Walter Rodney appealed to all ethnic groups
A
reflection on Walter Rodney's continuing relevance 27 years
after his assassination in Guyana on June 13, 1980
By
Wazir Mohamed, former Co-Leader of the Working Peoples' Alliance of Guyana,
now PhD Candidate in Sociology-Binghamton University, New York.
June 13th. 2007
PART 1
The stalled Rodney Inquiry and the racial dimension of Guyana
I
think it necessary that this pertinent question is asked: What happened to
Walter Rodney, why was he assassinated, and who was responsible? After years
of stops, starts, and inaction on this issue, in 2005 it seemed as though an
international inquiry into Rodney's assassination was finally on the cards.
The Guyanese Parliament on June 29 2005 passed a unanimous resolution authorizing
the creation of a commission of inquiry, whose terms of reference were to be
ironed out among representatives of the Government, the Rodney family, and others.
This year as we mark 27 years since his passing we ask, what has happened
to this decision for the inquiry?
It is now 27 years since Walter Rodney "the prophet of self-emancipation" was murdered in a dark corner, at a dark moment of Guyana's history. That day in June 1980 is arguably the saddest of modern Guyana. I was 22 years old at that time, but my life was already enmeshed in the struggle which Walter Rodney defined in terms of a battle for "peoples' power - no dictator". Dictatorial rule was the hallmark of the Burnham presidency which ruled Guyana for more than two decades. Yet, for many years until his death in 1985 Burnham was revered in the corridors of power in the region, in Cuba, the Soviet Union, and all the Eastern Bloc Countries.
My own observations are derived from my political history with Guyana's working people and the experience of the Walter Rodney period in Guyana. I grew up in the period of anti-colonial nationalist ferment. While still in school, I became an active member of the Progressive Youth Organization (PYO-Youth arm of the ruling party) and later a member of the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP). However, at the end of 1979 I left the PPP to join forces with Walter Rodney and the Working Peoples' Alliance (WPA) and became one of the young full-time activists in the civil rebellion movement.
The inquiry into his assassination in my view cannot skirt the root of Guyana's problems - the deep seated racial division in Guyanese society, which Walter identified as the main barrier to forward movement and progress. In his view, Guyana could not embark on any true development unless the issue of ethnic and racial insecurity was resolved. Today, racial healing and multi-racial unity remain the pre-requisite for democracy and development in Guyana.
Walter did not equate liberation and development with the mere replacement of expatriate rulers with local versions. His determination as a scholar-activist propelled him to argue that transformation and true human development can only be achieved through the common struggle of all peoples to recognize the necessity for a single humanity. In this stead, at the time of his death, he was deeply involved in mobilizing to unite the six racial/ethnic groups in Guyana who constitute the Guyanese working people, a period now popularly known as the "civil rebellion of the 1970s".
This was a moment of mass mobilization in a struggle to replace and reshape the neo-colonial state under the control of Forbes Burnham and his minority PNC government. He was convinced that the racial conflict between African workers (former slaves) and Indian workers (former indentured laborers) was part of a political strategy of divide and rule. Being first contrived by the colonial planter-class and later on by Britain and America to derail the progressive anti-colonial movement headed by the PPP. According to George Lamming in the foreword to Walter's History of the Guyanese Working People, "it was Walter Rodney's tireless opposition to this betrayal of a people which finally cost him his life."
While Walter's assassination may have deep seated implications for the struggles for freedoms everywhere; its significance must, first and foremost, be understood in the context of the struggle to unify the working people of Guyana. His work with colleagues in the WPA and in the wider Guyanese society between his return to the country in 1974 up to the time of his death was dedicated to nurturing a new political culture and establishing common grounds for joint action of the people.
While Rodney's assassination on June 13, 1980 dampened and many ways silenced the mass movement for people's power in Guyana; and removed an important voice for a new grassroots politics in the region. This was only a temporary setback in the struggle for people's power. As current experience shows similar ideas are now taking root and springing up all over Latin America.
What Made Rodney Special
Walter Rodney's way of life stands as an exceptional example to the international movement. His drive to combine original historical scholarship with involvement in the day-to-day struggles of the oppressed serves as a model to academics and activists the world over. Thus he could switch from researching and writing about the devastation wrought by outside forces on African societies in "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa", to intervening in the Pan African movement in Tanzania, to discussing with Rastafarians in Jamaica in "Grounding With My Brothers".
