For over thirty years, Rupert Roopnaraine has fought a political battle for democracy, social justice, racial harmony and civil society. This collection of essays ranges across politics, literary pursuits, visual arts, social commentary, memoirs and tributes. They encompass Guyana, the wider Caribbean, including the US invasion of Grenada (which Roopnaraine witnessed first-hand), and the international socialist movement.
The title comes from a Martin Carter poem written in grief over the assassination of the scholar-politician and WPA leader Walter Rodney.
Essays on Martin Carter, Edgar Mittelholzer, AJ Seymour, Kyk-over-Al, the lexicographer Richard Allsop, and the artists Philip Moore, Winston Strick, Ras Ishi, Ras Akyem and Stanley Greaves reveal yet again that there are few Caribbean critics who write with such grace and insight.
Born in 1943 in Georgetown, Guyana, Rupert Roopnaraine is one of the leading Caribbean intellectuals of his generation. Having studied in Cambridge and New York, he joined the Working People’s Alliance in 1977. He has been a member of the Guyanese Parliament for many years. His book Primacy of the Eye: The Art of Stanley Greaves was published by Peepal Tree in 2003. He also wrote the introduction to Peepal Tree’s 2010 edition of Edgar Mittelholzer’s Shadows Move Among Them.