The Emancipation Support Committee will screen W.A.R. Stories, a documentary on the life, activism and death of Caribbean and world renowned historian and activist, Dr Walter Anthony Rodney on Thursday 21 July at Nalis , Port of Spain at 7:00pm, as part of this year’s Kwame Ture Memorial Lecture Series (KTML).
In February this the year, the long awaited report on the Commission of inquiry on the circumstances surrounding the death of the late Dr Walter Rodney on June 13th, 1980, was made public. The Commission began its work in April 2014 some thirty-eight years following the death of Dr Rodney. It delivered a damning conclusion in chapter eight, which states: “We have no hesitation in holding that Gregory Smith was responsible for Dr Walter Rodney’s death …and that in so doing he was acting as an agent of the state having been aided and abetted so to do, by individuals holding positions of leadership in State agencies and committed to carry out the wishes of the PNC administration”.
The ESCTT presents this film, hoping to bring to life Dr Rodney to a generation of young people who do not know him or his seminal work, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa or what was often referred to as the ‘bible’ of the Black Power movement in the Caribbean, “ Grounding with my brothers”. To this generation who learn nothing of Walter in their classrooms, we invite them to join us as we share the film and hear from the producer and director, Clairmont Chung, who is coming to Trinidad and Tobago for the screening and will participate in post film discussions.
To Walter’s peers the film promises to be a wonderful recount of his life captured through the eyes and stories of his contemporaries, reminding us of his profound, far reaching and remarkable influence. It promises to be a special evening.
Admission is free but seating is limited on a first come basis.