Eusi Kwayana
Greetings to the 11th Annual Symposium of The Walter Rodney Foundation
The 11th Symposium of the Walter Rodney Foundation meets at a dramatic moment in his life or afterlife. On behalf of a consenting partner, Tchaiko and our absent offspring, Alaf and Iyabo and Andaiye, our Sister in struggle and in humanity and in constancy, in a way the Conscience of politics in Guyana I greet the Symposium and wish it organic cultivation and a rich, plentiful harvest of life-giving ideas.
The eleventh meets at a time when at the eleventh hour there are preparations for a Commission of Inquiry into the violent dispatch on June 13, 1980 of a potential 21st century change-making resource, committed t0i the rise and empowerment of all the oppressed. The brothers who met in New York on September 1 2013 and those sisters and brothers who were present in spirit will not forgive me if I failed to proclaim their our purpose in the Commission’s process to this assembly: It is to uphold and defend the political record of Walter Rodney over the short, permitted six years of his activity in Guyana.
People’s power! No dictator!
Eusi Kwayana was born 1925 and has been involved in Guyana’s national politics since 1947. He has been referred to as the “Sage of Buxton,” “Renaissance Man” and “Guyana's Gandhi,” among other descriptions. He is multi-faceted – political activist, educator, writer, journalist, dramatist, folklorist and historian. But it is as a political activist that Kwayana has made his most telling contribution. He has become one of Guyana's most distinguished political leaders. Ironically, he has also been one of the most controversial and misunderstood public personalities.