grounding with the family at home and abroad

ANCESTOR

DR WALTER RODNEY
Born 1942 Crossed over 1980

"There is no continuity in my life in respect of old acquaintances. We meet; I try to be pleasant; and I move on. For our generation too is adding its quota to the frightening sterility of the society. Living off campus is a great boon, for it reduces my contact with rum-sipping soul selling intellectuals of Mona.. I do resort to such elements to play bridge and dominoes, those being the HCF of our respective ideologies, and in due course, I will actually change even that. Meanwhile I try to find some meaning among the mass of the population who are daily performing a miracle, they continue to survive! Kingston is meaner then when you left it, and when you left it you probably did not know how mean it is....

Today, all that matters, is the question of action, determined, informed and scientific action against imperialism and its cohorts. Just as Leonardo Da Vinci is the archetype of Renaissance Man, so Che Guevara is the ideal of Revolutionary Man. All that is required is that one should extract the essence of his life's experiences, rather than attempt to embrace his numerous suggestions concerning guerrilla warfare.

The latter course has the serious limitation of being irrelevant to many objective situations (as Che knew).. I doubt whether the situation is explosive, and I doubt whether I will be here long enough to witness the explosion; but as a matter of integrity I must address myself to that question so long as I am here. Otherwise, what will distinguish me from the Philistines? "

Ancestor Walter Rodney speaking on academic life in the Caribbean

Walter Rodney with his wife and family

Dr Walter Rodney led a life motivated by commitment to struggle for Equality and Justice internationally. A critically acclaimed Historian, Socialist and devout Pan Africanist, he was a pioneer of the new movement of the seventies that bridged the gap between the intellectual class and the dispossessed masses. Remarkably he accomplished this feat with distinction on the island of Jamaica by "Grounding" with RASTAFARIANS at the Mona Campus of the University of the West Indies.

He had written numerous papers and publications of historic , social, political and cultural importance in the Caribbean, Europe, Africa and Latin America. His celebrated works include "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" and "Grounding with my brothers"

He was assassinated in his birthplace Guyana 1980.

MAY THE ANCESTORS BE PLEASED WITH HIS EFFORTS