Walter Anthony Rodney was born in Guyana on March 23, 1942. He was foremost a black pan-Africanist and academic who was concerned with the welfare of the working class, not only in his homeland of Guyana, but also in Jamaica.

Rodney was a leading Caribbean thinker who used his scholarship to uplift his fellow men. He was from a humble working-class background. He attended Queen’s College, the top male high school in Guyana, and in 1960 graduated first in his class, winning an open scholarship to The University of the West Indies (UWI). He pursued his undergraduate studies on Mona Campus in Jamaica, where he graduated with first class honours in history in 1963.

Rodney then attended the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, where, at the age of 24, he received his PhD with honours in African history. Rodney’s thesis,
A History of the Upper Guinea Coast, was published by Oxford University Press in 1970. He taught at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania during the period 1966-67 and later in Jamaica at his alma mater The UWI Mona.

Most of us know of Rodney through his seminal work, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. He was penetratingly critical of the middle class for its role in the post-Independence Caribbean. He was also a strong critic of capitalism and argued for a socialist development template.

THE RODNEY RIOTS

Rodney attended a Black Writers Conference in Montreal, Canada, from October 11-14, 1968. His presentation was entitled ‘Statement of the Jamaican Situation’. Upon landing in Jamaica at 2:20 pm on October 15, 1968 he was declared persona non grata by the Hugh Shearer-led Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Government and denied re-entry into Jamaica. Shearer accused Rodney of being “at the centre of plots and plans to promote a Castro-type revolution in Jamaica”. Rodney was also dismissed from his post as lecturer in African history at The UWI, Mona. The decision by the then Government sparked a widely supported demonstration at the Mona Campus that morphed into what became known as the Rodney Riots.

The year 1968 was globally significant. There was the assassination of Senator Robert Kennedy in June 1968. Also the assassination of civil rights activist Dr Martin Luther King, who was leading the fight for the rights of African Americans, which must be taken into consideration as it relates to the activism that The UWI Mona students showed at that time. Additionally, Rodney’s influence on the US Black Power Movement cannot be discounted.

Dr Walter Rodney was assassinated in Guyana on June 13, 1980.

GOVERNANCE IMPACTING SOCIAL CHANGE

It is necessary that we interrogate the historical past and compare this with the now in contemporary societies so as to fully understand the dynamics of enslavement and emancipation. The Caribbean shares a history of enslavement and colonialisation. In fact, many countries in the region, despite their political independence, have not severed all ties with their colonial past. Within the post-slavery societies there are remnants of an oppressive past that continue to oppress the masses through various branches of government. Late former prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago Eric Williams perhaps said it best: “Democracy means responsibility of the Government to its citizens, the protection of the citizens from the exercise of arbitrary power and the violation of human freedoms and individual rights.”

The enduring legacies of slavery and colonialism are still very much part of the social fabric of the Jamaican society as it continues to grapple with a sense of black identity. This is seen in, among other things, the continuing policing of black hair and skin bleaching. In fact, those in the society who show more Eurocentric features are assumed to be more intellectual than their dark-skinned counterparts. On the other hand, the teaching of history education continues to be optional for so many of our students, thus creating a vacuum of black consciousness within the society. Is there an urgent need for a revision of the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) history curriculum to include the study of Walter Rodney given his impact on post-independent Caribbean societies?

The 26th annual Walter Rodney Lecture was held on October 24, 2024 at the Mona Campus of The University of the West Indies and hosted by the Institute of Caribbean Studies and the Reggae Studies Unit, both in the Faculty of Humanities and Education. The guest speaker was Professor Trevor Munroe, who spoke on the topic ‘Beyond October 1968: Does activism matter?’ Professor Munroe pronounced that Rodney’s seminal work, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, strengthens the foundation for reparatory justice. He outlined some of the significant gains made as a result of Rodney’s activism not only in Jamaica but the wider Caribbean:

* The 1969 founding of the The Abeng newspaper, which brought a heighten sense of awareness and consciousness for the masses in Jamaica;

* The founding of the independent University and Allied Workers Union in 1971 in order to advocate on behalf of workers.

* The founding of the National Joint Action Committee in 1969 in Trinidad and Tobago was another result of the racial awakening that took place not only in Jamaica but throughout the Caribbean.

Professor Munroe called for the decolonisation and reform of education in order to raise unacceptable levels of numeracy and literacy. Indisputably, the society needs to go a step further by adding financial and media literacy to the national curriculum as tools of empowerment and liberation of our people. He also called for meaningful constitutional reform in order to complete decolonisation process and empowerment of the Jamaican people in democratic participation. Professor Trevor Munroe ended his speech by calling for the establishment of the Walter Rodney Chair in History and the naming of The UWI Ring Road to Walter Rodney Ring Road.

Sadly, there were also retaliatory measures regarding the activism and advocacy of the period surrounding 1968. Among these were the military intervention in Grenada in 1983 and the assassination of Rodney in Guyana on June 13, 1980. A luta continua!

Wayne Campbell is an educator and social commentator with an interest in development policies as they affect culture and or gender issues.

Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or waykam@yahoo.com, @WayneCamo.