Dear Editor,
WPA joins with the Roman Catholic community in mourning the death of Father Malcolm Rodrigues. We remember Brother Malcolm as a decent and selfless human being who used his God given talents in constant service of his country, its peoples and its noble causes. He was a renaissance man whose thought was steeped in theology and science. His work as priest, educator, trade unionist, scientist, statesman and political radical places him among the finest products of our Guyana-Caribbean civilization.
But it was his socio-political activism which took root in the 1970s that brought him into the public space. He was the revolutionary priest who mounted the political platform and grounded in the alleys, bottom houses, union halls to speak truth to and against power and organized for liberation. It would not be out of place to locate Brother Malcolm in the vanguard of Guyana’s manifestation of Liberation Theology. He lived and breathed the ideals of that praxis.
WPA is honoured to have worked closely with Brother Malcom. He openly associated with our party when it was considered dangerous to do so. Never one to draw unnecessary attention to himself, his contributions to the party and the movement that our activism spawned are substantial—he made a massive difference. When the real history of the period is written Brother Malcolm will loom large.
Brother Malcolm was also active in the University of Guyana Workers Union where he worked alongside Professor Clive Thomas, Dr Josh Ramsammy and others to give energy and voice to the workers of that institution. He would expand his unionism to the larger labour movement and was a key figure in the Four-Union coalition of unions which later expanded to the Six-Union. Much later he would serve as an arbitrator in the wage negotiations between government and the teachers’ union.
As Guyana confronts new forms of unjust governance in the wake of the discovery of oil, Brother Malcom’s example of political morality and love for the downtrodden should inform public behaviour in and out of the halls of power. Despite our national failings, Malcolm Rodrigues enriched our collective soul. He lived out the Christian creed of love, devoted service and compassion.
Yours faithfully,
David Hinds
For the WPA
