Home Letters Like Dr Jagan, CLR James also accused the WPA of betraying Dr...
Dear Editor,
In August of 2005, I covered the Walter Rodney 25th Death Commemorative Event, held at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, New York, for the Guyana Under Siege website.
At that event, a simply message was delivered by the daughter of the assassinated historian, Ms. Kamini Rodney, which was that an “Inquiry [was] long overdue” regarding her father’s untimely demise.
That an inquiry was completed abruptly and its findings denied to the public by the former PNCR-led Administration (including the WPA) shows how very nervous some are regarding Guyanese becoming informed as to what really happened to Dr. Rodney, including roles played by members of his own party.
There is a push-back and envy. The WPA applauded the new Government for measures to be taken to resurrect the legacy of Dr. Rodney, but complained that the PPP once accused the WPA of handing the historian’s head on a “platter” to Forbes Burnham. The biblical “platter” statement is credited to Dr. Cheddi Jagan, speaking at Grove, East Bank Demerara.
Why was Dr. Jagan singled out? For the record, at least one other iconic Caribbean figure had accused the WPA of delivering Dr. Rodney to Burnham. Unless one is mistaken, not long after the assassination, one of the Caribbean’s most celebrated intellectuals, Trinidad’s CLR James, who was a mentor to Dr Rodney, told an audience in England that he had warned the WPA to protect Dr. Rodney, as Burnham would try to kill him.
Even if this is fiction, Mr James, who had interviewed Leon Trotsky before that Russian revolutionary himself was assassinated while exiled in Mexico, gave a lecture in California in 1981 (see “Walter Rodney and the Question of Power”), at which time, in similarly harsh language, he faulted the WPA for betraying Dr. Rodney.
He also disclosed that he had actually told Dr Rodney, “Beware of assassination, because Burnham will kill you. You are someone who could represent the people against him.”
In California, he described the WPA as being unprepared to challenge Burnham because Dr Rodney did not study the art of taking of power (and did not train the WPA in it), which was not dependent on a knowledge of Marxism, but upon knowing that “there is someone waiting to destroy you.”
Accordingly, “That is why Walter found himself in a car with a member of Burnham’s army, making some arrangement about some gadget that turned out to be an explosive. He should never have been there. No political leader had any right to be there. Not only should he have never been there, the people around him should have seen to it that he was not in any such position. That was a fundamental mistake, and it was a political mistake.”
This subject of betrayal, or treachery, is perhaps more relevant now, since an inquiry has been done. Earlier this week, Mr. Anil Nandlall, SC, for example, stated on a television show (Issues in the News) that after the PPP had introduced a motion for a Commission of Inquiry (circa 2005), former President Bharrat Jagdeo was “informed by the WPA that the Rodney family is no longer interested in the commission of inquiry. That turned out to be a blatant misrepresentation and flagrant lie. The Rodney family never said so.”
After the idea of an inquiry was revived under the next PPP President, Mr. Nandlall noted that the wife of Dr. Rodney, Dr. Patricia Rodney, “instructed specifically that the WPA must not come close to this inquiry,” including the drafting of its terms of reference.
The public would recall that a story had surfaced in which it was alleged by Dr Rupert Roopnaraine that the WPA under Dr Rodney was stockpiling arms from the GDF to fight Burnham. In other words, the assassination by an illegal regime was justified. If I recalled correctly, Mr Eusi Kwayana later modified that to say that it was merely one senior leader’s opinion, and not a party position.
What is important is the Rodney Family’s clear break with the WPA, which is to sever the historian from the current party. The Rodney Family, as sole legitimate custodians of the Rodney legacy, no longer invite, apparently, WPA officials to their events (e.g., “Walter Rodney Speaker” series).
Also, history will show that the family have summoned an elected Government to, religion aside, render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s — and this has irked the profiteers who have monopolised the Walter Rodney name for years.
Having exhausted that road as far as it stretched, they have sought refuge among the assassins themselves, enjoying a right to free assembly. But there is no longer easy access to the historian’s name, to sell as a commodity on television or the internet, which may explain the attempt to now barter his skin colour in a new round of resistance, this time to the elected Irfaan Ali Government.
The public will take note, however, that by approaching the Ali Administration, the Rodney Family have openly acknowledged its legitimacy. Indeed, it is a robust rebuke of those who have sinister reasons for singling out Dr. Jagan, but not CLR James, for uttering the same betrayal condemnation.
Sincerely,
Rakesh Rampertab
