Mali: ‘MINUSMA is leaving, but the UN is staying’, Mission chief says
Yemen oil tanker: ‘Pivotal chapter’ concludes but important work remains
“MINUSMA may be leaving Mali, but the United Nations, through its agencies, funds, and programs, remains. Their work has never been as vital as it is today,” he said, welcoming assurances received from Malian authorities regarding security of UN personnel.
Mr. Wane called for additional funding for the UN Country Team and all humanitarians working there to enable them to continue supporting Mali’s development efforts.
MINUSMA was established by the Security Council in 2013, following a coup the previous year. Over the past decade, it has become the UN’s most challenging peacekeeping mission, suffering over 303 fatalities amid continuing extremist violence and rampant insecurity across much of the north and centre.
By December, the mission’s 12 camps and one temporary operating base will be closed and handed over to transitional authorities, while its uniformed personnel numbering about 12,947 will be repatriated.
Civilian staff will also be drawn down, and equipment – a load of approximately 5,500 sea containers and nearly 4,000 vehicles - relocated to other missions or repatriated to the countries that provided them.
Malawi: Truck drivers learn about risks of human trafficking
“I used to transport sugar from Malawi,” said an anonymous driver, who was arrested for migrant trafficking. “In 2016, I had to wait for several days at a border crossing in Tanzania for customs checks. I was approached by a man who offered me a lot of money to transport goats.”
His story is not unique.
Malawi is located at the crossroads of several significant flows of people fleeing conflict, instability, and poverty in Central Africa and the Horn of Africa.
Such movements provide lucrative opportunities for smugglers and traffickers and for Malawi’s 5,000 registered international truck drivers.
The driver who shared his story said he was paid in advance, and the man who offered him the deal took photos of both him and his truck. The driver proceeded to spend some of the money and send more to his wife.
“On the day I was due to leave, the man told me the ‘goats’ were actually 30 illegal migrants from Ethiopia,” he said.
“They looked very sick, tired, and malnourished. He said I had to take them to a location in Malawi that’s close to a large refugee camp.” When the driver tried to protest, the smuggler demanded his money back and threatened to take the truck and share photos of him with the authorities.
“This is how it all started, and soon it became my main business,” he said. “The man would pay me a lot of money and escort me in a small car, so he could bribe corrupt police and immigration officers along the way.”
The meticulous effort onboard the rusting FSO Safer spanned months of preparation and nearly 13 weeks of execution by the SMIT salvage team, which was contracted by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
“The UN and the broad group of partners that support the Safer project have so far succeeded in preventing the worst-case scenario of a massive oil spill in the Red Sea which with obvious potential catastrophic environmental, humanitarian and economic repercussions,” UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told reporters at a regular UN press briefing, in New York. Oil from the Safer was transferred to the replacement vessel Yemen, formerly known as Nautica. The Yemen cast off from the Safer Sunday night, local time, to a holding anchorage point pending the installation of specialized equipment for safely storing the volatile cargo.
Russia hits ‘new low’ with ban against discrediting army: Rights experts
The law was adopted shortly after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Special Rapporteurs said they had already raised serious concerns over the law with the Russian Government and through public statements.
“The decision to deny constitutional protection of the right to freedom of expression constitutes a new low in Russia’s clampdown on the freedom of expression and the free flow of information,” the UN Human Rights Council-appointed experts said.
“The interpretation of the Constitutional Court and the rejection of complaints challenging these legislative provisions will silence all those expressing critical views regarding Russia’s so-called ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine,” they continued.
‘A drastic step’
Russia has arrested nearly 20,000 people for protesting the war in Ukraine, while an additional 7,000 people have been arrested for actions that allegedly “discredited” the military, the Special Rapporteurs said. “The law has no other objective than silencing critical expression in relation to the war in Ukraine. The legislation is a drastic step in a long string of measures over the years restricting freedom of expression and media freedom, and further shrinking civic space in the Russian Federation,” the experts said.
The Russian Constitutional Court has rendered decisions in 24 cases over discrediting the armed forces and rejected all legal challenges to the law.
The Court based its decisions on the grounds that the use of the armed forces and the exercise of power by State bodies were prerogatives of the national Government.
On Monday, Haiti police met with a Kenyan delegation, one day after arriving in the country to assess leading a possible UN-backed multinational security force to help fight escalating gang warfare. The Kenyan officers are on a reconnaissance mission.
Nearly a dozen senior police officers left the Toussaint L’Ouverture international airport in the capital, Port-au-Prince, in armored cars heading to the U.S.
embassy. Deputy Inspector General of Administration Police Noor Gabow is leading the Kenyan mission.
“We are here to assess the needs of Haiti’s national police, better understand the situation and do our best to help the Haitian people,” Kenyan ambassador and head of bilateral and political affairs, George Orina, said in a Haitian government statement.
The 10-person Kenyan delegation met
senior police staff early on Monday, the statement said, and will stay until Wednesday, holding further meetings with national police and Haiti’s Prime Minister, Ariel Henry.
After the Kenyan assessment, the plan to send a security force to Haiti will pass to a vote at the UN Security Council. The United States has already voiced its support, though the date remains undecided.
sage of the Voting Rights Act, and the fight for civil rights continues today. Today, as extremist so-called leaders attempt to erase our history and roll back progress on voting rights, reproductive freedom, and LGBTQ+ equality, Americans are fighting for justice and equity.
Today, sixty years after that historic day,
let us rededicate ourselves to the fight for equity, opportunity, and justice. And let us continue to work to secure our most foundational freedoms: the freedom to vote, the freedom of women to make decisions about their own bodies, and the freedom to live free from hate and violence.
60 Years after Martin Luther King Jr. gave his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, in front of a crowd of some 250,000 people, last Saturday Saturday, tens of thousands gathered in that same spot to declare that dream was in jeopardy.
Civil rights activist Rev. Al Sharpton, whose National Action Network co-hosted the rally alongside the nonprofit Drum Major Institute, said, “Sixty years ago, Martin Luther King talked about a dream. Sixty years later, we’re the dreamers.”
