Leo Zeilig was contemptuously angry with the WPA

Aug 20, 2022 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

Kaieteur News – There is a new book on Walter Rodney titled, “A revolutionary for our time” by the South African academic, Leo Zeilig. Mr. Zeilig is the editor of one of the longest, outstanding academic journals dedicated to Third World affairs, “Review of African Political Economy.” Any graduate who has acquired a degree in economics or international relation would have consulted that journal. It is standard reading for Third World students.

Let’s rewind the tape to an interview I did with African-rights activist, Charlene Wilkinson. In my column of Wednesday, October 7, 2020, titled, “Election 2020: I discovered Charlene Wilkinson and I have something in common,” there are these words: “She remarked that she is profoundly disappointed with the WPA’s role during those 5 months. She explained that this party was deeply intertwined with the most radical thinker of the 20^th century – Walter Rodney – in the Caribbean and it did not do justice to his legacy. She requested I use the word “degeneracy” in describing how she felt about the WPA’s behaviour. She said the WPA degenerated into a dog eat dog situation.

What was not carried in that column, were some other thoughts on the WPA by Ms. Wilkinson. At the end of the interview, she told me the WPA’s name in the Caribbean is now damaged. The recent book on Rodney shows that the destruction of the name goes far beyond the Caribbean Sea.

In the acknowledgement page of his book, Mr. Zeilig cites a number of persons who either contributed to the making of the work or that he consulted. There are 24 names but not one of the close comrades of Walter Rodney who is still alive is mentioned. He did consult with the Rodney family and cited Patricia Rodney’s invaluable help.

This book of 387 pages on the life, politics and nature of Rodney was researched without the author making any contact with those who were the close and intimate revolutionary comrades of Rodney in the WPA. I would go so far as to say that without the input of Clive Thomas, Rupert Roopnaraine, Bonita Bone, Karen DeSouza, Eusi Kwayana, David Hinds, Tacuma Ogunseye, Joycelyn Dow who are still alive, the book is incomplete.

No one knew Rodney as close as these names. The book consists of 14 chapters of the evolution, politics and life of Rodney. Yet there was no input from those personalities listed above who would have angles on the substance that Rodney was made of. This makes the book not only incomplete but short on the full recording of history.

One can only assume that Dr. Zeilig was completely contemptuous of the survivors of Rodney that he felt mentally uncomfortable interviewing them. It meant therefore that he knew his work would have this conspicuous weakness but was prepared to live with it.

One of the missing links in the book is Rodney’s failure to form an alliance with Cheddi Jagan. That inclusion was not have been possible without the input of Kwayana (who wrote a short biography), Thomas, Roopnaraine and Bone.

As one reads the four chapters on Rodney’s activism in Guyana from time of arrival to time of assassination, you can feel the contempt Zeilig has for the survivors of Rodney. And as you read on, you keep asking yourself – where is the contribution of Thomas, Kwayana and Roopnaraine to get a deeper understanding of who Rodney was?

Here is a clue as to how Zeilig feels about the remnants of the WPA. On page 331, he asserted; “Today the WPA is a fallen giant. Although there is no space here to chart the party’s degeneration, a few words are in order.” In those few words, Zeilig tore into Roopnaraine and Thomas.

There is a disturbing question Zeilig asked on that page. He noted that Roopnaraine was very close to David Granger but Zeilig was at pains to describe Granger’s relation with Burnham.

Here are some words on Granger: “Granger worked intimately with Burnham and the entire brutal apparatus of the one-party state, during and after Rodney’s assassination.”

Zeilig completed his book in 2021 so he must have had wide knowledge of what the WPA had become. I am happy that in Chapter 13, he made use of my analysis on the obnoxious decline of the WPA.

When I saw that he used my work in the Kaieteur News on the WPA, I felt the need to stress again and again – we must reply to critics, we must keep writing so that we can pass on knowledge to future generation that need to know. The world needs to know what rut the WPA evolved into in the 21^st century.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)

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