The Coil: Remembering Rodney without talking about how he died

by Vidyaratha Kissoon 
“Dat man talking stupidness. He is not a real doctor” the man next to me muttered at the National Library.
The Working People’s Alliance convened  a Symposium on “The Political And Economic Challenges Ahead For Guyana” on Thursday June 25, 2015. This was to commemorate the 35^th anniversary of the murder of Walter Rodney.

There were presentations by Dr Turhane Doerga, Dr. Rishi Thakur,   Dr. Maurice Odle, and Professor Clive Thomas.

The National Library was packed out. The average age, according to a former WPA activist, was about the average age of the Cabinet. And like the Cabinet, mostly men. Black men who might have gone to WPA meetings back in the day when Walter Rodney’s books became no longer available in the library even if they were on the catalogue. The young people seemed to be mostly journalists, covering the event.

The first presenter, Dr Doerga opened his presentation by saying he had to do some research about Walter Rodney. He mentioned Gandhi. He talked about young people keeping Rodney alive.

Dr Doerga talked about the rice industry and its potential for Guyana. He was very passionate about this. He talked about alternative products like rice bran oil. I heard him say (he might not have said this and I might have heard what I wanted to hear)  that rice bran oil was the only oil endorsed by the American Heart Association. I checked and it does not seem to be but it looks like something which could be a viable thing like Morning Glory (which nobody talked about).

He was passionate that the private sector should be in charge of the sugar industry.  It might have been nice to have some discussions from people who like the sugar industry managed just as it is.
Dr Rishi Thakur continued talking about rice. He started with an anecdote of his only meeting with Walter Rodney. He then talked about the rice industry. He had some interesting figures and facts. However, those of us who only eat rice , got lost. I notice some of the journalists stopped writing notes.

The passion and articulation were inspiring…good for a WPA political rally.
Two young people stifled yawns.
A few people were nodding off. It could be that the room was a bit stuffy. Maybe if we were outside at a Groundings event in the open air. Dr Thakur said he will be doing a paper.
He and Dr Doerga talked about infrastructure and roads.

Dr Odle is a founding member of the WPA. He referred to one of the books that is on the catalogue at the library but was not on the shelves when I checked. He structured his presentation according to the next UN development agenda – the Sustainable Development Goals.  He used  six of the Goals to talk about a framework for Guyana’s economic development. The 7% growth rate is one of the things. Of course, the thing with economics is that the statistics can be confusing and everybody can quarrel about the different rates and so on. Other countries who have had 7% Growth Rate include Nigeria and China and I thought of Boka Haram and pollution and so on and wondered if that was where we were supposed to be heading.
However, Dr Odle talked about the equality aspects of the proposed SDGs. He talked about gender equality. He said “..the literature now refers to LGBT.” And he explained “lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender”… and the audience murmured and it seemed came to life a bit. BUT. no “fyah bun” or anything like that.

So in that heady moment – prosperous rice industry and gay rights are the future of Guyana?
Dr Odle talked about the resilience of the economy.. And he referred to internal factors like ‘economic sabotage’. I wondered what he meant because there were references to ‘satisfying the constituencies who were in the sugar and rice industries”

If I was outside at a Groundings I might have shouted, “you mean.. people friken dat coolie business people and coolie workers might mek sure dat dat no economy aint growing no way unless slap and strip bheri in power’?

But it was a Symposium. The point I think was being made that the Economy cannot be restructured unless all are on board regardless of how much they want leaders who want to slap and strip women.
Dr Odle talked about moving away from traditional economic sectors. A man in front of me muttered, “yeah cocaine”.

Professor Thomas talked about corruption and the costs of corruption. He was clear, fluent, articulate. He had references to studies and figures. He talked about coalition economics being a challenge as there would be different points of view.

He noted that the Ministries in Guyana related to the economic sectors and public infrastructure are governed by one party in the coalition. One or two people seemed to realise. The Ministers for Business, Public Infrastructure, Tourism, National Patrimony are from the AFC.

A man in the audience said that it seems the WPA only criticises the PPP.  He attended Rodney’s meetings.  Professor Thomas said that the PPP was in power and that any government will be criticised. It wasn’t clear how this will be done since the WPA are now in power? Or are they?
The man next to me seemed to have interest in the rice industry and he might be vex that bheri was not in power. This thing about Drs and so around – a man who used to work at GuySuCo  told me that the former Dr CEO also did not have a Dr.  There was something about how rice and sugar seemed to have people whose Drs are dubious.

There were questions about the economic prospects of rice, etc. There was limited time. No one asked about the Commission of Inquiry or whether it was important to know who killed Walter Rodney.

It seems people are eager to get on with the future of Guyana and the WPA event. There was talk about whether the excitement of the change in politics would stimulate the activities.  It all seemed kind of dreamy with hints of the harsh realities.

Social justice did not feature much in this panel. Perhaps social justice does not feature much in overcoming The Political And Economic Challenges Ahead For Guyana in the academic streaming, though Dr Odle did talk about gender and LGBT equality.

Post-elections Guyana needs spaces to talk about the present and the future. The WPA provided a space. There might be other dreams like President Granger talking about what Walter Rodney means to him at the next commemorative event.
I asked the moderator Tabitha Sarabo-Halley, of the Walter Rodney Youth Movement what Walter Rodney meant to her and how they plan to keep the memory alive. She said that they will have other events, and that in the naming of the group, people will ask ‘Who was Walter Rodney?’.