Philosophy 05

“Self-defence is an inalienable human right, and the tactics of confronting the regime will change to ensure that persons defend their right to life and limb.”

Quote: Walter Rodney (1979): People’s Power, no Dictator. Georgetown, Guyana: Working People's Alliance. Picture: By Unknown. Wikimedia. Creative Commons.

Walter Rodney (1942-1980) was a Guyanese Marxist historian and politician who was murdered in a Guyana Army bomb attack.

The quote comes from the speech "People's Power, no Dictator", which Walter Rodney gave in 1979. Rodney was a pan-African, Marxist historian and political activist. He came from southamerican Guyana and, after studying in Mona (Jamaica) and London (UK), worked as a university lecturer in Tanzania until he became a professor in Georgetown, Guyana in 1974. He was politically active against the increasingly authoritarian government of Forbes Burnham. In various speeches, he developed the ideas of self-emancipation of the working people, people's power and multi-racial democracy. In the quote, Rodney opposes the increasingly dictatorial government of Forbes Burnham and emphasizes self-defence as a universal human right.

*Massimiliano Tomba (2019): Insurgent Universality. An Alternative Legacy of Modernity. New York: Oxford University Press.

1979