Rodney most likely would have rejected the coalition

Dear Editor,
Dr. Walter Rodney would most likely not have joined with the Coalition. I respectfully disagree with Mr. Frederick Kissoon, who said: “I believe he would have accepted the PNC/WPA merger, but he would have argued that, just as the dialectics make the human, the human makes the dialectics” (KN 6/13/2020).
I agree that Rodney would have parted company with the PPP. He would have rejected the PNC for similar reasons. Indeed, he would always have rejected the PNC as an anti-democratic, race-based organisation that is the premier obstacle to progress for blacks in Guyana.
More specifically, trying to mix Rodney with the PNC is akin to mixing oil and water. The PNC would be too incongruous to Rodney’s disciplined thinking, as reflected in his writings. Rodney built a world steeped in certain democratic principles.
Rodney and David Granger are like night and day; Granger’s refusal to release the Rodney CoI Report easily attests to this. But here are some other reasons (notably from the 2001-2006 period) underscoring why Rodney would have run from the Coalition:
1. His ability to attract votes across the race divide meant he did not need the PNC.
2. The genuine historian streak in Rodney would have prevented him from swooning over the chant for “change.” He would have separated a need for PPP replacement from any PNC substitution.
3. He would have thoroughly vetted David Granger and, after reading some of Granger’s flawed writings, would have easily dismissed David Granger.
4. He would have examined the history of the PNC, and would have reminded the Coalition that the PNC should not be placed in high office on account of its dismal record as a parliamentary opposition that depended entirely upon race politics.
5. He would have pointed to the 2001-2006 period and dismissed much of the ideas and narratives peddled as bona fide political literature in the black community.
6. Rodney would have rejected the unlawful attempt to remove the democratically elected Jagdeo Administration of 2001. He would have bluntly rejected Granger’s attempt to disguise the attempted coup d’etat as something nonsensically called “troubles”.
7. Rodney would have objected to a PNC-led Coalition with such baggage, and would have told the nation that it was impossible for seasoned black criminals to occupy a PNC constituency (Buxton) for years without some approval from Congress Place.
8. He would have told them that Desmond Hoyte was out of order when he said Buxton had no criminals. Rodney would have conducted field studies in Buxton, interviewing all the women and girls who were violently and sexually molested by these same non-existing criminals while the PNC refused to intervene.
9. Rodney would never have shared a Coalition platform with a number of prominent Coalition leaders who had deep ties to what transpired in Buxton.
10. Rodney, having done his research, would have told the Coalition that they are not genuine because they are yet to disclose to the public many things; for example, that one of their top leaders went quietly to a neighbouring country to get replacement weapons for those 30 AK-45s that were stolen from the GDF, without informing the public.
11. He would have reminded David Granger that at least one second-tier PNC figure well known for his power-sharing views wrote that the PNC first needed political concessions before it did anything to stem the violence.
12. He would have told the Coalition that one of their AFC supporters, columnist Mr. Kissoon, upbraided one of these second-tier leaders, sometime in 2002/03, when this leader complained that the violence was now affecting, yes, PNC supporters. Kissoon’s position was: Do not complain about a “monster” you helped to create.
13. Rodney would have rejected the PNC because, at their first meeting, he would have asked: “What has the PNC done lawfully to cure for their claim of “marginalisation”?
14. Finally, he would have asked why, after half a century of failed political leadership and losing elections, he should submit himself to be led by a political group that is the epitome of political failure in Caribbean politics, the PNC? It made no academic sense.

Sincerely,
Rakesh Rampertab