Arndrea Waters King, the daughter-in-law of Martin Luther King Jr., one of a number of his family members who spoke at the event, said, “We are here to liberate the soul of the nation, the soul of democracy from those forces who would have us all go backwards and perish rather than go forward as sisters and brothers.”
On Friday, several leaders who helped organize the march met with Attorney General Merrick Garland and Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, where they discussed a range of issues, including redlining, voting rights, and policing.
President Joe Biden and Vice President
Kamala Harris will observe the march’s true anniversary today by meeting with organizers of the 1963 gathering.
Vice President Kamala Harris issued this statement:
Sixty years ago, nearly a quarter of a million people marched on Washington to demand jobs and freedom. They came from every corner of our country. Gathering on the National Mall, they listened as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., shared his dream of an America that lives up to its promise: A nation without segregation and discrimination, with opportunity and equality for all. They heard from a young student organizer, the great John Lewis, who spoke of the importance of fighting to secure the sacred freedom to vote.
The March on Washington was a call to action for our nation. In the years to come, inspired by the passion and purpose of that day, Americans secured the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and other landmark victories in the fight for progress.
The March on Washington was historic, but it was neither the beginning nor the end of the movement for civil rights. The fight continued in the years after the pas-
and-frisk is its disproportionate impact on New Yorkers of color, particularly Black New Yorkers.
The data shows that nine of the ten precincts with the highest stop rates have been in predominantly Black and Brown neighborhoods (defined as over 80 percent residents of color). Six of the ten precincts have been home almost exclusively to Black and Brown residents (defined as over 90 percent residents of color).
Under the Adams’ administration, the NYPD has stopped tens of thousands of pedestrians since Adams took office and just 5% of them were white. The data reveals more stops than the Bloomberg or de Blasio administrations, making racial disparities under a Black Mayor more striking than his predecessors.
STOP-AND-FRISK data by the ACLU of New York shows that over the last two decades of the NYPD conducted millions of stop-and-frisks in New York City, the majority of those stopped were people of color, and a vastly disproportionate number are Black.
One of the most dramatic and consistent aspects of stop-
The evidence above clearly shows that the overwhelming majority of people stopped by the NYPD have been innocent, meaning the NYPD found no evidence of wrongdoing and the civilian was not given a summons or arrested.
Between 2003-2013, nearly 90 percent of stops did not
lead to a summons or arrest. Since 2013, the arrest rate has risen because the number of overall stops has decreased significantly. The rate at which the NYPD are frisking or searching civilians has also risen sharply. In 2022, 3 in 4 people stopped by the NYPD were frisked or searched. The data also found that young people are disproportionately impacted. Young people aged 18-24 represent 35 percent of all stops from 2003-2022. In the last two decades 18-24-year-olds were stopped 2,065 times for every 1,000 18-24-year-olds who reside in New York City. Black people aged 18-24 were stopped over 900,000 times from 2003-2022. They accounted for 18 percent of all stops, nearly double the number experienced by white people of all ages (close to 500,000 times). Following an analysis of New York City’s stop-and-frisk data, the ACLU has found no evidence that ramping up stops makes New Yorkers safer, but the organization is sure that many of the stops have been unlawful and that some have led to violent police misconduct.
On Saturday, one of Haiti’s most powerful gangs opened fire on a large group of parishioners from a local as they marched through a community in an attempt to rid the area of the gang members.
The group from Canaan was armed with machetes and led by their pastor, but they were no match for gang members armed with assault rifles. It is not clear how many were killed and/or injured.
Canaan is now controlled by the “5 Seconds” gang. It is a suburb of Croixdes-Bouquets and Thomazeau in the
outskirts of Port-au-Prince, by 2016 an estimated population of 200,000 is settling in the about 50 square kilometers large territory that was expropriated in reaction to the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake. Since then, earthquake victims that were fleeing the chaos in the adjacent Port-auPrince neighborhoods, migrants from rural zones of Haiti and people profiting from the uncontrolled situation invested according to ONU-Habitat data more than 10 million US Dollar in the development of the “new city”.
Gangs have grown more powerful since the July 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, and they are estimated to control up to 80 per cent of Port-auPrince.
Haiti’s Center for Analysis and Research in Human Rights Director, Gédéon Jean, blames the pastor for being irresponsible and plans to ask the Ministry of Justice to investigate.
The attack was filmed caught on film in real time by AP journalists.
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – The Trinidad-based Caribbean Airlines (CAL) Tuesday said that its domestic and international flights were operating as scheduled, less than 48 hours after it was forced to cancel more than 60 flights due to a sick out by pilots on Sunday.
In a brief statement, CAL said that the “regular operation is working in parallel with recovery flights, some operated by charters on behalf of the airline to accommodate any remaining displaced passengers”.
“The company continues to contact affected customers by phone. E-mails and SMS notifications with updated information are also being sent to passengers,” the statement noted.
On Monday, the Industrial Court of Trinidad and Tobago granted an ex-parte injunction to the airline against the Trinidad and Tobago Airlines Pilots Association (TTALPA), preventing its president, executive members as well as their servants or agents from “taking or continuing to take and/or participating howsoever in industrial action within the meaning of the Industrial Relations Act…including calling in sick en masse”.
The Court has also ordered that TTALPA direct “forth
with” to instruct or direct CAL workers who are its members to “immediately report for duty as rostered and as they are required to do in the normal course of their employment”.
Meanwhile, chief secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly, (THA), Farley Augustine, said that the performance of the air bridge between Trinidad and Tobago being operated by CAL is worse than during the pre-COVID-19 period.
Commenting on the industrial action by the pilots that led to thousands of passengers being stranded on the two islands, Augustine said that over the past year, the THA has been calling for the resumption of CAL’s usual flight count, but that nothing has been done.
