Time for President Granger to concede

Time for President Granger to concede

  By W. Andy Knight and Winston Dookeran We have followed the general election in Guyana held on 2 March last with great interest and grave concern.  This particular election has significant implications for democratic governance, not only for Guyana but, for the entire Caribbean. What we have been witnessing over the past 120 days […]

Italian author Francesca Melandri writes a letter from the future

Italian author Francesca Melandri writes a letter from the future

This may have been written for the French however it applies to all of us in Canada today. On the 18th of March, Italian author Francesca Melandri wrote a letter to the French titled, ‘Letter to the French from the future.’ She wrote the letter while under lockdown in Rome, where she has been confined […]

The next 50 years – doing things differently

At the commemoration of our 50th anniversary of independence, there are a few home truths that we would do well to remember. Even as we reminisce and celebrate with the huge influx of Guyanese returning from foreign lands, we would also do well to consider some of the lessons learned from another foreign country – […]

The n-word rekindles equality debate

At the annual roast at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner hosted by the U.S. president, guest host Larry Wilmore, pounding his fist to his chest used the n-word to congratulate Barack Obama on a job well done: “You did it, my nigga.” He might have offended more than one but he was transforming himself into […]

The Age of Surveillance

Increasingly, the Age of Information has become the Age of Surveillance. In a recent Guardian op-ed, imprisoned Wikileaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning refers to a program called Inside Threat which the U.S. government set up in the wake of her disclosures. Monitoring targets for signs of disloyalty, the program has reportedly placed up to “100,000 military […]

The legendary Black Cuban war general

In the second half of the 19th century, Cuba and Puerto Rico were the last Spanish colonies in America and Cuba was the largest sugar producer in the world, whose sugar production was based on slave labour. On Oct. 10, 1868, the Cubans started the 10-Year War. Two weeks after, Mariana Grajales Cuello, Antonio Maceo’s […]

Laureates who listen

The 2015 Nobel prizes indicate how much the landscapes of diplomacy and letters have shifted in recent years. The Swedish Academy praises this year’s laureates for building a pluralistic democracy and forging a “monument to suffering and courage” respectively. Recent winners have pursued similar ends but this year’s citations underscore the importance of individual tenacity […]