan? Since you too might now be loosing faith in your boy Barrack, especially after his recent embarrassing , anti Palestine ,Jewish vote getting, butt kissing escapades on the UN floor , and may now feel inclined to park your tent in this Afrikan millionaire camp, can you inform him of something, in one of your special communications as was done to Senator Barrack , your then close friend?
    Tell him for us ,one cannot get votes from a people , by being condescending , and preachy to them, especially Afrikan folks.
    Yes, we know that stupid Afrikan Americans ,are brain washed , and so have always voted for the Democratic party, even as they have repeatedly been given the middle finger after election , but smart candidates cannot tell dem that, yes? He has as much chance of being de candidate of that morally bankrupt RNC bunch, as you and I , in getting a job as adviser to Queen K, ennt?

  • Linda Edwards, class of '67

    I do not fault the ways of the heart in terms of spouse, but I fault the ways of the mind in terms of how your try to help or condemn your people. I do not resent any person marrying across racial lines, but to act as if your own are unredeemable savages, is nforgiveable because it creates the imprssion that you are trying to breed yourself ot of existence. The choice between Williams and the peewats who followed him, is clear.He elevated where they denigrate.

  • I agree to a degree with your interpretation of the playfully hash critique of global Afrikans , but remember Madam L an old truism as you still find ways to give too much credit to Papa Eric while ignoring his flaws, ‘leadership matters.’
    There are what some 56 states in Afrika,then surprise , surprise Tanzania is the most ethnically peaceful ,and proudest of their heritage, when East African neighbors such as Kenya, Uganda, and on , and on ,are steeped in neo tribal divisions?
    Ok , then look no further than the greatest Afrikan leader to emerge from the continent, in Julius Kambarage Nyerere aka Mwalimu,and more importantly, the only leader to ever voluntarily left office before time , poorer than he went in. Even your papa eric , and cuz Basdeo could not pull dat off.
    The former died in office, and the latter well, was kicked out by his ardent protege ,after evolving into a millionaire, dat fed at the national trough like a suckling pig , along with his entire family , but I digress. Papa Eric was de greatest, but don’t tell that to any person from the Island ward of Tobago , not too stupidly fixated on reading their false doctrine, blue eyed heaven, sky god bibles, while still suffering immeasurably , unlike their counterparts , in ethnically confused, big brother Trinidad.
    What a sickening travesty, that in 2011 , Madame L , and I are debating the merits of Eric Williams ,as our people suffer under the control of social barbarian politicians ,lifetime economic bandits , and desperate rival tribalist , while see sits on her Texan veranda sipping ice cold Green tea, reading de Wall Street Journal , and as for me , well… you know de deal , 2 decades and counting of Zoo York , Zoo York , ‘grand international stage of power’ – hint hint!
    Madame L , dis is not some clueless elite , pontificating about nonsense he read about in some history, or some other glorified social science book, for every thing I speak about on dis here information highway ,I’ve personally seen , lived , and or ,experienced , or know someone who did ,within the 193-5 nations across the globe .
    Por ejemplo , in 1989 I lived in Lavantille Rd Febeau Village, a typically neglected enclave of the bombastic Eric Williams. It had no pipe born running water , decent roads, MUCH NEEDED security , health service ,proper drainage , and decent schools.
    Every time it rained ,roadside bandits, had to help me -a short pants law enforcement minion – to push my vehicle ,that was stuck on the littered , impassable roads, even as I try to prevent dem from breaking into it nightly when I slept.
    Fast forward to 2011, and the situation is exactly as I left it in 1990-thanks to Mama Muriel Donawa Mc Davidson ,to finally build a bungalow in Central,on government lands, much to the chagrin of mamboo/ T-Man selfish cousins – who would then break into my property and steal with impunity, for evil reasons.
    Yet these bozos have the audacity to today pontificate about criminals, and social injustices? Tell dem we all have our reasons for running from our country, yes? I could have done like my cousins and do a subtraction by elimination as well, but I choose not to. Again I digress, were you saying dad your Papa eric william was de greatest PM of the 20th century. Well Uncle Shah agreed , as he, and Rex , is still alive ,thanks to him. If Queen K was born in Sri Lanka , South Afrika, Fiji, Uganda, Guyana , India , or Pakistan , she would not be PM today , and she , her followers know why , and who to thank for her dreams becoming a reality.
    The thousands of usually bare feet, pregnant every other day , abused female members of the tribe knows why there is now hope , which have nada to do with political elitist Baseo , and camp.
    Hope you survive Perry, aka G W Bush 11.