“It is ridiculous that people will have to spend months trying to get a flight to Tobago and when they do there is inconsistency on the air and sea bridge. This is 2023 and the air and sea bridge now is more inconsistent than it was pre-COVID. That could never, ever be a hallmark of success,” Augustine said, adding that there is also a need to address the monopoly that exists on the air bridge by CAL.
The descendants of a 19th-century Scottish sugar and coffee planter who owned thousands of slaves in Guyana apologized Friday for the sins of their ancestor, calling slavery a crime against humanity with lasting negative impacts, after Guyana President Irfaan Ali tore into them on Thursday.
President Ali said those who profited from the cruel, trans-Atlantic slave trade should offer to pay reparations to today’s generations, proposing that those involved in the slave trade be posthumously charged for crimes against humanity.
Ali said, “The descendants of John Gladstone must now also outline their plan of action in line with the Caricom…plan for reparatory justice for slavery and indentureship.”
Six members of the family arrived late Thursday to participate in a brief ceremony at the University of Guyana on Friday Charles Gladstone, a descendant of former plantation owner John Gladstone, traveled to Guyana from Britain with five relatives to offer the formal apology.
“It is with deep shame and regret that we acknowledge our ancestors’ involvement in this crime and with heartfelt sincerity, we apologize to the descendants of the enslaved in Guyana,” he told an audience at the University of Guyana. “In doing so, we acknowledge slavery’s continuing impact on the daily lives of many.”
Ali did not attend the event.
Gladstone announced that his family would create a fund as part of a “meaningful and long-term relationship between our family and the people of Guyana.” Their plan includes a formal apology and investment of billions in education, health, infrastructure and cultural revitalization to ensure that “future generations are unshackled from the chains of history.”
He said, “In writing this heartfelt apology, we also acknowledge Sir John Gladstone’s role in bringing indentured laborers to Guyana, and apologize for the clear and manifold injustices of this.”
Like their leader, some Guyanese locals were
not enthused by the presence of the visitors, and protested outside, shouting “Murderers!” and held signs reading, “The Gladstones are murderers” and “Stolen people, stolen dreams.”
Leading the protest was Cedric Castellow, who dismissed the apology as “perfunctory” and said Britain and other European countries owe Guyana and the Caribbean billions of dollars in reparation payments.
John Gladstone was the father of 19th- century British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone and received more than 100,000 pounds in compensation for hundreds of slaves.
A renowned 1823 slave revolt took place on his estate at Success Village on Guyana’s east coast. The so-called freedom rebellion was crushed in two days with hundreds of slaves killed. Some enslaved people were beheaded and had their heads planted on poles all the way to Georgetown, Guyana’s colonial and current capital, to send a message to others who may have had similar ideas.
The Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID) and the combined Guyanese diaspora organizations in the United States will convene an important conference on Guyana at the National Press Club: 529 14th St NW, Washington, DC 20045, from September 27-28, 2023. The Conference theme is “Promoting Inclusive Governance And Economic Growth, Equal Justice, Social Equality & Sustainable Development For All Guyanese In The Era Of Oil And Gas.” Chairman of the Conference Planning Committee is CGID President, Mr. Rickford Burke.
Keynote address will be delivered by Democratic Leader in the United States House of Representatives, Hon. Hakeem Jeffries, and a high-level Biden Administration official. Several individuals and organizations in Guyana and the diaspora will present at the conference. Delegates will also brief White House officials, as well as officials from the State Department, Justice Department and FBI and US Exim Bank on the situation in Guyana. Delegates will travel to Capitol Hill to meet with key Members of Congress and US Senators, and there will be a meeting with the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC). Participants and delegates will include Members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) and other members of the US House of Representatives, US Senators, Officials from the Biden-Harris, Administration, leadership of international organizations, Guyanese political leaders, business and civil society leaders in Guyana and Guyanese diaspora leaders
and other stake holders. This conference is convened amidst concerns by the Guyanese diaspora that US policy on Guyana has not sufficiently promoted American values such as inclusive governance, inclusive growth; equal justice; social equality and sustainable development for all Guyanese. Oil and gas revenues are not used equitably for the benefit and upliftment of all Guyanese. Billions of dollars in Government contracts mostly go to the ethnic supporters of the East Indian led and dominated People’s Progressive Party (PPP) PPP Government; essentially shutting out the African Guyanese population from government
contracts, and ensuring the transfer of State wealth to one ethnicity. Endemic Corruption by key Government officials is apparently ignored.
The prevailing view in Guyana and the diaspora is that the US government is unbothered that racial discrimination and racism appear to drive PPP government policies and practices. The Government is aggressively developing into an autocracy and pose a serious threat to democratic rights. Guyana Police Force is being used to target and persecute African Guyanese citizens and other political opponents of the PPP regime. Guyanese Americans in the US who criticize the government are targeted, harassed and made victims of
transnational repression crimes by the government of Guyana, which operates no differently from Russia or China in that regard, while the Biden Administration remains silent.
Amidst these overtly despotic tendencies and the emergence of the PPP government as an autocratic ethnocracy, and amid denunciations of these practices by several Members of Congress, including Democratic Leader in the US House of Representatives, Hon. Hakeem Jeffries, as well as other State and local officials in various States, the Biden Administration’s foreign policy on Guyana seems apathetic these realities and indifferent to the systemic marginalization of Blacks. Guyana has emerged as an important nation – potentially the fifth largest oil producer in the world. This status gives it a role in the global economy. Guyana is also a significant geo-political ally of the US and is important to our national interest. Consequently, promoting political stability as well as equitable growth, equal rights and justice and democratic values is an American imperative.
The conference is therefore intended to bring together Biden Administration officials, Members of Congress, Guyanese national and diaspora leaders and other stakeholders, for a robust and comprehensive dialog to foster a pragmatic US policy on Guyana that is aligned with American values and the international democratic ethos.
The Ministry of Education and Youth will make draft policies on dress and grooming, nutrition and devotions for schools, available to sector stakeholders for feedback.
