Rodney courageously stood and led this nation against a dictator

How do we deconstruct the Anatomy of Fear? Aristotle, the great philosopher has left humanity with the deep thought that courage is that quality that defines every other quality. May I share and request the memory of the late Dr. Walter Rodney who was assassinated on Friday June 13th, 1980 by the PNC-R Guyana under the leadership of the late dictator Mr. Forbes Burnham.

The late Dr. Walter Rodney developed the courage to stand and lead a nation against a dictator who sought to coerce it into tyranny and to consolidate his power against a defenseless and unarmed people. Just a week prior to his assassination, a group of brothers and sisters, myself included, of the then Working People’s Alliance, out of sheer concern for the tyranny that the Guyanese nation lived under on a daily basis, organized an operation to paint my hometown, New Amsterdam, expressing our disgust and opposition to the tyranny that we were coerced to live under. So one Friday night, we went out in the dark under cover and hiding from the Guyana Police Force and other para-military forces loyal to the dictator, painted the roads and buildings in the town with the words, Peoples Power, No Dictator and other such like slogans.

I remember I painted a brand new public convenience washroom (toilet) directly in front of the New Amsterdam Municipal Market with the words - BANAM PALACE, an act and phrase Walter Rodney, whom I’ve never met, made reference to what one of the brothers in New Amsterdam had the courage to do, and I am not sure what gave me the courage to do that. The very next Saturday morning, the PNC mysteriously and very quickly found paint and repainted the large four feet lettering and not before hundreds of citizens saw it and it quickly became the talk of the town. On that Friday night many of our brothers were arrested and imprisoned in the New Amsterdam Central Police Station for several days and interrogated and beaten and I wish to pay tribute to the courage of these brothers, including Mr. John Pinkerton, Mr. Arnold Teekasingh, the late Mr. Laljee, the late Mr. Ndugu LaRose, Mr. Ashley Ramcharran, the late Mr. Saffee, Mr. Desmond Patterson, Mr. Mohan Bassit, Mr. James Herod et al.

Courage requires distinction and cowardice requires company. The PNC, in the then constitutional status of the Government of Guyana, was never brought to trial in any form for the assassination of the late Dr. Walter Rodney and the subsequent and current Governments of Guyana, formed by the People’s Progressive Party/Civic never in any meaningful way held the PNC to account. I will never forget the sheer horror and tenor of the scream of a now deceased sister who passed a few years ago in the United States of America when she saw how her husband, Mr. Arnold Teekasingh, was being treated by the Guyana Police Force as I was only about fifty feet away. For your bravery and courage to the family of Dr. Walter Rodney and to his surviving widow Dr. Patricia Rodney and their children, we remember, thank and salute you and all the Guyanese who had the courage to stand and fight for a democratic and free Guyana.

It is indeed sad and melodramatic today that the struggles and efforts of many of us for a prosperous, democratic and Free Guyana is a hallowed thought; I extend an invitation to the PNC-R Guyana and the Guyana Police Force to bring this matter to a Canadian Court of Law, where I will establish in meticulous form, what transpired while those in the People’s Progressive Party/Civic, like Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo, cowered under the institutions of state. Sincerely,

Kris Kooblall

Toronto, Canada