  • http://cdn.mediatakeout.com/24380/shocking-crime-indian-man-hires-a-hitman-to-murder-his-son-s-wife-just-because-she-s-black.html



    The fact of the matter is regardless of the real intentions of a faith and its doctrine, the reality becomes its interpretation by our human understandings, and the consequences of such interpretation. Christianity, in theory, should be a manifestation of the teachings of Jesus Christ, the walking in his moccassins so to speak. However, except for the few examples of the Martin Luther Kings of our times, one can hardly find an example among those who beat on their chests and exclaim on their fealty in pews and on pulpits on Sunday Mornings.

    Similarily,the arguments that Hindu Religious caste stratifications were not intended to create socially defined human categories based on color is academic. The reality is that from its inception it was interpreted thus, practiced thus, and became solidifed in its human hosts from the time of its creation.

    You are more likely to practise a behavior if your interpretation and belief is that it is religious truth. You are more likely to practise a behaviour if the foundation on which it is based, implies or can be inferred that you are naturally superior to those who are different in appearance from you, and their appearance, according to your belief and interpretation, automatically and heriditarily confine them to the ranks of the inferior.

    So let’s stop the crap and deal with reality. You cannot be migrating to my community to establish businesses and improve the standard of your life if my community is so racially clannish that their prejudice influences every aspect of their behaviour. You cannot making this argument when an examination of the motherland discloses the same inferiority/superiority human stratifications. That the most impoverished are those of a darker hue. That the film industry is a representation of the social mores when it comes to standards of beauty and acceptability.

    The Indian political leadership in every part of this globe where Indians came and encountered Africans, whenever they get their hands on power, become replicas of the Gujarat political administration where the Governor was refused a visa to travel to the US because of his inciting of ethnic violence against Muslims. This pattern is an endemic reality, and the sooner Africans open their eyes to and become conscious of that reality, the sooner we will come up with strategies to render those attitudes and behaviours an unrewarding adventurism.

  • Linda Edwards, class of '67

    I have completed all I mean to say, on this issue. Circular arguments come back to the starting point with no new light. Have fun tearing each othr up.

  • No one is tearing anyone up Madame L. It is just that some of us are less concerned about past ,fake heroic , petit elites , and uncaring intellectual snobs ,with below average track records like yours truly ,papa Eric de egomaniac.
    You and similar other PNM diehards, who pretend to still care about your country ,might be better served, trying to present some fresh ideas for caretaker leader, Tobago boy ,Dr Rowley , and his clownish , political nemesis Patrick Manning , if ‘you alls UWI alums ,’ ever wish to see power in this country ever again.
    We wish our people well.
    It ‘s the best you can do to protect the legacy of your alleged , ‘fada of de nation.’
    Good job ,Keith Williams, I learned quite a lot from your articles , and did not see your comments as circular, as Madame L did.

  • Well well,the race talk again! When you look at the tags (almost all with Indian or African) on this website and the types of articles you people choose to comment on (Selwyn Cudjoe articles lol!), it just makes me wonder.The lengths you go to pull each other down, the ridiculous websites you quote from, the caste system, the slavery talk. I could go on and on. I come to one conclusion though: INSECURITY. You people sound like you’re not confident with who you are and what you’ve accomplished in life so much that you’re trying to pull one another down by racial means. Deep down you’re all racists and you dont even know it. This India-Africa thing bores me to death. This is not trinidadandtobagonews.com. It feels more like racetalk.com with emphasis on racial bashing. Get over it people! You have to learn to appreciate each other before it’s too late. Forget the politics. Dont let it influence your minds!We need each other!

