In 1974, the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) formed in Guyana as a political compact forged by the Working People’s Vanguard Party, the African Society for Cultural Relations with Independent Africa (ASCRIA), the Indian Political Revolutionary Associates and Ratoon. The WPA, while best known for the involvement of Pan-African historian and theorist Walter Rodney, should be equally appreciated for its momentous challenge to the political orthodoxy of Burnhamism. Burnhamism reigned under the guardianship of its namesake, Forbes Burnham, the Afro-Guyanese statesman and progenitor of “co-operative socialism” in Guyana.
From the Gateways of Beijing to the Gateways of Chinatown
I travelled to China last month and spent over a week in the country’s capital, Beijing. Although I am ethnically Chinese, this was only…