No one has intellectual property rights over Jagan’s or Rodney’s work and legacy

Jul 08, 2021 Letters

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Dear Editor,

Two letters written by two ‘brothers’ belonging to the same organisation were published recently in mainstream media. Both letters appeared to have two objectives. Objective one, was to resort to defensiveness, viz; to go on the attack against what they don’t want to hear. Objective two, was to down play the steps initiated by government to correct the wrongs committed by the PNC in respect to Dr. Rodney’s demise.

In their rush to judgement, the authors mistakenly placed more emphasis on form rather than content. It was as if they were engaged in box checking the letters from other contributors only to end up in a nitpicking exercise. Following the epistolary exchange in the press since the announcement was made, readers may have noticed that neither of the two authors welcomed the move. If that didn’t prove residual guilt, what does?

The root cause for the emotional pain and hurt they seem to be experiencing, as expressed in their letters, seem to be principally because the APNU+AFC was booted from office. No ‘adult confession’ for supporting a ‘conditional alliance’ or to ‘feel no sense of guilt’ will change the irreparable damage that was done to our electoral process by agents acting on behalf of the two letter writers.

Neither can the enigma of human tears wash away the despicable acts aimed at thwarting the will of the electorate and to derail our fledgling democracy. That is now a historical fact. It is time to wipe away the teardrops, admit remorse and move on.

There are some in our midst who are obviously haunted by events of the past. It appears that it is the specter of ‘political culture and conduct’ that continue to haunt, if not entangle and blur their fixed mindsets. There seems to be no escape route from the intellectual turpitude that afflicts them. Based on past experiences and political praxis, some political leaders claim that unless a political party conforms de rigueur to a particular ‘political culture and conduct’ peculiar to them, they will have nothing to do with those belonging to that party.

The argument that that is what Rodney stood for, has no basis in fact. Those who heard him speak time and again at the Bourda Mall in the mid to the late 1970’s would know that Rodney was not trapped in dogmatism nor stereotypes nor intellectual shortsightedness while he lived.

Rodney’s life work should not be framed as being exclusive to a specific generation nor organisation. It will be a mistaken conclusion to do so. Just as Cheddi Jagan belongs to the whole of Guyana so does Dr. Rodney. It should come as no surprise if the wrong people were to take up his mantle. No one has intellectual property rights over neither Jagan’s nor Rodney’s work and legacy. Cumulatively, it is Guyana’s legacy

It is because of a sectarian and conformist approach by some to Guyanese politics, that they have been unsuccessful in cultivating an enduring alliance with other political or social forces outside their orbit.

Casting aspersions towards those who preceded Rodney or those who were not bold enough to come forward during the heyday of Rodney’s activism, conveys the impression that the peoples’ struggle for freedom and democracy in Guyana began with the arrival of the WPA and later, with Rodney on the political landscape.

This is obviously a revisionist approach since it ignores the heroic struggles that started long before the WPA’s establishment and Rodney’s arrival. In fact, Rodney’s contribution should be viewed as a significant continuation and the heightened intensification of the Guyanese peoples struggle for bread and justice.

For anyone to claim One-upmanship for the events that captured the zeitgeist of a period when Guyanese were locked in a common struggle in which all had been involved, is to ignore the strong possibility that all would have been consumed by the brutality of the Burnham dictatorship.

Unsourced anecdotal stories, innuendos and snide remarks directed towards those who were engaged in that struggle and others who came later, but genuinely hold Rodney in high esteem will get us nowhere.

History, ‘parked’ or living has its way of teaching us lessons as a guide to future actions. To do otherwise would result in becoming trapped in an echo chamber of one’s own making.

Political parties in a parliamentary democracy will clash ideologically and philosophically from time to time, and that is quite normal.

But what is important is as a nation we the people, irrespective of our characterisation of government and our judgement calls of each other’s actions or ethnicity, the way forward is clear; it’s either we swim together or drown separately.

Yours truly,

Clement J. Rohee

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