Walter Rodney & Working People

Greetings,
Last Friday, June 13th, marked the 28th year since Walter Rodney was assassinated in Guyana by agents of the state. In tribute to the work and dedication of this scholar activist, a groundings of sisters and brothers was held in Little Five Points, in the Radio Free Georgia building, in Atlanta GA. Appropriately, the gathering was made up of working people, that strata of society that was essential to Walter's analysis, his thesis and his activism. This grounding humbly tried to remain true to the vital massage of integrity evident in Walter's work for the liberation of working people everywhere.This includes his appreciation of their critical role not only in the production of goods and services, but in the creation and maintenance of culture.
The focus of the discussion was on the conditions facing working people today and looking at Walter's scholarship and activism for direction. Essentially the cost of living, the cost of working is becoming increasingly prohibitive. This is realised in the price of energy in the US, the price of food globally and the impact on the lives of those who toil to produce the wealth for the mega corporations, but do not benefit from the profits. These were the issues, the economic oppression, injustice that informed Walter Rodney's understanding of the importance of grounding with his brothers and yes, sisters. Hopefully the message can make it into the consciousness of the others in academia, who seek to honor or be guided by the service of this intellectual worker.
Walter's appreciation and service to Pan Africanism was noted, particularly to the point that this was evident in his application of theory, of history, to the challenges in the objective conditions facing Africans and oppressed people around the world. Walter Rodney did put Marxist theory to significant use in his assessment, exploration and application of possible solutions to the plight of the oppressed. In this he was quite clear about the role of imperialism and its neo colonial and neo liberal structures in the oppression of the working class. Correspondingly Walter was not willing to give a "pass" to the contradictions within those oppressed communities themselves. Indeed it was on this critique, this level of integrity, that he challenged the corruption within Guyanese society in the 1970s and for which he was ultimately assassinated.
The major theme that emerged was the discussion was the inadequacy of the current dominant global culture in addressing the needs of the working class, indeed of humanity. To be sure, we noted that the current unipolar world, the dominant economic world order was not designed to serve the masses anyway. Walter Rodney's work, points to the need not only for an intellectual critique of the ills of imperialism, but for us to do the disciplined work of assisting in the liberation, the self emancipation of people's creativity, of people's power, to create a better world, a more humane society.
It was agreed by the gathering, that we should convene ongoing groundings in the communities of the working people of Atlanta, in this way we propose to honor the legacy of Walter Rodney by actively engaging the lives of the working class.

"People's Power, No Dictator"