WALTER RODNEY REMEMBERED

On this day, forty-four years ago, Pan-African Marxist historian Walter Rodney was killed at the age of 38 in a bomb explosion in the Guyanese capital, Georgetown.

At the time of his death, many speculated that the state had ordered his killing, but the government denied this for decades. The scholar’s brother Donald later revealed that, on the fateful day, he had collected a bag that contained a walkie-talkie radio from a man called Mr. Smith, who was afterwards identified as a state agent. A few moments later, the radio exploded and killed Walter Rodney, who had been in the car with Donald. The state claimed that Rodney had been killed by a bomb that he intended to use to attack a prison where a group of men accused of treason were being held.

In an unexpected turn of events, on 10th June 2021, Attorney General Anil Nandlall admitted that Rodney had indeed been a victim of a state-sanctioned hit.

The killing of Rodney robbed the world of a distinguished historian, Pan-African and thought-leader. While Rodney was born in the Caribbean and educated in Jamaica and the United Kingdom, he identified strongly with Africa and chose to spend a formative part of his career in Tanzania. His scholarship has long served as a bridge linking Mama Africa to her scattered children across the world.

To mark his death anniversary, we share this video of a speech he delivered at an African Liberation Day event held in San Francisco in 1972, sending a clear message to his African brothers and sisters worldwide: Africans of the diaspora are indeed Africans!

Do you agree?