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FM
Former Member

The WPA's protestations against the terms of reference of the Commission which will inquire into the death of its charismatic leader, Dr Walter Rodney, smacks of betrayal. Since becoming subsumed in the PNC's APNU confabulation what's remained of a once vibrant party which campaigned against the dictatorial PNC government have taken a u-turn. At first an attempt was made to portray Rodney's death as being as a result of his own misadventure, then we had Rupert Roopnarine's attempt to suggest that he was stockpiling weapons to wage an armed struggle. These and other attempts were all made to cleanse Rodney's murderers of their sin.

 

The truth of the matter is that Rodney's descendants need the PNC in order to ensure their survival in the political sphere and apparently doesn't want to risk offending their new found masters by cooperating with the Commission of Inquiry. And this explains their complaint against the TOR which was crafted with input from the late historian's relatives.

 

extracted from http://www.newguymedia.com

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FM Former Member

Rodney Inquiry

Posted By Staff Writer On March 9, 2014 @ 5:01 am In Editorial

 

The government received justified commendation for announcing last year that a commission of inquiry would be held into the death of Dr Walter Rodney in 1980. Never mind that it has taken two decades for it to reach this point, or that key potential witnesses, not the least of whom is Gregory Smith, are now beyond the reach of earthly interrogation.  It is unfortunate, of course, that this is likely to be an election year of some variety or other, and the possibility that an inquiry might be seized on for partisan purposes in an election campaign cannot be dismissed out of hand. That said, however, in and of itself there is no reason why 2014 should be ruled out as the year for holding the inquiry if it is handled in a straightforward way.

 

Straightforwardness, however, has never been the PPP’s strong suit; like all the old-style Marxist-Leninist parties it clings to the view that ends justify means. And certainly on this occasion it has proceeded in a way which lends support to its reputation for sinuousness. After the publication of the news that an inquiry was to be held, there was a long period of complete silence, until suddenly the week before last there was an unheralded burst of activity – the commissioners were sworn in and the public was told that the Terms of Reference (TOR) had been gazetted. This, it transpired, had happened since early February, but the TOR did not become easily accessible to the average citizen until last week when they appeared as part of advertisements in the press inviting witnesses to submit statements to the inquiry. Even the parliamentary political parties seem only to have seen them for the first time in that format, since their reactions followed the ads’ publication.

 

The two parties which have the biggest stake in this inquiry and which presumably still have relevant information to provide, are those which go to make up the APNU alliance – the WPA and the PNCR. For any investigation relating to the late Dr Walter Rodney to produce anything meaningful, therefore, it would be necessary to have those two parties participate. Given that they have concerns about the TOR and one of the commissioners as well, and that the government has presented them with a fait accompli, it is not a foregone conclusion they will take part.

It is just common sense for any government embarking on an exercise of this kind to consult with the parliamentary parties both on the terms of reference and the choice of commissioners. It might be observed that in this instance the PPP/C has no particular stake in the matter, and so hardly needs to dictate terms to those parties which do, unless, of course, it has some covert motive unrelated to the inquiry per se. If it doesn’t have such a motive, then it is doing a first-class job of conveying the impression that it does.

 

The first term of reference is innocuous enough (as is the third), involving as it does an examination of the facts and circumstances of the “death” in order to determine who or what was responsible for it. The second one, however, introduces whether it was an “act of terrorism” as one of the lines of enquiry, “and if so, who were the perpetrators.”  The word ‘terrorism’ is very much a loaded political term, and means different things to different people in different contexts. Certainly, the commissioners should not be bogged down discussing problematic definitions or which one should be selected and made applicable (or not) in this instance.  After all, what one wants to find out is whether or not it is a murder (or assassination), and if so who were the perpetrators. As it is the government is raising the suspicion that instead of a search for the truth being its sole objective, an eye to subsequent propaganda in a probable election year has crept into its considerations.

 

The fourth term of reference has raised objections from several quarters, including the WPA, the PNCR and the Guyana Human Rights Association. As we reported yesterday, in a letter to President Ramotar, Drs Clive Thomas and Rupert Roopnaraine expressed their party’s “grave concerns” that the commissioners are required to examine state surveillance of the political opposition from 1978 to 1980. This, they wrote, strays “a considerable distance” from the precisions of “examining the facts and circumstances immediately prior, at the time of, and subsequent to the death of Dr. Walter Rodney.”  They also expressed in diplomatic language what the GHRA said more explicitly about the examination of state surveillance not being limited to the WPA. The human rights organisation went on to say,  “…the clause provides an opportunity for inserting the ruling PPP into events in which it was marginal at the time and for generating a stream of horror stories from that era… Coming at a time of much speculation over general and regional elections, the proposed COI could be read as the worst form of electioneering.”

