Walter Rodney was the Guyanese historian, scholar, and activist who wrote _“How Europe Underdeveloped Africa”_ in 1972. The book became one of the most influential works in African history and Pan-African thought. It flipped the colonial narrative by arguing that Europe’s wealth and Africa’s poverty were directly linked through slavery, colonialism, and unequal trade.
What Happened to Him!!!
June 13, 1980 — Rodney was killed by a car bomb in Georgetown, Guyana. He was 38.
The official story then: The government of Prime Minister Forbes Burnham said it was an accident while he was trying to rig a device.
The real story — confirmed decades later:
1. 1996: Former Guyana Defence Force sergeant Gregory Smith admitted on TV that he planted the bomb on Burnham’s orders.
2. 2014-2016: Guyana’s _Commission of Inquiry into Rodney’s Death_ concluded he was assassinated by the state. The commission found the bomb was delivered by Smith and was intended to kill Rodney.
3. Smith died 2016 in French Guiana before any charges could be brought.
Why It Matters
Rodney wasn’t just an academic. In the 1970s he was organizing with Guyana’s Working People’s Alliance and speaking openly against Burnham’s authoritarian government and racial politics. The government saw him as a threat.
_How Europe Underdeveloped Africa_ was banned in several African countries at the time because it was seen as too radical. Today it’s a standard text in universities from Accra to Harvard.
The Irony;
The book’s core argument: _“Colonialism was not a civilizing mission. It was underdevelopment.” Rodney was killed for speaking that truth in his own country.
So yes — the guy who documented how external forces shaped Africa’s poverty was himself killed by a political bomb at home.
Think about that: The same year he was killed, 1980, Zimbabwe gained independence and Nelson Mandela was still in prison. The continent was in the middle of a fight over who gets to write its own story.
#AfricanUnity.
