rootsandculture

An interview with Issa Shivji Transcribed and Edited by Clairmont Chung  Republished from Monthly Review Magazine  ( Volume 64, Issue 07 (December 2012) ) Issa G. Shivji  is the Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Chair at the University of Dar Es Salaam, and hosts the annual Mwalimu Julius Nyerere Intellectual Festival. This essay is adapted from the new Monthly Review Press book, Walter A. Rodney: A Promise of Revolution , edited by Clairmont Chung. The book is comprised of oral histories by academics, writers, artists, and political activists who knew the great writer and revolutionary, Walter Rodney, intimately or felt his influence. I grew up in the eastern region of Tanzania, where I did my primary school. All my secondary school I did in Dar es Salaam—actually, living in this very apartment. So I grew up here. Then in 1966 I completed my high school, and in 1967 I joined the university. At that time it was the University College, Dar es Salaam, because it was part of th

by clairmont chung While reasoning with a youth-man-friend from Kitty, it struck me: we are approaching our lowest levels of depravation. We are being robbed and killed by the police and without reprimand from their superiors. It is not new. Some live in fear and silence. This youth left The Edge, a Main Street nightclub, early one morning. He decided to walk home to Kitty, because it was one of those special early mornings: dewy but fresh, wet but dry. He made it all the way from South Cummingsburg, through Albertown and almost Queenstown, next was Kitty, before being stopped. The police, Black Clothes -it’s really a darkish blue, faded-, pulled up. They took his cell phone and returned to their vehicle. He was told not to move. They returned to say his was a stolen phone. He needed his Blackberry. It was a birthday gift from his family. He offered $6000.00 for its return. The police took the $6000.00 relieved him of his remaining cash and drove off. But not before a few

Wismar-Mackenzie Bridge, Linden The Guyana Police Force. Improperly Dressed for Peace (C) Norvell Fredericks Demerara Bauxite Company was Canadian owned before nationalization in 1970.Things have changed ((C) N. Fredericks) The People United ((c) N. Fredericks) By: Clairmont Chung On July 18, 2012 residents in Linden, Guyana, blocked a bridge in protest against a plan to increase electricity rates. The State responded by firing on the unarmed crowd. Three people died and several more were wounded. Residents responded by seizing and occupying that, and a second, bridge. A state of siege, undeclared martial law, descended on the community and continues as I write. Here I attempt to show the history of our dependence on fuels, energy, and violence and why the bridge at Linden is such an important symbol. Linden is not alone, it’s happening to people everywhere. It is not a romantic lament about the good old days. They were not. It’s the same strategy of old

  By Clairmont Chung The comparisons between the removal of Freddie Kissoon from the faculty and the denial of employment for Dr. Walter Rodney, at the same University of Guyana, cannot be overdone. The accusations of political involvement, the response of students and staff, the positions of the unions and the role of political hacks are all very similar and very important comparisons. But these comparisons often deteriorate into trading stories that purport to show which of the two regimes were worse: Burnham or Jagan, PNC or PPP, then or now. It’s a practice even Freddie Kissoon often indulges. A recent letter to the Kaieteur News, not from Kissoon, pointed out that even under Burnham, while Rodney was denied a job, Clive Thomas, Rupert Roopnaraine, Omowale and others were allowed to remain at UG. It seems more an admission, not a comparison, perhaps resignation that political interference determined whether one went or stayed, then as now. But I think we need wider comparis

Clairmont Chung What’s in a Name? C.L.R. James  The unwarranted comparisons between Chris Gayle and ‘Dudus’ Coke, Worrell and Sammy, betray where Beckles’ loyalties lie and his analysis of West Indies cricket begins. The problem is compounded by where he situates himself and who he represents. The tenuous foundation on which he builds dooms the structure. In placing Sammy as captain, he seeks to do for Sammy what CLR.James did for Worrell. From there he made the comparison. James because of his writings and political analysis is credited with the ascension of Worrell to the captaincy of WI. Of course, Worrell was eminently qualified. After the success, James in a plea to rest Worrell asked, “After Frank Worrell, what?” Beckles in his recent plea to retain Sammy, asked, “After Sammy, then what? Then who?”  There is no mistake here. Beckles fancies himself in the same shoes as James: a kingmaker. Beckles places himself in the same historical place as CLR James. But the more he

clairmont chung WHO IS THE MAN? Bill Gates is a walking talking Bill Gates commercial. It matters not that he retired from Microsoft. The Bill Gates image is still very serious business. Arguably his most famous quote is “Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.” He dresses the part: very casual with the preppy uniform of khakis and blue. His preppiness and nerdiness follow from his prep school background. But not too many nerds dropout of college as did Gates. In fact, College is the place to find nerds. That’s where nerds get their revenge. Gates constructed the Microsoft company environment like a college campus. It’s part of the myth of that gentle coed, carefree, nurturing, professorial, and now the giving, philanthropist, Bill Gates. It’s all very disarming. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) leads the push to bring nutrition and health to Africa. But this move requires some scrutiny and a determination as to whether this is another i

Edited by Clairmont Chung    PUBLISHED By Monthly Review Press        Forthcoming October 2012                                The life of the great Guyanese scholar and revolutionary Walter Rodney burned with a rare intensity. The son of working class parents, Rodney showed great academic promise and was awarded scholarships to the University of the West Indies in Jamaica and the School of African and Oriental Studies in London. He received his PhD from the latter at the age of twenty-four, and his thesis was published as  A History of the Upper Guinea Coast , now a classic of African history. His most famous work,  How Europe Underdeveloped Africa , is a mainstay of radical literature and anticipated the influential world systems theory of Immanuel Wallerstein. Not content merely to study the world, Rodney turned to revolutionary politics in Jamaica, Tanzania, and in Guyana. In his homeland, he helped form the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) and was a consistent voice for th

I n my most recent piece on this hateful game, [i] surrounding cricket, I addressed a speech made by the Principal of the University of the West Indies, Cave Hill, and West Indies Cricket Board, Director, Sir Hilary Beckles. In that speech he compared Former Captain Chris Gayle to convicted Jamaican gangster Chris ‘Dudus’ Coke. He made a number of unsupported conclusions and maligned a number of current players. I hoped my response then would have put the issue to rest for us both. This was a serious miscalculation, if not an overgrown ego, on my part. Nevertheless, Beckles did rest for a while. But he re-entered with his most damning conclusion ever. He proclaimed in an article entitled, Cricket, Cash and Country [ii] that Darren Sammy “..is the Worrell-like figure, leading a youthful West Indies team through the political debris that blinds us all.” This is as bad as the Dudus comparison. In a racist society people of African descent have had to perform over and above the call

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