 

Both the parties which make up APNU also expressed serious reservations about the appointment of Senior Counsel Seenath Jairam as one of the commissioners. He had been the lead lawyer retained by the government in the case of the budget cuts, a politically charged and contentious matter. While there is absolutely no suggestion that Mr Jairam is not a distinguished member of the Trinidad Bar known for his thorough professionalism, the issue here, as rightly expressed by PNCR Chairman Basil Williams, is one of perception.

 

Both the WPA and the GHRA raised the issue of immunity being granted to all persons who have committed acts in relation to the death of Dr Walter Rodney, Drs Thomas and Roopnaraine saying that it “tip-toe[d] in the direction of a Truth Commission” although the TOR and the prevailing conditions “fall far short of the complex requirements of a Truth Commission.”  From the tone of  letter, however, the WPA did not seem opposed to the idea in principle.

 

Attorney General Anil Nandlall made reference to the Rodney family requesting President Ramotar that they have some participation in framing the Terms of Reference, although at what level this was done – or if it was done – he did not reveal. Certainly the family had a right to be consulted on all the terms, and especially be given space to express an opinion on the matter of immunity. At a purely practical level, of course, all that can be said at this stage is that there would be no hope of coming anywhere near to the truth if immunity were not to be granted.

 

The government needs to do now what it should have done in the first instance, namely, open talks with the parliamentary opposition, more particularly the two main parties in APNU. If either of them withdraw from participation in the inquiry, it would be a waste of time and a waste of money. There is simply no point in Ms Teixeira and Mr Nandlall, the government’s leading spokespersons, going into wordy defence mode in respect of the TOR which their party alone created, and which relate to events in which they have no vested interest. Another of these interminable political wrangles, therefore, is not just inappropriate where this issue is concerned, but entirely unnecessary. If the WPA and the PNC do not participate, and this commission produces nothing, or very little, there will almost certainly never be another one, so it is important to get the terms right now.

 

The AG said that Dr Rodney’s widow, Dr Patricia Rodney and their daughter Asha had asked President Ramotar that the inquiry not be made the “subject of a political process.”  Whether the current arrangements meet those standards is open to question.

FM
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FM Former Member

Roopnarine must be a worried man, if we only dares to agree to the Rodney COI, it may cost his relation with APNU and by extension the WPA. Its time the Guyanese populace be aware of what really happened to Dr.Rodney.

FM
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FM Former Member
Originally Posted by Conscience:

Roopnarine must be a worried man, if we only dares to agree to the Rodney COI, it may cost his relation with APNU and by extension the WPA. Its time the Guyanese populace be aware of what really happened to Dr.Rodney.

We want know how PPP kill Minista Shaw.

FM
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FM Former Member
Originally Posted by Conscience:

Roopnarine must be a worried man, if we only dares to agree to the Rodney COI, it may cost his relation with APNU and by extension the WPA. Its time the Guyanese populace be aware of what really happened to Dr.Rodney.

canned imbecilities bought and paid for (cheaply) by Freedom House

FM
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FM Former Member

The WPA has reason and justification to be scared.

The PPP deliberately crafted the Rodney Commission's Terms of Reference to secure a desired outcome, i.e., to drive a wedge between the WPA and PNC and thus fragment APNU in the run-up to elections.

The PPP's explanation that it consulted Rodney's family in wording the Terms of Reference is sheer nonsense.

Get this straight: Walter Rodney wasn't murdered because he was the husband of Patricia Rodney or the father of Shaka Rodney.

Walter Rodney was assassinated because he was the charismatic founder and fearless front face of the WPA which was drawing thousands of people away from the PNC right under Burnham's nose.

Why the PPP geniuses consulted Rodney's family alone and bypassed the WPA is sheer eyepass.

FM
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FM Former Member

WPA had been accumulating weapons prior to Rodney’s death

SEPTEMBER 19, 2010 · BY STAFF WRITER ·

 

- Roopnaraine
Working People’s Alliance (WPA) Co-leader Rupert Roopnaraine has admitted that the party was accumulating weapons long before the murder of Dr Walter Rodney—the first admission of the kind by any member of the party leadership.

