Join The London Socialist Film Co-Op for a screening of Walter Rodney: What they don't Want you to Know, a documentary exploring the life of Guyanese academic and activist Dr Walter Rodney.
The event will be accompanied by a panel with:
Arlen Harris - Director
Patricia Rodney- Academic and widow of Walter Rodney
Selma James- Writer and Activist
Gus John- Writer and Education Campaigner
Walter Rodney: What they don’t Want you to Know is an original 72-minute documentary featuring a murder, Cold War conspiracies, Black Power, the end of Empire and how that
connects to the policing, surveillance practices and social movements of today. This is the first film where Walter’s widow reveals the personal impact on the family of Walter’s assassination. It feeds a growing global appetite for history from a different perspective, as we grapple with the legacy of empire and colonialism and its impact on the modern world.
The documentary reveals that historian Dr Walter Rodney was under security surveillance from the age of 19, after visiting Russia and Cuba as a student. He was seen as subversive both as an academic and as an activist who supported anti-colonial movements and civil rights. Shockingly, a British secret propaganda unit paid for negative reviews of his work. It was perceived as a threat to the British post-colonial narrative and interests. The book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa is now a staple of university courses across the globe and Rodney is an inspiration for the social movements of today, whether BLM, Pan-Africanism, or reparations.
Contributors include Angela Davis, Gina Miller, former President of Guyana Donald Ramotar, Edward and Donald Rodney and Patricia Rodney, as well as prominent historians.
Supported by The Walter Rodney Foundation & The Ameena Gafoor Institute
The London Socialist Film Co-Op was established in the early 1990s as part of a solidarity movement with the striking miners of 1984/5 and as a response to the media manipulation around the strike. Today we continue to present films which pose a counterpoint to the dominant voices in political media. Our events provide a space for debate through Q&As with speakers at the centre of socialist filmmaking and politics.