Addressing delegates attending the Jamaica Teachers’ Association’s (JTA) 59th Annual Conference at Royalton Negril Resort and Spa in Westmoreland on Wednesday (August 23), Portfolio Minister, Hon. Fayval Williams, said the draft policy on dress and grooming will be published before the start of the 2023/24 academic year.
“We want you to read it. We want you to look at it in your context. We want you to understand the framework within which the dress and grooming policy will operate. We want you to try it out in your schools and give us your feedback,” she stated.
Male Rastafarian students will no longer be required to wear tams to cover their dreadlocks while in school, said Educa-
tion Minister Fayval Williams Wednesday morning.
Williams declared, “There have been a few times that I’ve gone to schools and I see boys, maybe not more than one or two in a particular school, wearing tams to school to cover their locks. This is 2023 we really, really should not be doing that anymore. We need to respect other people’s religion.”
“Yes, we need to say to our students you have to ensure that your hair is clean and so forth. But come on, you shouldn’t have to cover your hair unless that’s what your religion calls for,” she added.
The National School Nutrition Policy and Standards was produced by the Government of Jamaica through the Ministry of Education and Youth, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Wellness. It was approved by the Cabinet in May 2022.
It aims to guide the process for the provision of good nutrition coupled with wellness, especially for the society’s most
vulnerable students.
The policy will seek to ensure that children entering educational facilities are exposed to good nutrition and healthy lifestyles. “Even though we’ve gone through the rounds of consultations with different stakeholder groups before we finalised, we want to hear from you as to what will work and what can be implemented. We want your input into this,” Mrs. Williams said. Regarding devotions in schools, the Minister advised that the guidelines are designed for upholding civility and teaching the core universal values that are milestones in the character-building of the nation.
“Therefore, the aim of these guidelines is to create an environment wherein devotions contribute effectively to the holistic development of each student. There are going to be some don’ts in the guidelines. There are going to be some things that will not be permitted,” she emphasised. Mrs. Williams noted that an email address
will be circulated to facilitate the submission of comments on the various policies.
have or veterans who are down on their luck have — you’re damn right they’re gonna keep coming.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams released the following statement on Friday after New York Governor Kathy Hochul provided an address on the asylum seeker crisis in New York:
The protests against asylum seeker relief centers continued this weekend, this one in front of Gracie Mansion on Sunday, but protesters on both sides of the migrant dispute clashed as dozens of cops tried to keep the raucous crowd under control.
More than 100 demonstrators screamed and threw punches at each other at the Upper East Side bashing City Hall’s handling of the crisis while others shouted them down. “Americans over migrants!” said one person. “No migrants on Long Island!” shouted another.
The tense standoff came as about 100,000 migrants from the US southern border have flooded the five boroughs, forcing Adams to come up with at least 200 emergency shelters to house them. The protestors claimed there are better solutions, even suggesting the mayor should house the asylum seekers that
continue to file into New York City at his home.
The facilities, including a massive, 3,000bed tent city on Randall’s Island, have irked locals who said they fear that the influx of migrants could be a powder keg.
Guardian Angels founder and former mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa was among the throngs of angry New Yorkers outside Gracie Mansion, and got himself arrested again. This was the third time in less than two weeks that Sliwa was handcuffed protesting migrant sites.
Sliwa told the crowd – “These migrants have jumped the queue. And by the way, if I were a migrant and you gave me an opportunity to jump the queue and stay in a hotel, give me three square meals … — basically give me more than homeless people born in America
“We appreciate Governor Hochul’s acknowledgement of the incredible work that New York City has done to manage the influx of tens of thousands of asylum seekers in the last year, and we are gratified to hear that she is calling for immediate federal action. Since the spring of 2022, our city has borne the brunt of a national crisis – providing shelter and care for a population greater than the entire city of Albany. Confronted with the unsolicited arrival of more than 104,000 men, women, and children, many of whom went through hell to arrive in this country and are now seeking asylum, the city has already opened 206 emergency shelters – twice as many as we had open four short months ago – and, if things do not change, we’re on track to spend more than $12 billion over three fiscal years.
“The status quo cannot continue. Put simply, New York City has largely managed this national crisis – a crisis that we believe New York state has an important role in helping to solve – alone. Although we’re disappointed that the state today appears to minimize the role that they can – and must – play in responding to this crisis, the state must fulfil its duty to more than 8 million of the state’s residents who call New York City home. Whatever differences we all may have about how to handle this crisis, we
believe what is crystal clear is that whatever obligations apply under state law to the City of New York apply with equal force to every county across New York state. Leaving New York City alone to manage this crisis – and abdicating the state’s responsibility to coordinate a statewide response – is unfair to New York City residents who also didn’t ask to be left almost entirely on their own in the middle of a national crisis.
“We cannot continue this seemingly endless race of opening shelters just days – and sometimes hours – ahead of the rate of new arrivals. We will lose that race. We’ve been clear about the systemic changes we need –changes that, in the long run, will become an investment in our state and our country’s workforce. We’ve been saying it since last year: We need the federal government to allow asylum seekers to work, so they can provide for themselves and their families. We also need the state and the federal government to implement decompression strategies, so no one municipality has to manage a disproportionate share of this crisis. Further, we are asking the governor to ask the federal government to declare a state of emergency, so we can more easily access additional resources. And we are asking the governor to use her powers to prevent counties from issuing exclusionary emergency orders and give us the resources needed to get people out of shelter, so that they can move on to the next steps in their journeys.”
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What a glorious expression, once the collective culture of the Caribbean region takes over on Labor Day in a joint and creative spirit the culture of the region is on display in its fullness on Eastern Parkway --the music, the food, and the general atmosphere of connectivity.
Carnival in the Caribbean and especially
Working, living, dancing, singing, side by side enjoying each other whether we are Black, White, Brown, or Indian, it’s all a togetherness at carnival and that’s the beauty of carnival.