    • There wouldn’t be a problem if some people didn’t try to change society by trying to implement ancient ideas about others in this New World Nation.
      When people implement foreign ways of doing business as the new norms of society without favorable regard of others based on race, it creates unwarranted hostility. When people seek to empower themselves only to control and destroy others, it causes this us against them mentality that is destructive and unproductive.
      When did TNT become India or Africa in identity? Some have made comments about not having stopped being one or the other. However, if you were born, grew up in, and now live in TNT, Guess what? You are from TNT. You are not from India or Africa. Some long deceased relative may have been, but what does anyone who has commented on here know from living in India or Africa about what it means to be either?
      New world people living in the greatnest of their ancestors does nothing for them here and now. I think people should work hard to improve thier own situation with the kowledge that not all of us will be treated equally ever, but that doesn’t mean that we have to give up on being the best that we can individually be.
      Us against them is only going to have one result which is bad for all.

  • Linda Edwards, class of '67

    Back in 2006 and 2007, I came home to do volunteer work at the Russel LAtapy Secondary School, in Morvant, where we did a reading programme for elementary children from area schools, who were about three years behind. The next year we did a similar programme at St.Mary’s Children’s Home.
    One of the teachers/counsellors who came to TnT at her own expense, providing instructionl material and staying with me at friends houses and the Senior Common Room at UWI, was Judith Gupton, an American friend for more that thirty years.She has since written a children’s book “Something More Beautiful” which she sells in the US, the proceeds of which provides books for children in areas where she has since volunteered: Guatemala, and this year Kenya.
    In the intro letter to her book, she talks of being inspired by the children she met in Trinidad, to write a book for all children.You know who’s commitment to education resulted in schools like Russel Latapy.
    This is what lighting a candle is about.
    The piece I wrote about the program in 2006, is called “A small Beginning.” If you can pull it up, check the negative comments. That small beginning is sending a friend to Kenya to work with children, and provide books for them. She has found a new job for herself, after retirement.

  • Please. You have people begging India Officials to save them from Africans in T&T and expect that everyone will ignore this and pretend that there is not a pattern of demonizing Africans. You have people calling Eric Williams a racist when the economic gap between the people in his group and those from the group who vent their racial hatred by labeling him a racist have not changed or been racially altered by the PNM. Racial prejudice is a product of cultural and religious beliefs. If those cultural and religious beliefs are roots of European racism, why the hell should those who come from similar background of enculturation be exempt. Give me a break!!!

  • I recall, as a very young child, reading an article in one of the Newspapers about an inteview conducted by an Indian delegation to the newly appointed Indian Ambassador to Trindad and Tobago “How can Indians Control Trinidad and Tobago ?” The Ambassador’s reply was. Make a lot of Kids, send your children to school to become Doctors and Lawyers and get a hold of the Land…” So said so done. Indians have, by the hook and the crook, got a hold of the Land. More by crook than honesty. Government should look into land practices in Trinad and Tobago… altering of official documents, illegally occupying other people’s land, claiming land as payment for small debts…We all know that University degrees were being printed in basements in Major American and Canadiain cities… Let’s be real Williams never looked after Black people’s interest. His comment when asked about his plan for black development was “Trindad is not as Homogeneous as Barbadoes or Jamaica” while hones,t is laced with cowardice.
    So what did Indians do when they got into power? Looked after Indians of course…We need only look at Guyuana , Fiji, Uganda and the coming mess in East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania) to see that the Indian mentality is Firstly to his religion, his people and cast. Wake up black man you are about to be enslaved again. Name any black run country and see who is in economic control ? from Angola to Zimbabwe… Libya tried to take control of its own affairs and setup Africa as an economically independent entity Didn’t take the UN long to freeze his funds that was to
    be transferred to Libyan soil… WAtch out Chavez. Black man you are on your own. as the Indians used to say and probably still do ” RIDE A NIGGER OR WALK”

    There I said it !

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