Walter Rodney was born on March 23, 1942 into a working-class family in what was then known as British Guiana. His father was a tailor and his mother a housewife and seamstress: descendants of African slaves brought to the colony (1633-1834).
Rodney grew up at a time when the major ethnic groups, the Africans and Indians – descendants of indentured laborers from India (1838-1917) – were united in their struggle for self-rule. Formed in 1950 during the Cold War (1947-1991), the colony’s Socialist People’s Progressive Party raised concern in Washington DC, USA. In response, Britain suspended the Constitution of British Guiana in 1953, setting into motion events that racially divided the population.
The workers’ united front for self-rule left its mark on the young Rodney. With his father involved in the formation of the party, he helped with door-to-door distribution of party…
John Kerry Doubles Down on Venezuela, Despite Being Alone Friday, 21 March 2014 – By Mark Weisbrot, The Guardian | News Analysis
Images forge reality, granting a power to television and video and even still photographs that can burrow deep into people’s consciousness without them even knowing it. I thought that I, too, was immune to the repetitious portrayals of Venezuela as a failed state in the throes of a popular rebellion. But I wasn’t prepared for what I saw in Caracas this month: how little of daily life appeared to be affected by the protests, the normality that prevailed in the vast majority of the city. I, too, had been taken in by media imagery.
Major media outlets have already reported that Venezuela’s poor have not joined the right-wing opposition protests, but that is an understatement: it’s not just the poor who are abstaining – in Caracas, it’s almost everyone outside of a few rich areas like Altamira, where small groups of protesters engage in nightly battles with security forces, throwing rocks and firebombs and running from tear gas. Continue reading →
Canada announces changes in visa application procedures
Published on March 22, 2014 – Caribbean News Now
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad — The procedure to apply for a temporary resident visa at the High Commission of Canada in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, has changed.As of Tuesday, April 1, 2014, applicants may submit applications using one of the following two methods:1. Visa Applications Centers (VAC):
a. Applicants may submit applications through the two Visa Application Centers (VAC) in Port of Spain, Trinidad, or Georgetown, Guyana. Continue reading →
The People’s National Congress Reform today announced the passing of longstanding executive member and former Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly, Deborah Backer.
Backer had been ill in recent weeks and had to be flown abroad on several occasions for treatment.
Black in Latin America – Brazil: A Racial Paradise?
Uploaded on Jun 23, 2011 – In Brazil, Professor Gates delves behind the façade of Carnival to discover how this ‘rainbow nation’ is waking up to its legacy as the world’s largest slave economy.
Also view these previous entries on this website :
Here are two video documentaries on Brazil Brazil – An Inconvenient History – BBC This is a documentary of Slavery in Brazil abolished on May 11, 1888,. the last country to officially abolish this practice in the Americas. Brazil,in 400 years,imported over four million slaves, mostly from Angola, its colony in South West Africa. Brazil in Black […]
The Georgetown Chamber has completed yet another attitudinal survey and as has been the norm, its findings hold no surprises for those who have been following business trends over recent years. The overwhelming majority of those who responded to the survey say that they do not hold out much hope for a change in their fortunes this year.
This comment jars sharply against comments by the government that the economy is on the ‘improve’ and that businesses are expanding. The government has over the years, been keen to inform the world that it was open to expediting the investment climate and that people were falling head over heels to come to invest in Guyana.
Such a report would have brought smiles to the members of the business community. For example, the hotels would have been reporting better occupancy, because the visiting investors would have had to stay somewhere. Continue reading →
Commentary: The real meaning of the protests in Venezuela
Published on March 21, 2014 – Caribbean News Now
By Jose GomezIt is obvious to keen observers that a coup d’état is being attempted in Venezuela,The tactics are inspired by the “Gene Sharp” protocol. Sharp is a former US military officer, now professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts and author of an essay entitled ‘From Dictatorship to Democracy’. The essay provides a political framework as a method to undermine the stability of an established government that is regarded as ‘not friendly’ to the United States.