So when this celebration has blossomed into the largest one-day festival in the United States it comes with deep meaning
tionally, Canada, UK and in other States, New Jersey, Atlanta and Miami. So let us celebrate the culture for the best in the culture, the best of connecting us and showing how we can work and live together in peace and harmony, and to also show that we go deeper than just the music and the food, the spiritual and
profiling and not of substance and seemed as vote getting and not understanding the true spirit of carnival. We are all one and we’re all on the same level so we must be mindful of that as we continue to express the culture of the region, that its richness and its value and its mission of bringing people together should be maintained;
THANK YOU SO MUCH, MEGAN, FOR THAT WONDERFUL INTRODUCTION. DR. THE HONORABLE KEITH CHRISTOPHER ROWLEY, PRIME MINSTER OF THE REPUBLIC OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO AND MRS. SHARON ROWLEY.
THE HONORABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE, MR. JUSTICE IVOR ARCHIE, CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE REPUBLIC OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO AND MRS. DENISE RODRIGUEZ ARCHIE. SENATOR THE HONORABLE DR. AMERY BROWNE, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AND CARICOM AFFAIRS AND MRS. SAARA BROWNE. AND TO ALL OTHER ESPECIALLY INVITED GUESTS ACKNOWLEDGED BY OUR ESTEEMED EMCEES, CHARLIE FRANTA AND MEGAN KELLY. I WANT TO SAY THANK YOU. WHEW! WHAT A WEEK IN TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO.
I AM DELIGHTED TO WELCOME YOU TO THE U.S. EMBASSY PORT OF SPAIN’S CELEBRATION OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE. PRESIDENT
JOE BIDEN RECENTLY DREW ATTENTION TO OUR AMERICAN UNIQUENESS THAT WE ARE HIGHLIGHTING TONIGHT: THE POWER OF IDEAS, THAT THE BIRTH OF OUR NATION
CAME FROM AN IDEA. PRESIDENT BIDEN SAID, “WE’RE THE MOST UNIQUE NATION IN THE WORLD. WE’RE THE ONLY NATION THAT IS FOUNDED ON AN IDEA — NOT GEOGRAPHY, NOT RELIGION, AND NOT ETHNICITY — THAT ALL MEN AND WOMEN ARE CREATED EQUAL, ENDOWED BY THEIR CREATOR” WITH CERTAIN UNALIENABLE RIGHTS, THAT AMONG THESE ARE LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS.
TONIGHT, WE’RE CELEBRATING IDEAS. WE’RE CELEBRATING CREATIVITY AND INGENUITY. WE’RE CELEBRATING MAKING SOMETHING OUT OF AN IDEA, A BELIEF, A VISION–REPURPOSING PIECES TO MAKE SOMETHING BEAUTIFUL, SOMETHING USEFUL, SOMETHING MAGICAL.
WE ARE CELEBRATING AND RECOGNIZING TWO CULTURAL PHENOMENA AND ONE ALLIANCE; IN EACH INSTANCE THE WHOLE IS GREATER THAN THE SUM OF ITS PARTS. THIS GATHERING TONIGHT IS OUR TRADITIONAL DIPLOMATIC TIP OF THE HAT TO THE MIRACLE IN PHILADELPHIA IN 1776—THE SIGNING OF OUR DECLARATION OF INDE-
PENDENCE, THE FOUNDING OF OUR NATION, THE TRIUMPH OF AN IDEA. TWO-HUNDRED-FORTY-SEVEN YEARS AGO IN PHILADELPHIA, OUR FOREBEARS GATHERED TO ENSHRINE THAT RADICAL IDEA ON A SHEET OF PARCHMENT. OUR FOREBEARS SET OUT TO CREATE A NEW SYSTEM OF SELFGOVERNANCE, TO BREAK FREE FROM THE OLD WAY, TO SET OUT ON THIS GRAND EXPERIMENT.
WITH AMERICAN INGENUITY AND CREATIVITY, OUR FOREBEARS CREATED SOMETHING FROM NOTHING, A REVOLUTIONARY EXPERIMENT IN GOVERNANCE FOUNDED ON THE PRINCIPLES OF LIBERTY, EQUALITY, AND SELF-GOVERNANCE.
RECOGNIZING THAT WE ARE STILL AN IMPERFECT UNION, OUR JOURNEY TOWARDS A MORE PERFECT UNION IS ONGOING AND REQUIRES CONTINUOUS EFFORT. YET THE ENDURING MAGIC OF U.S. DEMOCRACY REPRESENTS THE POTENTIAL FOR PROGRESS TOWARDS A MORE PERFECT UNION, AND THE CONTINUOUS STRIVING FOR A SOCIETY THAT UPHOLDS THE VALUES OF LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL.
I CAN’T fathom why Trinidad-born Kwame
Ture, known to all of us growing up in the US in the 60s as Stokely Carmichael, is not honoured by everyone in this country for his contributions to the Black Power movement. He was as important as Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X in fighting social injustice and prejudice. King was especially fond of Carmichael, who had migrated to the US to join his family when he was 11.
As I wrote in Making Waves: How the West Indies Shaped the US, “If charisma had been a crime, the FBI would have investigated Stokely Carmichael for that too.”
The FBI had a fat file on him.
His work in the civil rights movement is well-documented, but Carmichael did important work in the Student Non-Violent Co-ordinating Committee (SNCC – pronounced “snick”). At 25, he was elected SNCC’s president. While in SNCC, Carmichael worked in the deep south to register poor, rural black voters. In Lowndes County, Alabama, a bastion for racism, he raised the number of registered black voters from 70 to 2,600 – 300 more than registered white voters.
He was first arrested for trespassing by the Jackson, Mississippi Police Department in
1961. He said he stopped counting the number of arrests when he reached 32.
His West Indian roots were constantly dredged up by the FBI. In a letter dated August 2, 1966, the FBI said, “The area (the West Indies) is a stepping stone for communists to infiltrate into the Western Hemisphere to promote unrest here in the States.”