 

Dr Walter Rodney

“We were accumulating weapons… we were accumulating equipment of various kinds. A certain amount of that was coming from the, from the military,” Roopnaraine said during an interview included in a recent documentary film, W.A.R Stories: Walter Anthony Rodney.

When contacted by Stabroek News, Roopnaraine, who is currently overseas, confirmed his remarks and said he was speaking about activities the party was engaged in well before June 13, 1980. He also said he would not retract anything he said in the film.

The documentary, made by Guyanese Clairmont Chung, was first screened here publicly by him two Saturdays ago at the Theatre Guild Playhouse. He said it is clear that the WPA was never in a position to overthrow the state by weapons and he noted that while no one was killed by the activities of the party, the same could not be said of the actions of the state at the time.

Rodney, a historian and co-leader of the WPA, was killed in mysterious circumstances on June 13, 1980. The PNC, the party in government at the time, has long been accused of assassinating Rodney, in a plan hatched by the Forbes Burnham-led administration, but it has denied all responsibility. Rodney’s political agitation had been seen as a threat to the PNC’s rule.

Roopnaraine’s comments have, in part, prompted the Rodney family and the Walter Rodney Foundation to issue a notice and disclaimer. “Both the Walter Rodney Founda-tion and the Rodney Family disagree with statements made by one or more of the interviewees and the inferences and conclusions that are or can be drawn therefrom,” they stated in the disclaimer, which they requested be, either in whole or in part, noted and reproduced whenever and wherever the film is promoted, reviewed, shown or shared.

 

Rupert Roopnaraine

Additionally, they say that the views expressed in the documentary are solely and respectively those of Chung and those of the individual narrators and/or interviewees. Further, they point out that notwithstanding the film’s credits, the Walter Rodney Foundation did not collaborate on the project and has requested that the producer/ filmmaker cease and desist from using the name of the foundation and remove its reference therefrom. “The Rodney family, in part, was interviewed during the earlier phase of the film’s research, but did not review, edit, accept or release the final product,” they state. “The statements made by the family within the production are clear and limited in both time and context. The inclusion of interviews of the family does not infer, presume or conclude that the family concurs, agrees or otherwise supports the film, in part or in its entirety.”

Rodney died in a car near John and Bent Streets, after a walkie-talkie—given to him by Gregory Smith—exploded. His brother, Donald, who was sitting in the driver’s seat, escaped serious injury. Donald Rodney later explain-ed that an acting sergeant in the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) had given his brother the walkie-talkie and instructed him to test it near the perimeter of the Georgetown Prison, in order to observe whether the extensive metal wall would interfere with the transmission.

Smith, believed to be responsible for Rodney’s death, died in 2002, after a prolonged illness in French Guiana. He had fled Guyana soon after Rodney’s death and later surfaced in French Guiana. How Smith left the country and the army’s role in Rodney’s death remain unclear. However, in 1987, in interviews with Stabroek News and CANA Radio, he said Rodney’s death was the result of an accident. He did not offer any evidence in support of the claim.

Smith was charged, in absentia, with Rodney’s murder in 1996, however the PPP/Civic administration never succeeded in extraditing Smith from French Guiana to stand trial, owing to the absence of an extradition treaty between Guyana and France. French law also prohibits the extradition of persons in French territories to countries where capital punishment is in force. The French government had, however, indicated that it would be prepared to return Smith if it were satisfied that the information on which the murder charge had been based, met the criteria of France’s judicial system.

In May 2005, the PNCR said it would support an international probe of Rodney’s death, giving the party’s first commitment to an international investigation.

 

extracted from stabroeknews

FM
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FM Former Member
Originally Posted by Conscience:

WPA had been accumulating weapons prior to Rodney’s death

SEPTEMBER 19, 2010 · BY STAFF WRITER ·

 

- Roopnaraine
Working People’s Alliance (WPA) Co-leader Rupert Roopnaraine has admitted that the party was accumulating weapons long before the murder of Dr Walter Rodney—the first admission of the kind by any member of the party leadership.

 

Dr Walter Rodney

“We were accumulating weapons… we were accumulating equipment of various kinds. A certain amount of that was coming from the, from the military,” Roopnaraine said during an interview included in a recent documentary film, W.A.R Stories: Walter Anthony Rodney.

