Mahogany CoConut Blog

One Caribbean Nation. Kamla – slide to irrelevance  Professor Tennyson Joseph Kamla – slide to irrelevance   CARIBBEAN PEOPLE are not often afforded the privilege of witnessing the inevitable slide towards irrelevance, in slow motion, of a key regional figure. Thus, when it occurs, it should be grasped as a precious teaching moment.  The “independence” day speech by Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Kamla Persad-Bissessar as well as her public interventions in the preceding months, has presented such a moment.   Political leadership, by its very definition, implies greater levels of intellectual sophistication and articulation than that of the ordinary citizen. Ordinary citizens may be forgiven for “talking foolishness” but the political leaders cannot.  If Persad-Bissessar hoped that her “I’m cool with colonialism” independence speech would have shock value, she failed miserably.   No one was surprised. Since Donald Trum...

One Caribbean Nation HISTORIC APPOINTMENT PANAMA CANAL GETS FIRST FEMALE CHIEF Naval engineer Ilya Espino de Marotta takes the helm Monday as the first woman to lead the Panama Canal administration, stepping into the role at a challenging time for the vital maritime route. Buoyed by her leadership of the multi-billion-dollar expansion project last decade, Espino moves up from deputy administrator to take full command of the canal. Only three other Panamanians have held the position since the United States handed over the interoceanic waterway in late 1999. Her appointment to the canal's top post is already seen as a symbol of women's capability for executive leadership roles in the industry. The canal serves as the engine of the Panamanian economy and handles nearly three per cent of global maritime trade. Shortly before taking office, Espino told The Associated Press that her priority would be advancing the project to build a reservoir on the Indio River within the canal...

One Caribbean Nation Professor Justin Robinson        THE UNFINISHED MEANING OF EMANCIPATION IN 2026  By Professor Justin Robinson (The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of this publication.) Caribbean people can't wait for summer. Long school and university vacations, Vincy Mas, Lucian Mas, Antigua Carnival, Kadooment, Spice Mas, beach days and overseas shopping. Many hardly notice that August 1 is Emancipation Day and quietly grumble: who are these mad people talking about a season of Emancipation? Slavery and colonialism went together as the imperial powers, England, France, Holland and Spain in the main, decided the fates of people resident in these idyllic Caribbean islands. This season of Emancipation, I intrude on your vacation time to ask you to examine the imperial habits that survived Emancipation. I want you to consider a crazy-sounding question. What if, like Greenland, Washingt...

One Caribbean Nation. Daily Nation Barbados , Tuesday, August 18, 2026                                               BARBADIAN WORKERS played a significant role in the construction of                                                the Panama Canal  by BOLÍVAR JACK BARRIOS LA FONTAINE   THE STRONGEST BRIDGES between nations are not always built through treaties, trade agreements, or official visits. More often, they are built quietly by ordinary people whose lives cross borders in search of opportunity, carrying with them their traditions, memories and aspirations. The relationship between Panama and Barbados is a remarkable example of this truth. Long before modern diplomacy connected our governments, people connected our...

One Caribbean Nation. The Chains That Never Rusted WHAT ARE WE CELEBRATING EMANCIPATION FROM AND WHY IT MATTERS IN 2026?  by Professor Justin Robinson It began with smoke. Our journey to Emancipation began with the journey to slavery by our ancestors. Their journey to slavery in the Caribbean typically began with the smoke of their village afire. Maybe they were engaging in some everyday activity like grinding millet. Maybe they were braiding a sister's hair, or teaching a son to track the river's current, when they saw the smoke. The slave raiders often came at dawn or some other vulnerable time, when they knew people were relaxed and exposed. Some people fought back, some were even able to run away, but many were herded like cattle through the brush, iron collars already around their necks and the chains attached. As they were marched, still in shock, it did not cross their minds that their lives had changed forever, that they would never see their land or ancestors' gr...

One Caribbean Nation All ah we is One Professor Tennyson Joseph  Nation Newspaper Barbados. Thursday 6th. August 2026  ONE WEEK after the dignified burial of Barbadian National Hero and Caribbean cricketing icon Sir Garfield Sobers, and as the lofty speeches and uplifting songs of farewell and gratitude fade away, the Caribbean must now come face to face with its harsh existential present. The heaping of praise upon a fallen hero always boomerangs. It goes out buoyed by how great we once were but returns with the pain of how far we have fallen.  Significantly, while the world is rapidly changing, the Caribbean is at its most vulnerable state since independence. Despite this, there has not been any fundamental self reflective critical analysis aimed at determining what next for the Caribbean. There is little Caribbean awareness of the scale, depth and implications of its existential crisis.   Our news and public discourses continue to be dominated...