His biographer Peniel E Joseph said, “In a remarkably short time, Carmichael became a leader among equals. His knack for turning competitors into friends made him an effortless politician, one whose gift for mimicry could soothe a wounded ego, and whose words could alternately flatter, tease, cajole and admonish.”
When he ended up in Mississippi’s Parchman Penitentiary – one of the worst prisons in the US – for his civil rights work, other activists incarcerated there remembered Carmichael singing and uplifting everyone’s spirit. They remember him lying on his mattress and being dragged by guards along the cell-block floor and Carmichael singing I’m Gonna Tell God How You Treat Me.
His work in the civil rights movement got him banned in TT. It didn’t staunch the Black Power Movement that filtered down here from the North. Carmichael had lived at 54 Oxford
Street “at the foot of 42 steps,” he said. He described himself as being from a working-class African neighbourhood. His house had been built by his father and it had movable walls for entertaining. He remembered hearing steelband music. No ban, no amount of prejudice in the US and no arrests ever made him forget his Trinidadian roots.
Unlike King and Malcolm X, assassinated during the civil rights movement, Carmichael lived to reinvent himself as Kwame Ture, a pan-Africanist. He moved to Ghana and died there at 57.
In this country, we have not properly honoured a son of the soil who had a profound effect on the Black Power Movement from the tip of North America to the southern tip of the Caribbean.
This is a travesty of justice. We should have a commemorative plaque where he lived and a statue to honour Ture as a symbol of independence. We need to shed our fear of honouring people willing to stand up against injustice. As a country, we need to curb our fear of independent thinkers.
The question is, are we more afraid of Carmichael’s role in challenging injustice during the civil rights movement, or more afraid of Ture
SO TONIGHT, WE GATHER HERE TO PAY HOMAGE TO THREE REMARKABLE MILESTONES THAT HAVE SHAPED OUR CULTURAL LANDSCAPE, UNITED COMMUNITIES, AND INSPIRED GENERATIONS.
AS WE CELEBRATE THE 50TH ANNIVERSARIES OF HIP HOP, SOCA, AND CARICOM, WE HONOR THE PROFOUND IMPACT THEY HAVE HAD ON OUR SOCIETY AND THE INDELIBLE MARK THEY HAVE LEFT ON OUR HEARTS.
FIFTY YEARS AGO, IN THE VIBRANT STREETS OF NEW YORK CITY, IN THE BRONX, A MUSICAL REVOLUTION WAS BORN. HIP HOP EMERGED FROM THE DEPTHS OF URBAN NEIGHBORHOODS, A POWERFUL EXPRESSION OF CREATIVITY, RESILIENCE, AND SOCIAL COMMENTARY.
IT GAVE VOICE TO THE MARGINALIZED, SHEDDING LIGHT ON THE STRUGGLES, DREAMS, AND ASPIRATIONS OF A GENERATION. FROM THE PULSATING BEATS TO THE POETIC LYRICS, HIP HOP BECAME A GLOBAL PHENOMENON, TRANSCENDING BOUNDARIES AND INSPIRING MILLIONS AROUND THE WORLD.
who advocated unity in his pan-African work? Agitation and unity are dangerous and scary positions in a country entrenched in neo-colonialism. We do colonialism better than the colonialists, beginning with the concept of divide and rule.
I doubt that you can find any student who can identify what true leadership looks like. Adults feel hard-pressed to define that too. Independence Day is on Thursday and we will have the usual, useless fireworks. Making noise we are good at. But we need to be reminded what independence really is, and the role Kwame Ture played in that.
Time to take our heads out of the sand, honour our history, recognise a profound hero and make sure every youth growing up in this country studies Ture and his role in the Black Power Movement.
I want to go to a park and see children standing before a statue of Kwame Ture and literally looking up to a great man.
(As appeared in Trinidad Newsday)
Brooklyn, NY— The spirit is calling – ten days til’ New York Carnival!! The Board of Directors of West Indian American Day Carnival Association (WIADCA) are pleased to present, ‘World Stage 2023’ NEW YORK CARNIVAL WEEK (Thursday, August 31st – Monday, September 4th).
Kicking off at the Brooklyn Museum Grounds (200 Eastern Parkway), the week features the return of WIADCA’s signature Junior Carnival Parade | YouthFest and
PANORAMA Steelband Competition (Saturday, September 2nd) – get your tickets today at carnival.nyc, Eventbrite, Charlie’s Records, Allen’s Bakery or come early to buy at door!
On Monday, September 4th, WIADCA presents their 56th Annual NEW YORK CARNIVAL PARADE 2023 on Eastern Parkway.
This year’s highlights include Con Edison celebrating their big bicentennial (200 years) and their ongoing commitment to
leading New York’s Clean Energy Transition, Banboche Mas’ presenting ‘Heritage’ and celebrating 4 years at New York Carnival as the only Haitian-American costume band on Eastern Parkway, Big Boy Productions supports NY Mas’ cultural conglomerate, Samba de BrazilSamba Dancers, NYPD Youth Explorers –Caribbean Flag presentation. New York Carnival 2023 Grand Marshals: Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke; Richard Davis – President, TWU Local
100; Ann-Marie Adamson – AVP, Community and Corporate Engagement; EmblemHealth, George Gresham - President, 1199SEIU; Michael Joseph – Harmony Music Makers Founder; Steelband Music Instructor & Cultural Practitioner; Kay Mason – Cultural Practitioner; Jewel Alexis-Josey – Junior Carnival Presenter.
Go to wiadca.org for more information
GROS-ISLET, SAINT LUCIA – Sandals
Resorts International (SRI), parent company of Sandals® Resorts and Beaches® Resorts, took home 13 prestigious awards at the 30th Annual World Travel Awards™ Caribbean & The Americas Gala Ceremony, which took place on August 26th at Sandals Grande St. Lucian. The World Travel Awards™ recognizes and celebrates the top players in the travel and tourism industry each year, bringing together government officials and leaders in the hospitality industry.
