Dear Editor,
The WPA has a real problem now that it has merged itself with the PNC-APNU. The problem is that whatever recognition that party may still have is due to Walter Rodney. Now that they have decided to go in bed with the PNC, the party, associated with the murder of Rodney, now has to find a way to begin to ditch Rodney and uphold the man responsible for his death, Forbes Burnham.
It is now being said by leading WPA persons that the party was planning to overthrow the government. So Burnham had to kill him.
All that Rodney stood for is now thrown out to justify their betrayal of him. They no longer talk of why Rodney was opposed to the Burnham/PNC dictatorship. They have conveniently forgotten that Burnham destroyed democracy in our country and turned it into one of the most backward countries in the western hemisphere ‒ a transformation from being the most developed in the English-speaking Caribbean when he took office in 1965.
It is an inconvenient truth to now say that he collaborated with the colonial power and CIA agents to create havoc in our country and provide an excuse for the withholding of independence.
Today, it is a sad travesty to see former Rodneyites like Dr Rupert Roopnaraine taking instructions from Burnhamite men like David Granger. It sickens the stomach to see this betrayal of their leader’s legacy by these former comrades.
Walter Rodney, on the other hand, was an uncompromising fighter against colonialism/imperialism. He was a true freedom fighter and defender of Africa’s liberation. He was a fighter for the freedom of people the world over.
His murder alone is enough to justify the withholding of the Oliver Tambo award from Burnham.
The South Africans, especially the ANC, cannot afford to allow the name of Oliver Tambo to be defiled in any way.
Time is catching up with the fraudsters in the WPA. I conclude with a famous quotation: “Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive.”
Yours faithfully,
Eddi Rodney
