The Working People’s Alliance (WPA) on Friday called for the University of Guyana (UG) to be renamed after its founding member and noted academic Dr. Walter Rodney, who was assassinated 45 years ago.
“The WPA puts on the national agenda, the renaming of our national university, the Walter Rodney University of Guyana. While small steps, mostly opportunistic, have been made to recognise his contributions, his name is not affixed to a visible national institution,” the party said in a statement.
Rodney was killed in a bomb blast on June 13, 1980, during a period of civil unrest aimed at removing the then Forbes Burnham-led People’s National Congress (PNC) government. The WPA highlighted that evidence later surfaced linking the assassination to members of the Guyana Defence Force.
“Although four and a half decades have passed since that fateful night, the wounds are still fresh in the psyche of those who lived through those times, especially Rodney’s family and close comrades,” the WPA said, describing Rodney as a victim of the political turmoil accompanying post-colonial nation-building.
The WPA, now in coalition with the PNCR for the upcoming September 1 elections, said the alliance “injects the Rodneyite vision of National Unity and Reconstruction or what is today popularly called coalition politics.”
“Our unwavering advocacy and struggle for a grand coalition to contest the upcoming election is more than electoral strategy — it is deeply rooted in our historical drive for national jointness. WPA will firmly plant the Walter Rodney banner of People’s Power/No Dictator in the imminent campaign,” the party stated.
The WPA reaffirmed its commitment to Rodney’s vision of a free, independent Guyana founded on racial and class equality. “Walter Rodney confronted our class-race dilemma, not by denial but by active engagement at both the intellectual and activist levels. He reached for a multiracial praxis without denying his own racial identity,” the party said, adding, “WPA holds fast to that praxis as we navigate the complex terrain of the post-plantation petrostate.”
 called for the University of Guyana (UG) to be renamed after its founding member Dr. Walter Rodney.){kind=link}