Amid the glimmer of the gala, Sandals Resorts International was named the Caribbean’s Leading Hotel Brandfor the 30th year in a row. In addition to this top honor, the all-new Sandals Dunn’s River, which opened its doors in May, celebrated its first wins as the Leading Luxury All-Inclusive Resort and Caribbean’s Leading New Resort. Ushering in a new era of Jamaican hospitality, the all-inclusive resort boasts entirely new ways to experience the natural treasures of the island, with cascading waters throughout the resort sourced from the nearby Dunn’s River Falls and unique room concepts completely new to the brand such as the Coyaba Sky Villa Swim-Up Rondoval Suites and Tufa Terrace Skypool Suites. Marking another milestone, Sandals Royal Curaçao won Curaçao’s Leading All-Inclusive Resort for the second year in a row, highlighting the resort as the best place to explore the island of Curaçao, with its luxury suites and sprawling bungalows, MINI Cooper convertible access, and cutting edge Island Inclusive dining program.
“To be named the Caribbean’s leading hotel brand for the 30th consecutive year
is such an honor and a testament to the incredible team members and valued guests that make up the Sandals family,” says Gebhard Rainer, CEO of Sandals Resorts International. “Authentic and exceptional Caribbean hospitality are at the center of all that we do, and we’re beyond proud to be hosting and recognizing the travel industry’s best trailblazers at our very own Sandals Grande St. Lucian.”
Located on its own peninsula in Gros-Islet, St. Lucia, Sandals Grande St. Lucian offered an idealistic backdrop for World Travel Awards™ guests to enjoy delectable dining, accompanied by panoramic views of the island.
The 13 awards won under Sandals Resorts International’s portfolio are:
- Caribbean’s Leading Hotel Brand 2023: Sandals Resorts International
- Caribbean’s Leading Luxury All-Inclusive Resort 2023: Sandals Dunn’s River, Jamaica
- Caribbean’s Leading New Resort 2023: Sandals Dunn’s River, Jamaica
- Caribbean’s Most Romantic Resort 2023: Sandals Grande Antigua
- Caribbean’s Leading Honeymoon Resort
2023: Sandals Grande St. Lucian, St. Lucia
- St. Lucia’s Leading All-Inclusive Resort
2023: Sandals Grande St. Lucian
- Grenada’s Leading Resort 2023: Sandals Grenada
- Jamaica’s Leading Resort 2023: Sandals Montego Bay
- Bahamas’ Leading All-Inclusive Resort
2023: Sandals Royal Bahamian
- Caribbean’s Leading Resort 2023: Sandals Royal Barbados
- Curaçao’s Leading All-Inclusive Resort
2023: Sandals Royal Curaçao
- Jamaica’s Leading All-Inclusive Family
Resort 2023: Beaches Negril
- Caribbean’s Leading All-Inclusive Family Resort 2023: Beaches Turks & Caicos
The World Travel Awards™, which celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2023, is recognized globally as the ultimate hall
mark of industry excellence – voted on by qualified executives working within travel and tourism and the consumer travel buyer worldwide. This year, there was a record-breaking surge in votes, causing an extension for the voting period.
(Toronto, ON) – Award-winning actress and singer Sheryl Lee Ralph presented a cheque in the name of her deceased parents to the organizers of the University of the West Indies (UWI) Toronto Benefit Awards.
It took place on August 17 during an intimate dinner at Miss Likklemore’s Kitchen & Bar on King St. W. The recipient of a UWI Toronto Benefit Luminary Award made good on her promise to start a scholarship in her parents’ name for UWI students. She was unable to attend the gala last May. “I met a young man who wanted to go to law school and was down $500 to complete his undergraduate degree at
UWI,” said Ralph. “When I heard that, I thought ‘Oh my God’. It is not like they need $30,000. They just need a little help.”
The inaugural $7,500 scholarship was presented in the name of Ralph’s deceased parents, Dr. Stanley Ralph and Ivy Ralph.
He was a retired college professor and she was pioneer in Jamaica’s fashion industry.
UWI Toronto Benefit Awards Committee
Co-Patron Donette Chin-Loy Chang graciously accepted the monetary gift.
“We thank Sheryl Lee for this amazing contribution in her parents’ name,” she said.
“It will assist students across the Caribbean who need financial assistance to complete their university education.”
presentation, being an impactful young woman, and I’m so grateful for that.”
Robyn Kiira Lloyd and Deborah Gordon were the first and second runners-up, respectively, while Gabrielle Henry, Ashlie Barrett, and Tyra Spaulding were the rest of the Top 6 finalists.
Completing the Top 15 were Nikelle Marier, Olivia Alex, Shanice Rerrie, Tia Dryden, Tika Rutherford, Lianne Fullwood, Sara-Dee Palmer, Seana’Kaye Wright, and Zaria Diarra.
Jordanne Lauren Levy was crowned Miss Universe Jamaica 2023 in a national competition held on Sunday, August 20 at AC Hotel in Kingston.
The 27-year-old medical doctor from Kingston succeeds last year’s winner Toshami Calvin and will now prepare to represent Jamaica at Miss Universe 2023 in El Salvador.
Levy told local media – “I feel so grateful and I feel so proud of myself knowing the hard work that I put in. It was not easy. I want everyone to know that each of the 29 of us put in the work, and I’m so proud of everybody and grateful for the opportunity.”
“Aside from winning the title, this pageant has helped me to grow in so many ways. I walk away being a different person. I went into the eliminations knowing who I was, but I see a complete transformation in who I am and I definitely can say that the pageant has helped me in speech and
According to her bio, the new Miss Universe Jamaica attributes her strong work ethic to the values instilled in her by her parents and grandparents who taught her the importance of dedication and hard work, shaping her into who she is today. Jordanne dreams of one day starting a family while pursuing her vision of owning a state-of-the-art medical aesthetic spa.
