Dear Editor,
It is easy in our society to escalate everything, thrive on conflicts and lose sight of reasoning and the need to arrive at sensible conclusion(s). The Walter Rodney issue is often one of these.
If the Commission of Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding his death was laid before the National Assembly, a public institution, isn’t it by now a Public Document? Is it true the Report from the Inquiry was presented to the Parliament in May 2016 and debated in August 2016? If yes, why is there the continuous call to make it public? As an aside, is it also true the Rodney family received a copy of the Report?
Now there is the issue of the National Archives once ‘renamed’ the Walter Rodney Archives and no longer so as per the placement of the original sign. According to media reports the name was never gazetted, which means the renaming exercise was never legal. In short, it was not an official name but a call name, and perhaps an act of deception by those who engaged in that ‘renaming’ exercise.
Apart from that I doubt the historian Rodney would be enamoured with a nation’s archives named after him. For such would say by its very name it is Rodney’s archives and the body of work in that building that of Rodney not the nation. The historian in him would condemn such a name as ill-conceived and misguided. The politician in him, the nationalist not the partisan, would ridicule such naming and mock those who seek to contrive issues that divide rather than unite us.
Whilst it is not unusual to name places in a society after persons, an entity such as the nation’s archives, which stores a body of work from pre-colonial to now, representing the non-partisan collection of our history should not be attracting controversy. Thus the neutrality and factual name, “National Archives” is most fitting because by its very name it says it belongs to all the People of Guyana- an emphasis on all.
It is also instructive how those who claim to love Dr. Rodney often seek to thrive on his name and not necessarily what he stood for. There is a Chair at the University of Guyana in Dr. Rodney’s name where his body of work is open for academic review and development. It would be interesting to know the state of that chair and the role or lack thereof of his comrades in giving true meaning to it.
The spot where Dr. Rodney died was converted to a memorial shrine by his comrades. It would be of interest to know what efforts his comrades have since made to maintain the site in pristine condition. And please don’t proffer the response that the City Council is responsible for its maintenance.
It remains distressing to see this cannibalistic approach to Dr. Walter Rodney, his name and his contributions to society, good and or bad.
Yours faithfully,
Minette Bacchus