But Rodney's later political work in his home country of Guyana contains was of equal or possibly greater significance. His rejection of racial politics in favour of struggling for unity of all the oppressed was in the finest traditions of Malcolm X. It came not from some abstract theory - Walter was not a prisoner of political orthodoxy - but from the concrete reality in Guyana where racial politics had been used by the colonialists and imperialists to split the progressive movement and prevent the people from securing their rightful shares. Walter was neither interested in the corruption readily available from the Afro-Guyanese PNC government or in joining the Indo-Guyanese embrace of the PPP. Instead he declared for a new kind of politics based on the grassroots, or the "street force" as he used to call it.
People's Power in Latin America is Walter Rodney's Legacy
Walter anticipated the movements that are now flowering all over Latin America, the fusion of the struggles for collective land rights with the struggle for women's equality and human rights - represented by the horizontal and unemployed workers movement in Argentina; the he struggles of indigenous and black people, landless workers and trade union movements in Brazil; the indigenous Amerindian and water justice movements in Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru; the Zapatistas of Mexico; and of course Chavez's Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela. These movements, like Rodney's, are a rejection of the traditional party politics which have failed the peoples of the region. Instead, people are moving to take power into their own hands.
Walter Rodney's "People's Power" slogan was at the core of his vision for a new Guyana. If he were here today he would smile to see what is happening across Latin America. Especially in Venezuela where Hugo Chavez is championing the idea of popular power and campaigning for its implementation not only there, but throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.
It's Time For The Caribbean to Join the Party
So far the rising tide of democratic action in Latin America has found few echoes in the Caribbean (with the obvious exception of Cuba). No doubt the language and cultural differences are a barrier. But greatly reinforcing this has been the hostility and distortions of the Caribbean media which is largely a servant of imperial interests (US and European) and their multinational news agencies.
This is a disservice to what is happening in our region. The initiatives for continental co-operation that are being announced on a weekly basis are specifically aimed at Latin America and the Caribbean. But a significant number of our countries are not responding in kind.
We in Guyana, have special reasons for developing co-operation with our revolutionary neighbors. For instance, there has never been a better time to make progress on our border dispute with Venezuela. If Guyanese were to stretch our hands across the border, it is more than likely that we would receive a warm welcome on the Venezuelan side. In this context, we could work towards an amicable understanding about the Guyanese Essequibo region which is claimed by Venezuela. We could also explore the possibilities for joint development of the region - perhaps Venezuela could provide investment that we do not have towards the environmentally safe development of the rich resources of the area. So too with the issue of electrification - we should be working with our neighbors to link the grid and bring an end to our energy problems, the high cost of which continues to bedevil Guyanese life and industry.
On a wider scale, the developing regional programmes for energy integration, industrial and agricultural co-operation, low interest finance, technology transfer and sharing of resources offer us a great chance to finally get out from under the yoke of American and European economic domination. This is our opportunity to leave behind the curse of neo-liberal economics and get back on track towards our original hopes of a progressive regional federation so strongly held by C.L.R James (self made working class intellectual and revolutionary from the Caribbean) and others in the anti-colonial movement.
Peoples Power is on the march in our continent and we must get on the wagon without delay. We can't wait for our governments to start the ball rolling. As C.L.R always argued, change must start at the grassroots. We could imitate our Latin cousins and develop more grassroots movements like the "Red Thread" women's organization in Guyana, whose leading members include Andaiye-formerly a leader of the WPA.
I conclude with the ever relevant words of Walter Rodney "Only the people can make a revolution. And the day has come when the real revolution will begin - the revolution in the economy, the revolution in the society, the revolution to bring us back to a level where we can hold our heads up high. And it is that day that we need the participation of people."
This is the first part of a two-part series I am writing on Walter Rodney's life and legacy.
I would welcome your comments and questions:
wazirmohamed@yahoo.com
Walter Rodney Lives! Peoples Power No Dictator!
A
reflection on Walter Rodney's continuing relevance 27 years
after his assassination in Guyana on June 13, 1980
By
Wazir Mohamed
June 20th. 2007
Part 11-This is the second installment of a two-part series on Walter Rodney's life and legacy.
I have received many positive responses since the first part in this series of articles was published. Readers from across the world have expressed their shock and disbelief that no real inquiry into the murder of Walter Rodney has happened so far. Questions about who killed him, and how he was killed are being asked again.
Indeed, in the last few days news has reached us that the relatives of Sgt. Gregory Smith (now deceased), the alleged agent who supposedly planted the device on Rodney, have published a book refuting the 27-year-old allegation. The Working Peoples' Alliance (WPA) and the Rodney family have argued and maintain that Smith was the agent used by President Forbes Burnham and his Peoples National Congress (PNC) to carry out the plot. While an off-the-cuff first response to the Smith family's denial would be "too little too late," refutations such as this only reinforce the necessity for an impartial international inquiry. Since I have not seen nor read the new book, I hope it answers important questions such as how and why Smith was allegedly hurriedly removed from the country with the assistance of the Burnham government and the military immediately following the killing? Who made the arrangements for his new life in Cayenne (French Guiana)? What role, if any foreign governments and their intelligence agencies played in his relocation?
