For the current generation of commentators, Black Lives Matter seems to be a year zero. There is a danger of projecting back current preoccupations.
Walter Rodney wrote How Europe Underdeveloped Africa in 1972 at the height of the Cold War. Rodney was assassinated in Guyana in 1980, blown up by a car bomb. Given his opposition to the Burnham's Guyanese Govenrnent and the relationship between Burnham and the US at the time, we can see that Rodney's writing and more importantly, political organisation would have been threatening to some. I can't say who killed Rodney, but we know were to start looking.
We can also look at the title of Rodney's book. Back then there was the East and the West and 'the underdeveloped countries'. The term underdeveloped countries has fallen from use, and the commonsense idea that development is a good thing has also been upturned. Environmentalism has become a dominant ideology and economic development is no longer the dominant aspiration in the West or in the former 'underdeveloped' countries. incidentally, Rodney was not just interested in economic development but personal and cultural development too.
My point in relation to the discussion is that no one will be assassinated today for calling for reparations for slavery and/or colonialism. From the point of view of the former colonialists the discussion of reparations is a gift. It re-establishes a paternalistic relationship with the former colonies and it can be discussed endlessly without any money having to change hands. In the event of any money being handed over the former colonnialists will have a say in how much is paid and who it is paid to, this is a recipe for buying of favours, quashing dissent and general corruption.
Growing up in the UK in the 1970's tropes about black inferiority were common place - we were called monkeys, ridiculed for having low IQ and hyper-sexuality, called jungle bunnies and frequently told to 'go back to the jungle'. So our underdevelopment was commonly regarded as a consequence of our inferiority. We can also see Rodney's writing in this context.
I don't think that Rodney was particularly influential culturally certainly not compared to the impact of Alex Haley's Roots in 1976 and the subsequent TV series.
For the current generation of commentators, Black Lives Matter seems to be a year zero. There is a danger of projecting back current preoccupations.
Walter Rodney wrote How Europe Underdeveloped Africa in 1972 at the height of the Cold War. Rodney was assassinated in Guyana in 1980, blown up by a car bomb. Given his opposition to the Burnham's Guyanese Govenrnent and the relationship between Burnham and the US at the time, we can see that Rodney's writing and more importantly, political organisation would have been threatening to some. I can't say who killed Rodney, but we know were to start looking.
We can also look at the title of Rodney's book. Back then there was the East and the West and 'the underdeveloped countries'. The term underdeveloped countries has fallen from use, and the commonsense idea that development is a good thing has also been upturned. Environmentalism has become a dominant ideology and economic development is no longer the dominant aspiration in the West or in the former 'underdeveloped' countries. incidentally, Rodney was not just interested in economic development but personal and cultural development too.
My point in relation to the discussion is that no one will be assassinated today for calling for reparations for slavery and/or colonialism. From the point of view of the former colonialists the discussion of reparations is a gift. It re-establishes a paternalistic relationship with the former colonies and it can be discussed endlessly without any money having to change hands. In the event of any money being handed over the former colonnialists will have a say in how much is paid and who it is paid to, this is a recipe for buying of favours, quashing dissent and general corruption.
Growing up in the UK in the 1970's tropes about black inferiority were common place - we were called monkeys, ridiculed for having low IQ and hyper-sexuality, called jungle bunnies and frequently told to 'go back to the jungle'. So our underdevelopment was commonly regarded as a consequence of our inferiority. We can also see Rodney's writing in this context.
I don't think that Rodney was particularly influential culturally certainly not compared to the impact of Alex Haley's Roots in 1976 and the subsequent TV series.