When contacted by Stabroek News, Roopnaraine, who is currently overseas, confirmed his remarks and said he was speaking about activities the party was engaged in well before June 13, 1980. He also said he would not retract anything he said in the film.

The documentary, made by Guyanese Clairmont Chung, was first screened here publicly by him two Saturdays ago at the Theatre Guild Playhouse. He said it is clear that the WPA was never in a position to overthrow the state by weapons and he noted that while no one was killed by the activities of the party, the same could not be said of the actions of the state at the time.

Rodney, a historian and co-leader of the WPA, was killed in mysterious circumstances on June 13, 1980. The PNC, the party in government at the time, has long been accused of assassinating Rodney, in a plan hatched by the Forbes Burnham-led administration, but it has denied all responsibility. Rodney’s political agitation had been seen as a threat to the PNC’s rule.

Roopnaraine’s comments have, in part, prompted the Rodney family and the Walter Rodney Foundation to issue a notice and disclaimer. “Both the Walter Rodney Founda-tion and the Rodney Family disagree with statements made by one or more of the interviewees and the inferences and conclusions that are or can be drawn therefrom,” they stated in the disclaimer, which they requested be, either in whole or in part, noted and reproduced whenever and wherever the film is promoted, reviewed, shown or shared.

 

Rupert Roopnaraine

Additionally, they say that the views expressed in the documentary are solely and respectively those of Chung and those of the individual narrators and/or interviewees. Further, they point out that notwithstanding the film’s credits, the Walter Rodney Foundation did not collaborate on the project and has requested that the producer/ filmmaker cease and desist from using the name of the foundation and remove its reference therefrom. “The Rodney family, in part, was interviewed during the earlier phase of the film’s research, but did not review, edit, accept or release the final product,” they state. “The statements made by the family within the production are clear and limited in both time and context. The inclusion of interviews of the family does not infer, presume or conclude that the family concurs, agrees or otherwise supports the film, in part or in its entirety.”

Rodney died in a car near John and Bent Streets, after a walkie-talkie—given to him by Gregory Smith—exploded. His brother, Donald, who was sitting in the driver’s seat, escaped serious injury. Donald Rodney later explain-ed that an acting sergeant in the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) had given his brother the walkie-talkie and instructed him to test it near the perimeter of the Georgetown Prison, in order to observe whether the extensive metal wall would interfere with the transmission.

Smith, believed to be responsible for Rodney’s death, died in 2002, after a prolonged illness in French Guiana. He had fled Guyana soon after Rodney’s death and later surfaced in French Guiana. How Smith left the country and the army’s role in Rodney’s death remain unclear. However, in 1987, in interviews with Stabroek News and CANA Radio, he said Rodney’s death was the result of an accident. He did not offer any evidence in support of the claim.

Smith was charged, in absentia, with Rodney’s murder in 1996, however the PPP/Civic administration never succeeded in extraditing Smith from French Guiana to stand trial, owing to the absence of an extradition treaty between Guyana and France. French law also prohibits the extradition of persons in French territories to countries where capital punishment is in force. The French government had, however, indicated that it would be prepared to return Smith if it were satisfied that the information on which the murder charge had been based, met the criteria of France’s judicial system.

In May 2005, the PNCR said it would support an international probe of Rodney’s death, giving the party’s first commitment to an international investigation.

 

extracted from stabroeknews

so, what's your point?

 

i am assuming that you have something coherent (& consistent) to contribute external to the stuff u haven't even read that misir dem hand u to pollute GNI

FM
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FM Former Member
Originally Posted by Conscience:

WPA had been accumulating weapons prior to Rodney’s death

SEPTEMBER 19, 2010 · BY STAFF WRITER ·

 

- Roopnaraine
Working People’s Alliance (WPA) Co-leader Rupert Roopnaraine has admitted that the party was accumulating weapons long before the murder of Dr Walter Rodney—the first admission of the kind by any member of the party leadership.

 

Dr Walter Rodney

“We were accumulating weapons… we were accumulating equipment of various kinds. A certain amount of that was coming from the, from the military,” Roopnaraine said during an interview included in a recent documentary film, W.A.R Stories: Walter Anthony Rodney.

When contacted by Stabroek News, Roopnaraine, who is currently overseas, confirmed his remarks and said he was speaking about activities the party was engaged in well before June 13, 1980. He also said he would not retract anything he said in the film.

