Dear Editor,
This year marks 42 years since the assassination of Walter Rodney. On Monday, June 13th 2022: at 5 pm at the National Library, WPA is sponsoring a symposium to honour Rodney under the theme, “Revisiting the Buxton Proposal: Attacking Poverty in the Age of Oil and Gas”. As we assemble to remember Rodney, we reflect on the state of the country as it stands today and the situation during his time of activism. Regrettably, much has not changed fundamentally: except our discoveries of vast oil and gas resources. The condition of the poor and powerless characterized by increasing poverty is still our major challenge. Professor Clive Thomas will once again share his views on the way forward to address this most pressing national indictment. In some areas of national life, the situation is worse than in Walter’s time. The multi-racial working class/working people, his primary interest, are more divided and polarized politically than at any time in the four decades since his assassination. They are in no condition to defend their class or nation’s interest. Rodney’s commitment to the working people achieving the above objective was the reason for his physical removal from the political struggle.
Reflecting on Walter, I have to come to terms with the indisputable reality that the ruling cabal in the PPP/C is trying to hijack Rodney and co-opting aspects of his legacy for their selfish machinations. But ironically, they daily promote racial domination and divisions among the working people. The name of our foremost fighter for racial and class unity has been desecrated for the convenience of partisan politics based on the doctrine of racial supremacy. The rulers shamelessly are doing everything in their powers to erase Walter as a symbol of multi-racial struggle and unity. Instead, he is been used to win support for racial domination. This misuse and abuse of Rodney must be condemned by all progressive Guyanese at home and abroad. The WPA will not stand by in silence and watch this. We have in the past called on the PPP/C to demonstrate genuine respect for Walter by institutionalizing his philological and political ideas in the school curriculum. This will expose the nation young minds and better prepare them to deal with national challenges. This meaningful action will be a dividend to the nation’s quest for liberation. But the rulers have no interest in genuinely promoting Rodney’s works and ideas and quietly perceive such a policy as self-destruction.
And this is because Rodney’s philosophical and intellectual thought and political practice are not compatible with the PPP/C’s ideology as developed by Bharat Jagdeo’s leadership. Guyana is not Jagdeo or PPP/C property. The country belongs to all Guyanese and Rodney belongs to Guyana and his contributions at home and aboard have enhanced the image of the nation. Let me remind the rulers that Rodney’s body of work includes multiracialism and genuine power to the working people; a radical international posture against foreign capital; solidarity with oppressed peoples in the region and world; conscious and active support for Pan – Africanism, and by his legacy of ‘groundings’ a capacity for patient multi-racial work as against superficial responses to other race groups. In closing, let me remind the rulers that desecrating Rodney’s achievements by inaction on his legacy is a criminal act since that achievement was in the service of the working people and the poor and powerless. Walter Rodney and Guyana deserve better.
Sincerely,
Tacuma Ogunseye.
