Dr. Rodney subsumed his race beliefs to that of class by his actions

Sep 15, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
“David Hinds is no Walter Rodney. But I am a keen student of what Rodney stood for. I am a Rodneyite”   I therefore see no contradiction between my firm (sic) and uncompromising commitment to multiracial nationalism and my equally strong and uncompromising defence and advocacy of African pride ,dignity and self love” wrote the WPA activist in (KN/9/9/10) two days before the anniversary of the 9/11 attack on America.
While Dr Hinds is entitled (like others are also entitled ) and can certainly advocate “on African pride, dignity and self love” he absolutely cannot speak with legitimacy on behalf of the WPA as there are more than one Rodneyite in the WPA…for that matter all over the world. Yet Dr Hinds would like his single racist views   be the definitive policy of the WPA. Are the other WPA leaders all dead like Dr Rodney? Why is this bile coming from Dr Hinds being left unaddressed by the collective WPA leadership?
Since he seems to know so much, Dr David Hinds can explain why Dr Roopnarine was not made the leader of the WPA succeeding Dr Rodney’s after his assassination. Did the predominance of Africans in the WPA cause this travesty? I believe so. I also believe that while Dr Rodney was a Pan Africanist he was the only major Caribbean Black leader who subsumed his Afro centric activities to that of class in Guyana…yes even acknowledging that Dr Rodney was indeed both about race and class.
One should not be surprised, then, to find Dr Rodney fighting against the injustice perpetrated against Arnold Rampersaud who was on trial for the toll booth murder of a policeman. Didn’t Rodney subsume support for the Indian Rampersaud versus the black policeman just as he fought Burnham’s black dominated PNC knowing full well Jagan’s Indian working class PPP would have won the majority of seats in any free and fair elections?
Dr Rodney obviously recognized that class was the most important issue in Guyana …despite all he loved about being African; he chose instead to subsume race to the question of class by his actions. His deeds were definitive (and were the most important factor rather) than his theories.
It were these deeds that made it possible for Dr Rodney’s magic to gather such a diverse group of multiracial (including armed forces ) Guyanese against Burnham’s PNC. Once he died the WPA also died with him as none were allowed and/or unable to champions a multiracial policy like he did.
How else does Dr Hinds explain the demise of the WPA and its significant loss of Indians and even Blacks in the membership after Dr Rodney’s assassination? How else does he explain the WPA’s miserable performance at the 1992 elections contrasting the multiethnic support which the AFC mustered in the 2006 elections after being formed six months before those
elections? I am absolutely sure that when Indians (as many Blacks) flocked to Dr Rodney, they viewed him more so for his multiracial thrust against the PNC than for his Pan Africanism.
Can anyone doubt the commitment of such WPA Indian leaders including Jinnah Rahman (now persona non grata in the WPA) as well as Swami Aksharananda (formerly Dr Odaipaul Singh), former UG Professor Kenneth Persaud and Dr Rupert Roopnaraine who must have seen the strength of Dr Rodney’s sincerity in his character and commitment to multiracial nationalism by his actions and most emphatically his advocacy?
Dr Hinds muddies Dr Rodney’s name by his continuous hijacking of the good mans works to make him look all Afro centric. One certainly wants to know whether Dr Rupert Roopnarine or Moses Bhagwan living in Richmond Hill, America, feel nowadays that Dr Rodney was made WPA leader because he was Afro Centric or it was something else. Pray tell us gentlemen what were those/that “something else”.
Why is Dr Hinds unable to see how he is regarded as a racist? He can protest all he wants   but he will always dirty Dr Rodney’s fair name and legacy when he cloaks his racism under Dr Rodney’s shadow.
The assassinated WPA leader was a Guyanese national treasure and certainly does not belong to Africans alone but to all Guyanese as much as Dr Hinds would like to hijack and singly envelope himself in his legacy. I will not stand for it.
Vassan Ramracha

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