Remembering Walter Rodney for its relevance today

Jun 04, 2018 Letters

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Editor,
June 2nd marks the death anniversary of Guyana’s dear son, Walter Rodney. It is with great sadness that we are not more aware of his great work on the global stage and more so for bringing a solution for racial unity in Guyana in a time when no one else was able to do so then and now.
Rodney understood and empathized with the poor and disenfranchised of the world and defined with great detail and intellect how the world system works to keep people in poverty. His brilliance in history and academics as a whole helped Rodney to articulate and clearly identify what is wrong with our society. He brought forward substantial and viable solutions to these problems we faced then and now.
Rodney was recognized and respected by his peers around the world and was among the first Guyanese to achieve this great standing that made his country proud with the exception of the then PNC government of course.
But it was not only the PNC that feared his brilliance and the force he brings; it was the entire system that thrives on oppressing others for their gains.
During his time in Jamaica, Rodney developed a following among the poor and downtrodden in that country along with great support and reverence from the Rastafarian community. In Jamaica, Rodney met with the people of the slums and reasoned with them to understand their struggles and share his knowledge with the hope to uplift his people.
During this time in there, he wrote “Groundings”, a ground-breaking look at the dynamics between systems of control and poverty.
With pressure from the powers that be, Rodney was forced out of Jamaica, which resulted in the now famous “Rodney riots”, where thousands of Jamaicans took to the streets to have their teacher and leader returned to them.
This shows the magnitude and power of Rodney’s impact on social consciousness, since he was making an impact on foreign countries like Jamaica who worships their local heroes with jealously; however, they made room for Rodney.
Rodney’s work in his canonizing book “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa” was nothing short of a masterpiece that exposed the inner workings of an evil system designed to keep Africans in severe poverty while Europe and their allies took Africa’s wealth for free.
His book made him a marked man and no place was safe anymore. He was seen as a clear threat, because he shone the light on evil.
What made Rodney different from his counterparts in politics is that he saw capitalism, socialism or communism as systems of oppression in one form or another. And even though his writings would hold sway more towards socialism, it is natural for any critic of capitalism to be seen as a socialist at best.
But at its core, Rodney stood up for justice and fairness for the unfairly treated. This position made him rise great among others who only paid lip service to justice while they continue to exploit the people.
For Rodney, whether a country was capitalist or communist, there is always a core group of individuals who were constantly exploiting the people by stealing the wealth from the many and giving it to the few elites.
This fact was evident not only in Guyana but in almost every former colony in the world, where leaders who rise to power on promises of equality and justice then begin thieving from the poor.
In Guyana, Rodney returned to contribute to his homeland as he had seen the severity of exploitation of all races in Guyana by the PNC Government led by Burnham. For him, Burnham was a charismatic leader with grandeur and pomp claiming to be a liberator for the poor but in reality Burnham was no different from the other leaders who paid lip service to poverty while enriching himself and a few around him.
Rodney understood that racial unity was critical for Guyana to grow and become successful as a nation and he was the only person positioned with the right message and solution to bring unity. Of course, this drove fear into the heart of the PNC and the natural reaction was to eliminate the competition.
The PNC did exactly what every other exploitative regime did and that was to kill the bringer of truth and righteousness because it exposed their evil acts.
Being a world renowned historian, Rodney understood that race was by design and not a natural tendency and he proved that it was introduced by Europeans as a means of separation and exploitation at the same time.
The Europeans knew that by separating the races, it would be easier to conquer by dividing people and putting them to fight amongst themselves. Therefore, he set about to debunk the race issue and bring racial unity to Guyana.
His message and action took root in Guyana and all races in Guyana began to follow his leadership as he pushed to become the first and only leader to bring real national unity to Guyana. Sadly, Rodney never saw his vision come to life as he was brutally assassinated by who many believed to be on the orders of Burnham himself.
This is further assured by the fact that the only person who stood to lose from Rodney’s victory was Burnham and the PNC regime.
The death of Rodney changed Guyana forever and our beloved country has never recovered from this act of sin committed on Rodney. We can only now imagine and dream of what Guyana would have become if Rodney were not killed in the name of evil. But his ideas and knowledge is not lost and his work is studied and shared around the world with reverence and a source of change.
We must go back and learn about Rodney since his words are relevant today like never before and without his message, we will remain lost.
Walter Rodney provided a blueprint to Guyana’s future and the time is now for us to rediscover his greatness. May Walter Rodney rise in power always…!
Malcolm Watkins
Editor’s note: Walter Rodney died on June 13, 1980

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