Also, I want to remind readers of the cloud which continues to exist over the possible collusion between the Burnham government and foreign agencies. This was mentioned in a Stabroek News article on October 28, 2004 which quoted Rupert Roopnaraine, Co-Leader of the WPA, wherein he indicated that the CIA could have been involved.
As we talk about the murder of Rodney, there are several aspects which may shed light on what happened and why. Firstly, there is the rise of dictator Burnham and his dictatorial PNC government, and the resistance against it in which Rodney played a major role.
The Birth of Dictatorial Rule and the Emergence of Walter Rodney
When Walter entered the Guyanese political scene in 1974 the country was in turmoil. Forbes Burnham, Prime Minister at that time, had just stolen the election in 1973 and awarded himself a two-third majority in the parliament. The military take-over of the ballots in these elections is well documented and there is no need to rehash the details here, save to say that the well documented history of electoral fraud in Guyana remains a national and regional disgrace. The rigging of these elections was a further confirmation and consolidation of Burnham's dictatorial rule.
The following year saw the further extension of Burnham's firm control over the political life of the country and its institutions (parliament, judiciary, local government, etc) when he took a so-called left turn and nationalized the economy. As he flirted with 'socialism' he was not only supported but applauded by the Soviets, the Cubans, and their acolytes in Eastern Europe. He promulgated a Soviet-style constitution which gave complete power to his party over every aspect of society and made him, the party leader king of the heap. The PNC party flag even replaced the national flag on important institutions such as the Court of Appeal, the country's highest court.
The PNC became the paramount institution in the country. To gain employment from a government who controlled 80% of the economy, a Guyanese had to be a card-carrying member of the ruling party. In many instances, even to get food the PNC party card was necessary. Guyana had become in the words of Walter "one large prison".
Suppression, repression and the wholesale commandeering of trade unions became the order of the day. Everything and everyone were to be under the heel of the ruling party. This included the suppression of long-established collective bargaining and grievance procedures. Not surprisingly, by 1979 Guyanese workers in general, but more especially African Guyanese workers in the Bauxite belt and Indian Guyanese sugar workers became restive especially as nationalization had not brought the promised economic prosperity. Nationalization had only replaced expatriate managers and management practices with local political elites who were tasked with enforcing rules in keeping with the imported "socialist" principle that the ruling party is god and master over all national affairs.
That year, Burnham attacked the right to a living wage by suspending the $14 per day minimum. To forestall resistance by the workers he abolished the right to strike. This was quickly followed by the imposition of the 1980 constitution which served to cement the control of the party over the state and all other institutions in the society; and placed absolute power in the hands of the 'comrade' President.
Walter's call for "self-emancipation" was formed, refined, and redefined in the context of these attacks by the state on the trade unions, on the people and the peoples' institutions. His rallying call of "peoples' power, no dictator" not only resonated, but became the catalyst for self-mobilization and self-organization in the workplace and among communities across the country. Spontaneous organization and mobilization accompanied Rodney's every word with the blossoming of grassroots movements within trade unions, such as the Organization of Working People (OWP) among the predominant Afro-Guyanese bauxite work-force, and the creation of the four union grouping within the Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC).
In Guyana Walter became a living legend and a growing threat to the government. For this he had to be silenced.
The Regional and International Context of the Assassination
The assassination of Walter Rodney in Guyana on June 13, 1980 took place in the midst of a blossoming of different theatres of struggle across the underdeveloped world - the period between 1978 and 1980 threw up many popular heroes and victories. This was a time of intense desire for change after the anti-colonial rebellions a generation before had failed to achieve the liberation of their peoples despite achieving formal independence. When Rodney was killed in Guyana we can ask what relationship it had to the death of others like him. Can we draw a lesson from the murders of other progressive figures like Patrice Lumumba, Amilcar Cabral, Samora Machel, Maurice Bishop, Salvador Allende, and so on- whose life was dedicated to economic and political equality for all the people?
In the Americas, the Grenadian, Nicaraguan, and Surinamese Revolutions were important examples of the struggles of working people for new political pathways. In a wider context, working peoples everywhere in the third world had begun to look for openings against neo-colonial governments who had become easy prey for capital, and through which blows had begun to reign down after the collapse of the "welfare State", and the "developmental state" in the mid-1970s.
