Walter Rodney remembered in commemorating conference

Monday, March 14, 2005

GEORGE TOWN, Grand Cayman: The University of Guyana in collaboration with the Faculty of Humanities and Education, The University of the West Indies, St Augustine, Trinidad will be holding a Conference entitled "Commemorating the 25th Anniversary of Walter Rodney's Death" at the Le Meridien Hotel, in Georgetown, Guyana on the 10-12th August this year.

The Theme under which the Conference is being held is: “Walter Rodney 25 Years Later: Facing the Challenges of History, Poverty, Underdevelopment and Globalisation.”

Twenty-five years after his death Walter Rodney continues to be one of the foremost Caribbean personalities. Rodney has contributed to economic, social and political life not only in Guyana, but also in the wider Caribbean, and indeed, in the international community.

Such contributions did not end with his death. He has left a legacy, which is still felt regionally and internationally. It is fitting that after 25 years we reflect on Rodney’s life, scholarship, activism and interests, and re-examine how they have impacted on Caribbean development. The conference is intended not only as a celebration of the man and his work, but also as a medium for reflection and reanalysis of the past as well as current developmental issues in the modern Caribbean. 

The renowned scholar and political activist, was born in Georgetown, Guyana, in March of 1942 of working-class parents. 

Walter got his early education in his homeland prior to going to Jamaica in 1960 where he studied History at the University College of the West Indies. He graduated some three years later with a first-class Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree in History and entered the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London in the United Kingdom to study African History. Walter made history when, as the youngest Guyanese student ever to achieve that distinction, he earned a Ph.Ph. D.. there in 1966, it can be said that this was the crowning achievement of his brilliant career as a student.

According to one the records, Rodney then embarked on the career of a university lecturer, teaching in Tanzania (July 1966-February 1968), Jamaica (February to October 1968) and again in Tanzania. In 1974 he left Tanzania to take up a position of Professor of History at his national university, the University of Guyana. Owing to political intervention by the ruling regime, however, his appointment was rescinded.

Rodney, refusing to be exiled from his homeland, lectured abroad periodically to support his family, but spent most of his time in Guyana, doing historical research and becoming increasingly involved in local politics. He became the founder and co-leader of a new political organization, the Working People’s Alliance, and the most strident and most feared critic of the government.

His political activity finally resulted in his assassination on 13 June 1980 in a bomb blast in Georgetown at the age of thirty-eight in the prime of his life. At that time he was among Guyana’s best-known scholars internationally and an increasingly popular figure in local politics.

One journalist who became a dear friend of Rodney and vividly recalls the night of June 13th, 1980 is Senior Correspondent at Caribbean Net News in the Cayman Islands, Norman 'Gus' Thomas. 

Thomas who lived and worked in Guyana in the 1980s knew Rodney well and was one, if not the first, newsman on the scene that eventful night.

"I still recall that night on June 13th 1980. I was in the Den, that was a disco on Durban Street Lodge when the loud blast went off. I went out on the road and was told there was an explosion across by the jail. When I got to the actual scene I saw the vehicle, the bloody torso and was told that the body was that of Walter Rodney, my entire being froze. I had great difficulty eating for weeks after that. 

To a great many of us, Walter is a Caribbean/Guyana Hero and we simply cannot allow his work or memory to die, it is as simple as that. I think this commemorative conference is a great idea."

Rodney was the author of five major books and more than fifty pamphlets and articles. His most influential work, 'How Europe Underdeveloped Africa', is a brilliant examination of the historical roots of African underdevelopment.

"That work should be studied by all Caribbean students," said Thomas.

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