The documentary, made by Guyanese Clairmont Chung, was first screened here publicly by him two Saturdays ago at the Theatre Guild Playhouse. He said it is clear that the WPA was never in a position to overthrow the state by weapons and he noted that while no one was killed by the activities of the party, the same could not be said of the actions of the state at the time.

Rodney, a historian and co-leader of the WPA, was killed in mysterious circumstances on June 13, 1980. The PNC, the party in government at the time, has long been accused of assassinating Rodney, in a plan hatched by the Forbes Burnham-led administration, but it has denied all responsibility. Rodney’s political agitation had been seen as a threat to the PNC’s rule.

Roopnaraine’s comments have, in part, prompted the Rodney family and the Walter Rodney Foundation to issue a notice and disclaimer. “Both the Walter Rodney Founda-tion and the Rodney Family disagree with statements made by one or more of the interviewees and the inferences and conclusions that are or can be drawn therefrom,” they stated in the disclaimer, which they requested be, either in whole or in part, noted and reproduced whenever and wherever the film is promoted, reviewed, shown or shared.

 

Rupert Roopnaraine

Additionally, they say that the views expressed in the documentary are solely and respectively those of Chung and those of the individual narrators and/or interviewees. Further, they point out that notwithstanding the film’s credits, the Walter Rodney Foundation did not collaborate on the project and has requested that the producer/ filmmaker cease and desist from using the name of the foundation and remove its reference therefrom. “The Rodney family, in part, was interviewed during the earlier phase of the film’s research, but did not review, edit, accept or release the final product,” they state. “The statements made by the family within the production are clear and limited in both time and context. The inclusion of interviews of the family does not infer, presume or conclude that the family concurs, agrees or otherwise supports the film, in part or in its entirety.”

Rodney died in a car near John and Bent Streets, after a walkie-talkie—given to him by Gregory Smith—exploded. His brother, Donald, who was sitting in the driver’s seat, escaped serious injury. Donald Rodney later explain-ed that an acting sergeant in the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) had given his brother the walkie-talkie and instructed him to test it near the perimeter of the Georgetown Prison, in order to observe whether the extensive metal wall would interfere with the transmission.

Smith, believed to be responsible for Rodney’s death, died in 2002, after a prolonged illness in French Guiana. He had fled Guyana soon after Rodney’s death and later surfaced in French Guiana. How Smith left the country and the army’s role in Rodney’s death remain unclear. However, in 1987, in interviews with Stabroek News and CANA Radio, he said Rodney’s death was the result of an accident. He did not offer any evidence in support of the claim.

Smith was charged, in absentia, with Rodney’s murder in 1996, however the PPP/Civic administration never succeeded in extraditing Smith from French Guiana to stand trial, owing to the absence of an extradition treaty between Guyana and France. French law also prohibits the extradition of persons in French territories to countries where capital punishment is in force. The French government had, however, indicated that it would be prepared to return Smith if it were satisfied that the information on which the murder charge had been based, met the criteria of France’s judicial system.

In May 2005, the PNCR said it would support an international probe of Rodney’s death, giving the party’s first commitment to an international investigation.

 

extracted from stabroeknews

Nothing wrong with the WPA accumulating weapons in the late 1970s.

It was clear even to the blind that Burnham's authoritarian regime could not be removed by ballots.

The alternative was guns and bullets.

But, as anyone knows, you can walk into a shop and buy a chess set without knowing how to play chess.

So, while the WPA was acquiring guns and bullets the PPP bookshop was selling manuals on guerrilla warfare to teach how, when and where to use weapons and ammunition.

I bought "Guerrilla Warfare" by Che Guevara and "Marxism on Guerrilla Warfare" and other such publications from Michael Forde Bookshop.

It's hypocritical of PPP posters like Conscience to draw attention now to what Rupert Roopnaraine disclosed and conveniently leave out the PPP's role in distributing literature on armed rebellion at that material point in time.

FM
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FM Former Member
Originally Posted by Conscience:

Rodney must be turning in his grave.....

Yes, because he fought against an African dictatorship. only to see it replaced by an Indian dictatorship, equally contemptuous of Africans as Burnham was of Indians.

 

There is absolutely no way that Rodney would have tolerated the significant political economic and social exclusion of Africans which is occurring today in Guyana.  He would have gone to the ghettoes of G/twn and Linden, just as he did in Kingston, Jamaica.

FM
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