The common thread connecting these movements was the need for a new politics: a politics based on the idea of democracy from below requiring peoples' involvement in decision-making as a first pre-requisite for development. These movements represented a rejection of the old left-dogmatic political parties, which had controlled the anti-colonial movements. There was a common message connecting these new forces: the New Jewel Movement in Grenada, the Working Peoples Alliance of Guyana, the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and others. A message that resonated with the people. A message which not only identified the reasons for growing social inequalities and underdevelopment, but clearly exposed long-established local political leaders as appendages to a system of rule which perpetuated underdevelopment and poverty among the poorest sections. Popular slogans such as "Forward Ever, Backward Never" in Grenada, and "Peoples Power, No Dictator" in Guyana, emerged not only as rallying calls, but as the battle cry of the masses for an end to the old politics of "leaderism".
Walter's killing must be considered as the first act by local and regional collaborators in the destabilization of this new political movement for change which was taking shape in the region. It is of note that his death was followed closely by the implosion of the Grenada revolution and the murder of Maurice Bishop which opened the gates for the long feared US invasion of 1983. This was followed by the notorious armed destabilization campaign against the Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua.
The struggle for a new kind of popular politics was not peculiar to Walter Rodney, but belonged to a new generation of scholar activists who saw the old political games for what they were. His assassination must therefore be seen as a major, if not the first, act in a series to derail the forward movement of the people against the politics of collusion which failed to deliver on the promises of changed conditions after independence.
The Relevance of Rodney's Scholarship and Activism
As a sociological-historian of world repute, Rodney was specifically interested in examining the causes and methods of oppression. He painstakingly established through his research the world historical context and means of exploitation of third world societies, especially the colonial societies within Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean. Two of his most potent socio-historical publications are "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" and the "History of the Guyanese Working People". Both of these lay out the historical framework within which the working peoples are able to learn of the mechanisms and machinations, through which the exploitation and underdevelopment of these societies have been organized; and the collaboration and role of local and international actors in these processes.
We cannot make sense of his death without recourse to the impact of his scholarship on the powers of the time; a scholarship which did not lay idle, but which was backed up by his political activism. He was particularly engaged in mass political organization after his return to Guyana in 1974. In order to pick up the pieces after 27 years, we need to see his assassination within the framework of the dual role of his scholarship and his call to action.
As a call to action, his appeal was wide. It encouraged and insisted that scholars, activists, and the working people in all oppressed parts of the world have a common duty and responsibility to engage in the struggle to change the world and to establish a new world order. Wherever he went in the world he imbued his audience with the necessity of this challenge. It was the resonance of this message of change in the universities and in the communities alike which made him persona-non-gratia by the Jamaican Government in 1968 and which led the Guyana Government to rescind his appointment as Chair of the History Department at the University of Guyana.
His assassination was finally carried out because of his tireless defense and mobilization of the working people of all ethnic groupings in Guyana against the erosion of long established political and economic rights.
Today more than at any time, the political insight and scholarship of Walter Rodney remains timely and relevant. For those with an interest in nation building, Walter pointed out that the issue of equality of access to resources and to power in society has to be addressed as a stepping stone to peoples' democracy and peoples' power. In his view, political democracy or in western terminology 'majority rule', must go hand in hand with economic democracy. Equal access to the ballot must be followed by equal access to economic resources.
For Rodney, these rights must not only be established legally, but must be organized; and in the mobilization of equal access the history of inequality and how these were established must guide the process of change. In simple terms what he meant is that the people must be brought into the process of change, and by this he meant, all the people. We should not lose sight of the potent character of this message of change and it is in this context that I believe his scholarship is more powerful than his activism.
Closer to home, he identified the historical trap of Guyanese politics - the inequality gap between the major ethnic groups - as something contrived and organized by the colonial authorities as a means of maintaining economic and political control over the working people. He maintained that this age-old tactic of 'divide and rule' had to be addressed before the nation could be formed and move forward. In particular, he was concerned with the historical economic stranglehold where divisions between working people of all ethnic groups became a means of creating lasting political division and suspicion between and among the population.
Walter's Vision
Perhaps the bitterest loss of Rodney's assassination was the gap it left in the "progressive forces" of the country. To this day we have not recovered the dynamism and insight of Walter's "political culture". Walter's vision was to create a political movement in the WPA by which politicians would walk with the feet of the people, think with the minds of the people, and to see through the eyes of the people.
For Walter, this meant the creation of spaces of freedom among the communities of working people. Spaces where Guyanese could meet and dialogue in order to understand each other, and share each other's sufferings and create channels through which they could move in unity and self organized independence towards a common future.
Today more than a generation after Rodney's death, his message is alive and well and prospering across the continent. The flowering of popular power in Latin America shows that no bomb or bullet can stop the forward march of humanity. Now is the time for the Caribbean to join that forward march and reinforce the message of its native child. Walter Rodney Lives!