Dear Editor,
Abu Bakr continues to make logically tenuous and intellectually treacherous assertions on the Walter Rodney affair. His letter titled ‘In general the PNC and government were relatively restrained in their response’ (SN, July 9) is yet another attempt at this course of conduct. Mr Bakr states, “The WPA seemed able to infiltrate and suborn members of the armed forces, ordinary civil servants, QC old boys, ex PYO militants, and not get much of a reaction from the government, or a mass round-up of its sympathisers.” Mr Bakr conveniently forgets the mass infiltration and subordination the PNC practised by instituting party paramountcy in virtually every facet of this country, forcing many against their will to suborn to the will of the PNC party and government. Institutions that were required to maintain professionalism and independence like the military were subjugated to the will of the PNC party. David Granger, a political officer in the army and a political liaison to Forbes Burnham should give Mr Bakr a tutorial on this shameful practice. Mr Bakr highlights the WPA’s infiltration of various government institutions but he fraudulently conflates political support with subordination and infiltration. It is sickening that the members of the military who supported the WPA were branded as seditious while their forced sworn allegiance to the PNC party was seen as an act of nationalism. It is exactly this kind of debased mentality that gave the PNC succour.
Mr Bakr always misses, conveniently so, scale in his grandiose contentions. The WPA’s infiltration of the governmental institutions, meaning infiltration for the purpose of intelligence gathering and not mere political support, was minuscule. The WPA was never capable of confronting the PNC militarily. It never developed the capability of mounting any kind of armed resistance. The PNC’s infiltration and spy network within the WPA was significant. The PNC knew the WPA’s every move. The PNC had watchdogs like the House of Israel bullying the WPA and keeping it on its heels. Four WPA members were killed by security forces between July 1979 and June 1980 while many more including Rodney were arrested, harassed, imprisoned and victimized. Relative to the small size of its movement and considering it suffered more at the hands of the PNC dictatorship in its short life up to Rodney’s death than the PPP, it is only in the jaundiced analysis of Mr Bakr the attacks on the WPA are seen as the model of PNC restraint. So, Mr Bakr’s celebration of the PNC’s restraint is duplicitous at best.
Mr Bakr’s jump to the PNC not conducting mass roundups is a red herring. Most WPA members were victimized, harassed, imprisoned or threatened. However, mass roundups are not the only measure of a regime’s brutality. Mr Bakr stated, “We have reports of WPA training camps on the West Coast with recruits from the feared PYO.” The PYO was feared? I guess in Mr Bakr’s mind Dr Rodney’s killing was a classic example of PNC restraint. Nelson Mandela whose ANC movement killed thousands in a war of liberation was not killed by one of history’s most savage regimes but was given a trial, a kangaroo one at that.
Mr Bakr states, “It is possible that there would be organised activities without the knowledge or approval of the central committee.” This is untenable considering the fact that Rodney had the most intense surveillance around him at the time and considering the conduct of the PNC government after Rodney’s death such as spiriting Gregory Smith out of the country.
Yours faithfully,
M Maxwell