Commercial manager for the title sponsor Hyundai, Etmore Williams said, “Hyundai has been growing tremendously in the Jamaican market because of the love and support of Jamaicans, and that’s also synonymous with the Miss Universe Jamaica pageant. So it was really like a hand in glove experience. This is also a way of giving back; it’s part of our corporate responsibility. At Hyundai, women are the driving blood of our success, and this is just one way of ensuring that we touch the ladies and the female customers as it relates to the market that supports our brand.”
Levy will drive a Hyundai Creta for a year and will be an ambassador for the brand during her reign.
corked another champagne half-lap performance to wow the world once again.
The impact was evident on her closest rival’s face as runner-up Gabby Thomas crossed the line a whopping 0.40 behind, her mouth agape in wonder – as it was again when the silver medallist from the USA, fourth on the world all-time list, embraced the victor and looked up at the giant screen to see Jackson’s time.
The screen and the trackside clock showed 21.41, the second-fastest 200m run in history, breaking the championship record Jackson set in Oregon, where she won by 0.36 from Fraser-Pryce, a seven-time global champion at 100m.
On this occasion the winning margin was 0.04 bigger and the winning time 0.04 faster.
Campbell in Osaka in 2007 was 0.47 – and between another US athlete, Inger Miller, and another Jamaican, Beverly McDonald, 0.45 in Seville in 1999.
Still, the sensational Shericka had reason to party like it was the final year of the last Millennium as she became the first Jamaican woman to mount a successful defence of the world 200m title since Merlene Ottey, a winner in Stuttgart in 1993 and again in Gothenburg two years later.
“Yesterday, in the semifinals, I ran the curve a little bit conservatively,” said Jackson, “but I think I did pretty good tonight!
graduate. “I did some time trials before the race to get my legs moving and get the feel of it. But it was such a fast race.
“I ran my race and I stayed composed, so I am happy to come out with a silver. To go to Paris for the Olympics would be amazing. I felt so much support in Budapest. I would love to repeat this feeling next year.”
World Athletics Championships 2023: The watching world took a collective gasp when Shericka Jackson finally won her first individual global title in Oregon last year with her scorching 21.45.
At 28, the long-time quarter miler who had made the third step of the World Championships 400m podium in Doha in 2019 – then metamorphosed into a short sprints convert, claiming Olympic 100m and 200m bronze in Tokyo in 2021 – had rocketed her way to the No.2 spot on the world all-time 200m list, behind the late Florence Griffith-Joyner’s longdeemed untouchable 21.34.
Thirteen months on, having collected a second successive world silver at 100m, Jackson un-
It was some sight to behold. Jackson was only fourth out of the blocks, with a reaction time on 0.161, but she was up and into her unstoppable stride halfway round the turn.
She entered the home straight already with clear daylight behind her, then powered unrelentingly clear with her tall, upright, smoothly efficient action, no lateral movement in evidence.
With Thomas second in 21.81 and her teammate, 100m winner Sha’Carri Richardson, taking bronze in a lifetime best 21.92, it was not quite the biggest winning margin in a women’s 200m final at the outdoor World Championships.
The gap between Allyson Felix and Veronica
Roberts (6’) and Mailya Maldonado (76’) and an own goal in the 25’. Also in Group D at the Estadio Olimpico Felix Sanchez, Central American rivals Honduras and Nicaragua played to a 1-1 draw.
Veronica Navarrete gave the Pinoleras a 1-0 lead in the 24’, but Daniela Mencia answered for Honduras in the 54’ for the 1-1 draw.
Group E opened at Sabina Park Stadium in Kingston, Jamaica, with home side Jamaica playing to a 1-1 draw with Panama.
“I ran a good race – 21.41 is a time I cannot complain about. It feels good that even though I used to run 400m I can still do a very good 100m and 200m. I feel like I am a living testimony that you can create something if you really want it and never give up.
“Even if I was pretty close to the world record, it was not the thing on my mind when I ran. “I will continue to work and I hope I can maintain at least this level and we will see if the world record will come.”
Thomas, who set a PB of 21.60 at the US Championships last month, confessed: “I couldn’t believe it when I looked at the screen afterwards.
“I knew that I was coming in to the final hot, so that was to my advantage,” said the Harvard
As for Richardson, she had good reason to celebrate another medal from what is her major championships debut – this time at her secondary distance, ahead of the St Lucian Julien Alfred (fourth in 22.05), Briton Daryll Neita (fifth in 22.16, a PB). Farther back, Britain’s 2019 world champion Dina Asher-Smith was seventh in 22.34 and Marie Josee-Ta Lou eighth in 22.64, 90 minutes after helping the Ivory Coast into the 4x100m final.
“My goal was to end up in the final of both events, so doing that was already mission accomplished for me,” said Richardson. “But being able to win the 100m and get a medal in the 200m, that’s a dream come true.
“After not qualifying for the team at all last year, to get the podium in both of my races here is amazing. My talent is beyond measure. “The competition is only going to get hotter from here so I need to prepare myself for the Olympics. This week has been indescribable. And I know there is better to come.”
MIAMI, Florida – Concacaf Women’s Under-17 Championship Qualifying kicked off on Friday with four matches around the region.
The Estadio Olimpico Felix Sanchez in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic was the setting for three games, including a decisive 9-0 win for Puerto Rico over US Virgin Islands in Group D.
The Boricuas got hat tricks from Sienna Aviles (9’, 75’, 82’) and Olivia Bevilacqua (64’, 84’, 90+3’), plus scores from Susana
Alison Onodera broke the deadlock in the 11’ for Panama, however, Olivia Ashbourne answered for Jamaica in the 40’, resulting in a 1-1 draw and a share of the spoils.
The final match of the evening saw Cuba down Barbados 6-0 in Group B at the Estadio Olimpico Felix Sanchez.
Thalia Izaguirre was the star of the night for the Cubans with a hat trick, scoring goals in the 32’, 49’ and 74’, while Aneilis Calvo tallied first (14’) and Jennifer Cordero (90’) and Elismay Romero (90+3’) rounded things out.
