22 22
GuyanaChronicle ChronicleNew NewYork YorkEdition EditionWeek-ending Week-ending June June 23, 23, 2017 2017 Guyana
Why Dr. Walter Rodney is important?
(from page 5) ment of National Reconstruction. The concept was “an evolutionary product of political exasperation about PPP betrayal of its “Marxist” ideals and of economic perplexity about PNC realization of its “objectives.” Out of this PPP “negation” and PNC “affirmation” the new WPA revolutionary synthesis was born. One could say that it was more Marxist than Democratic. After 1976, it concentrated less on ideology and became a multi-racial, working class party. In July 1979 Dr. Clive Thomas, Dr. Rupert Roopnarine and five others were arrested after arsonists destroyed two government buildings. Dr. Rodney was charged with arson. There are those who believe that he would have united the two main races and that Guyana would have become a great nation under him. We would never know, because he was assassinated 13 February,
1980 in Georgetown. He was carrying a device when a bomb placed in it exploded. Gregory Smith, a retired member of the Guyana Defense Force (GDF), had given the device to him. His murder, like Vincent Teekah’s and many other political murders, remains unsolved. In 1993, the Government of Guyana posthumously awarded Walter Rodney, Guyana's highest honour, the Order of Excellence of Guyana. It also established the Walter Rodney Chair in History at the University of Guyana. In 1977, the African Studies Centre, Boston University, inaugurated the Walter Rodney Lecture Series. In 1982, the American Historical Association posthumously awarded Walter Rodney the Albert J. Beveridge Award for A History of the Guyanese Working People, 1881-1905. In 1984, the Centre for Carib-
bean Studies of the University of Warwick established the Walter Rodney Memorial Lecture in recognition of his life and work. In 1998, the Institute of Caribbean Studies, University of the West Indies, inaugurated the Walter Rodney Lecture Series.
Dr. Rodney is also important because of his belief that academics should share their knowledge with the masses. Too many intellectuals live in an ivory tower and talk down to the masses. He walked the talk. He was in tune with the “grassroots.” In addition to lecturing at UWI, he taught in neglected communities of Jamaica. His talks with Rastafarians resulted in his book “The Groundings with my Brothers,” published in 1969.
THE REASON DR. RODNEY IS IMPORTANT Dr. Rodney is important for his emphasis on multi-racialism. The PPP had, indeed, become “too Indian” and the PNC “ too African.” I do not blame Jagan or Burnham for this. They were two powerful men, who belonged to two different races and it was natural for members of their race to follow them. Despite the Prime Minister, Moses Nagamootoo, being Indian and the President, David Granger, being African, racism still plagues Guyana. However, I must grant that the Government is taking steps in the right direction to improve the situation.
I am a week or so late in paying tribute to Dr. Rodney. As my mom used to say, “Better late than never.” Whether we shall see his likes again is unclear. One thing is clear. We, the people of Guyana, should cherish his memory. The power of his legacy lives on in the undying fight for the total liberation of Africa and all African People and the uniting of the people of Guyana. He knew that he would be killed; but sacrificed his life for the struggle.
ments, an embrace of the spectacle, and an alignment with a banal theater of celebrity culture. Indeed, in this political theater of the absurd, rumors are more important than truth telling. In a culture of short attention spans, Trump provides a huge mountain of misrepresentations and values in which thinking is done by others, power is exercised by a ruling elite, and people are urged to cease narrating their own experiences and give up their ability to govern rather than be governed. Trump offers his followers a world in which absolutely nothing is connected, destabilized perceptions reinforce a politics that turns lethal, and community becomes dystopian — unconnected to any viable democratic reality. Sadly, what convinces “Trump’s masses” are not facts. Not even those he and his Administration and the Republicans in Congress invent. The point of these fabrications is not to establish facts, but to create a coherent fictional reality. What a movement demands of its leaders is the articulation of a consistent narrative combined with the ability to abolish the capacity for distinguishing between truth and falsehood, between reality and fiction. In Trump’s
world to win, you don't need reasons anymore, only power. I shudder to contemplate this creeping brand of modern American nihilism that is corrupting and affecting the body politic and the rabid embrace of same by large segments of the American population. Trump’s nihilism does not state or contend that there is nothing but that everything is meaningless. Reductionism is the basis for his unwavering support among a group of people that reject education and learning, still believe that thunder and rain are things controlled by the whim and fancy of a supreme being. This of necessity breeds a cynicism towards all educated and enlightened things aided and abetted by a man well versed in peddling untruths dressed up as facts, and reason as undisguised ignorance. This explains why Trump’s supporters see nothing wrong with their champion grabbing women by their private parts, shoving his tongue down their throats, or obliquely inciting violence. Trump’s movement is willing to and with complete adoration genuflect and collectively suck on his inert, stupidity phallus.
Trump, Celebrity Culture And The Politics Of Lying (from page 7)
sense of self that is found only in strutting generalissimos of bygone banana republics. Recall the following: In the nine times Trump either met with or called James Comey, it was always to discuss how the FBI’s investigation into Russia's alleged election interference was affecting him directly and personally, rather than concern for the security of United States. He apparently cared little about understanding either the magnitude of the Russian intelligence charge and threat, or how the FBI might be able to prevent another attack in future elections. President Trump seems incapable of or unable to comprehend that a de-mocracy cannot exist without informed citizens and educational apparatuses that uphold and protect standards of truth, honesty, evidence, facts and justice. His blatant disregard for truth and his combative relationship with it has produced an odd occurrence and outcome — disinformation now masquerades as news and truth. In this process, Trump’s Twitter activities have become a weapon for legitimizing ignorance
and civic illiteracy. In the present political situation there is more at stake than the threat of censorship or the normalization of lying; there is also an attack on long-valued sources of information and the public actions and activities that produce them. Trump's government has become a powerful disimagination machine in which the distinction between fact and fiction, reality and fantasy, are erased. The President has aligned himself with a culture of immediacy, sensationalism, and the theater of the absurd where thoughtful reading, informed judgments, and respect for all uncomfortable facts disappear. In short, Trump capitalizes on a digital culture of immediacy and short attention spans in which complexity collapses in a barrage of tweets and the need for a narrative that offers a sense of consistency and a respite from fear. Finally, with a toxic brew of lies, celebrity culture, disinformation and dishonesty, the Trump regime peddles consistent narratives based in forms of civic illiteracy and a deep distrust of the truth. All of this reinforces and strengthens a disdain for measured argu-