Archive for June 2013
Walter Rodney … 33 Years Later
The death anniversary of Dr. Walter Rodney is upon us and still no closure
By Oscar Ramjeet
It was on June 14, 1980, when for the first time, the BBC 7.15 Caribbean report was blocked from the Guyana Broadcasting Corporation because the powers that be did not want the public to learn of the assassination of Dr. Walter Rodney, the popular and powerful historian whose life was snuffed out the night before – Friday the 13th… ‘Black Friday’ – by a bomb which was in the form of a walkie-talkie.
Up to this day, 33 years later, the authorities still fail to bring to light who was behind the daring murder of the great leader who bridged the racial gap between Indo- and Afro-Guyanese.
The Forbes Burnham administration failed to hold an Inquiry, but the Desmond Hoyte-led government in 1988 – eight long years after the slaying – ordered an Inquest, only after Rodney’s widow, Patricia Rodney addressed a sorrowing letter, followed by protest from a group called “Women in Guyana” which sent a petition via Rodney’s mother to President Hoyte.
However that Inquest was “marred by grave defects” by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) when it visited Guyana. The finding of the Coroner “death by accident or misadventure” was said to be unsatisfactory and flawed for many reasons.
What is disturbing is that Dr. Cheddi Jagan when he took office in 1992, instead of ordering a high-powered Commission of Inquiry, threw cold water by stating that he “wondered what the conviction and imprisonment of the suspect would do for Walter Rodney”. He however conferred Guyana’s highest award – The Order of Excellence – on Walter Rodney posthumously. The Guyana Archives many years later was named after him.
Jagan’s action did not find too much favour with the historian’s son, Shaka, who held a fast and vigil which prompted Caribbean Rights and the ICJ to be involved. Steps were taken to repatriate the suspect, Gregory Smith, from Cayenne in French Guiana, after he was formerly charged with murder in 1996 and
a warrant of arrest was issued by the then Chief Magistrate, K Juman Yassin.
Smith, a former Guyana Defence Force sergeant left for French Guiana the day after the murder and was using another name, Cyril Johnson. His extradition was delayed because the French government prohibited extradition for offences involving capital punishment – the death penalty.
Smith is reported to have died in 2002 from stomach cancer. However the Rodney family and his supporters still want to know who was behind the assassination of this great man who was deemed persona non grata by Hugh Shearer, Jamaica Prime Minister, which led to student demonstration at Mona Campus of the UWI, lead by Ralph Gonsalves, who was at the time Head of the Students Union. Dr. Gonsalves is now the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
After his ban in Jamaica, the Burnham administration denied Dr. Rodney a job at the University of Guyana, which forced him to move into politics. His book “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa” was a best seller in the 1970s.
Source: http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/87813
Naam. Wanamapinduzi ya kweli watazidi kuenziwa kwa miongo na karne nyingi baadaye. Pumzika kwa amani Walter Rodney. Miaka 33 sasa tangu ututoke, lakini mapambano uliyoanzisha bado yanaendelea.
Brazili … Hali Yazidi kuwa Tete
Ghasia za Brazili: Watu ‘milioni’ moja waandamana
Zaidi ya watu milioni moja wameripotiwa kujiunga na maandamano katika zaidi ya miji 100 kote nchini Brazil, yote yakiwa katika mfululizo wa maandamano ya ghasia yaliyoikumba nchi hiyo.
Ghasi ziliyakumba maeneo mengi ambapo kijana mmoja mwenye umri wa miaka18 alifariki dunia baada ya gari kukiingia kizuizi kwa mwendo kasi huko katika jimbo la Sao Paulo.
Upotevu wa amani ulianza kujitokeza tangu wiki iliyopita kupinga ongezeko la nauli, lakini sasa yanahusishwa na kupinga ufisadi na gharama kubwa ya maandalizi kwa Mashindano ya Kombe la Dunia hapo mwakani.
Rais Dilma Rousseff alifuta safari yake ya kwenda nchini Japan ili apate fursa ya kushughulikia mgogoro huo.
Ameitisha mkutano wa dharura wa Baraza lake la Mawaziri leo Ijumaa ili kujadili machafuko hayo.
Gazeti la Folha de Sao Paulo, likinukuu takwimu rasmi, lilisema kwamba zaidi ya watu milioni moja walishiriki katika maandamano siku ya Alhamis.
Vyombo vya habari nchini Brazil vilisema maandamano hayo yaliyoandamana na ghasia yalifanyika katika zaidi ya majiji 100.
Huko Rio de Janeiro, askari wa kutuliza ghasia walitumia mabomu ya machozi na risasi za mpira kutawanya makundi ya vijana walioficha nyuso zao na waliokuwa wakiijongelea Ofisi Kuu ya Jiji hilo siku ya Alhamis. Walau watu 29 wameripotiwa kujeruhiwa.
Mamlaka jijini Rio waliweka ulinzi mkali kuzunguka jengo la Bunge la jimbo hilo, ofisi ya Seneta, Makao Makuu ya utawala ya Guanabara na ofisi ya Meya.
Picha za televisheni zilionyesha makundi ya wahalifu wakivunja na kuiba kutoka katika maeneo ya biashara katikati ya jiji hilo — ingawa wafanyabiashara walio wengi wa jijini humo walikuwa wamejenga ngao nzito za mbao ili kuzuia vitendo vya wizi kwenye biashara zao.
“Si tena suala la nauli,” alisema mwanafunzi mwenye umri wa miaka 18, Camila Sena wakati akishiriki kwenye maandamano hayo katika Jiji la Niteroi, karibu na Rio de Janeiro, siku ya Jumatano.
“Wati wamechoshwa kabisa na mfumo, wamechoshwa mno, na sasa tunachodai ni mabadiliko.”
Ghasia zinazoendelea sasa ni kubwa kuliko zote tangu mwaka 1992, wakati ambapo watu waliingia mitaani kudai kuondolewa kwenye madaraka kwa Rais wa wakati huo, Bw Fernando Collor de Mello.
Taarifa za nyongeza:
1. Brazili ni moja kati ya mataifa matano yanayoibukia kwa nguvu za kiuchumi (nchi hizi hujulikana kama BRICS, yaani, Brazil, Russia, India, China na South Africa).
2. Brazili imekuwa na uhusiano mzuri (kwa viwango vya wastani) na Tanzania. Katika miezi ya hivi karibuni, kampuni ya Brazili la uchimbaji mafuta na gesi, Petro Bras, imepata fursa za kuendesha biashara yake hiyo kwa viwango tofauti hapa nchini.
3. Brazili ina uchumi unaokuwa kwa kasi sana duniani, kiasi cha kuelekea kuipuku hata Uingereza.
4. Pamoja na taarifa hizo muhimu, machafuko haya yanatupa picha kwamba mambo si shwari sana nchini humo. Kasi ya ukuaji uchumi inawanufaisha wachache na walio wengi wanabaki wakiishi maisha ya kubangaiza.
5. Swali. Tujifunze nini kutoka nchini Brazili na hayo yanayoendelea? Unaweza kuwa na majibu kwa swali hili, lakini, baadhi ni haya: Tujenge taifa lenye uwiano kimapato, tutoe haki kwa kila mmoja, tukumbuke kujenga kundi kubwa zaidi la watu wa kipato cha kati kuliko kuwa na watu wachache tu ndiyo wanaoshikilia uchumi wote. Tafadhali lete majibu yako.
Chanzo cha habari kuu: BBC News