Jose Gomez is Venezuela’s ambassador to Barbados
The book, translated into more than 30 languages, describes methods to overthrow governments, divided into three major phases: protest, non-cooperation and intervention. It is these methods that are being employed by the opposition in Venezuela following the outcome of the presidential election of April 14, 2013, in which they were defeated by Nicolas Maduro. The methods are:
“Softening: the development of media priming and agenda setting in national and international public opinion focused on actual or potential deficits; thrust of conflict and promotion of discontent”. The media is overwhelmingly in the hands of the opposition. Continue reading →
THERE IS an old Chinese curse that says: “May you live in historic times!” (If there isn’t, there should be.)
This week was a historic time. The Crimea seceded from Ukraine. Russia annexed it.
A dangerous situation. No one knows how it will develop.
AFTER MY last article about the Ukrainian crisis, I was flooded with passionate e-mail messages.
Some were outraged by one or two sentences that could be construed as justifying Russian actions. How could I excuse the former KGB apparatchik, the new Hitler, the leader who was building a new Soviet empire by destroying and subjugating neighbouring countries? Continue reading →
UK: Airline Taxes to the Caribbean will be reduced next year
(News Americas) LONDON, England, Thurs. Mar. 20, 2014:
A tourist flying to the Caribbean from the UK will soon shell out less to get there, thanks to reforms of the controversial Air Passenger Duty (APD) announced by British Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne Wednesday, March 19,2014.
Right now, flying to the Caribbean costs an additional £83 to £166 in taxes to the British government on an outbound ticket. Little wonder that visitor arrivals to the Caribbean from Britain has been on a decline since 2011.
But all that could change come April 1, 2015. That’s the date Chancellor Osborne announced that all long-haul flights will be moved into ‘Band B,’ meaning customers travelling to the Caribbean will pay the same as if they were travelling to the US. Continue reading →
Friday, March 21, 2014 3:00 PM until Saturday, March 22, 2014 6:00 PM
Join us on TOMORROW AND SATURDAYat the AUC RWWL for “Africa: The Gateway”where we will explore economic development, policies, governance, relationships, social justice and the arts as they relate to the continent. The event is free and open to the public.
Dr. Shelby F. Lewis will deliver the Keynote Address tomorrow (Friday). Dr. Robert (Bobby) Hill is the Distinguished Guest Speaker on Saturday. Both Dr. Lewis and Dr. Hill knew Rodney personally: Lewis from her work in Tanzania, Hill from his work in Jamaica and at the Institute of the Black World in Atlanta, GA.
There will also be presentations by academics and activists, including: Dr. Chapurukha Kusimba (American University), Dr. Guy Martin (Winston-Salem State University), Dr. Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o(University of California, Irvine), Friends of the Congo (incl. Kwame Lyndon Wilburg, Host/WRFG Beyond Borders/Atlanta FOTC) & Maurice Carney, Founder/Executive Director FOTC National), a Student Panel and The Groundings (community engagement and discussion). Entertainment will be provided by local and international artists/activists Keur-Gui, Vox Sambou, Bocafloja, Amkoullel and Ras Kofi. Continue reading →
Walter Rodney (1942-1980)
A Hundred Years Later – by Uri Avnery
A Hundred Years Later
Uri Avnery – 22/03/14
THERE IS an old Chinese curse that says: “May you live in historic times!” (If there isn’t, there should be.)
This week was a historic time. The Crimea seceded from Ukraine. Russia annexed it.
A dangerous situation. No one knows how it will develop.
AFTER MY last article about the Ukrainian crisis, I was flooded with passionate e-mail messages.
Some were outraged by one or two sentences that could be construed as justifying Russian actions. How could I excuse the former KGB apparatchik, the new Hitler, the leader who was building a new Soviet empire by destroying and subjugating neighbouring countries? Continue reading →
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