Join Homerton Changemakers for a special showing of the new film Walter Rodney: What They Don't Want You to Know. The documentary explores the life, work, and state-sponsored assassination of the influential Caribbean intellectual and Black radical Dr Walter Rodney. Filmed in Guyana, Barbados, Jamaica, Tanzania, the US, and the UK, and featuring interviews with the likes of Angela Davis, Patricia Rodney, Gina Miller, and former President of Guyana Donald Ramotar, the film situates Rodney in the context of Cold War conspiracies, the Black Power movement, and anti-colonial struggles around the end of Empire. The documentary was supported by The Walter Rodney Foundation and the Ameena Gafoor Institute.

The film will be followed by a panel discussion with filmmaker Arlen Harris, activist and writer Cindy Forde, and historian and radical lawyer Paul Field.

Aesthetica is the destination for independent cinema. We are delighted to be hosting the 13th edition of the festival both in-person in York and online. We’re offering a range of tickets, with a mixture of live and hybrid formats, so you can choose how and when you experience the best new film. Here’s what to expect for this year’s jam-packed edition.

The TUC will be hosting a film screening of Walter Rodney: What They Don’t Want You to Know, followed by a panel discussion.

This 72-minute documentary explores the life of renowned historian, academic, and civil rights activist Dr Walter Rodney. Filmed with local crews in six countries in the Caribbean, US, Africa, and the UK, the film connects an assassination, Cold War conspiracies, Black Power, the end of Empire, and shows how this connects to the policing, surveillance practices, and social movements of today. 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.

Directors: Daniyal Harris-Vajda, Arlen Harris

Panel Discussion

Following the film screening, we are pleased to announce that joining the panel discussion will be 

• Michelle Codrington-Rogers, NASUWT National Officer and member of the TUC General Council 

• Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of National Education Union; 

• Gargi Bhattacharyya, Professor of Sociology, University of East London, and the discussion will be jointly chaired by Arlen Harris and Daniyal Harris-Vajda, film directors.

Please register your place for this event you won't want to miss!

Film supported by Dr Patricia Rodney, The Walter Rodney Foundation & The Ameena Gafoor Institute

Event sponsored by Thompsons Solicitors & The Royal College of Midwives.

Supported by The Walter Rodney Foundation & The Ameena Gafoor Institute

Walter Rodney: What They Don’t Want You to Know is an original circa 72-minute documentary featuring a murder, Cold War conspiracies, Black Power, the end of Empire, and how that connects to the policing and surveillance practices of today.

It reveals that Guyanese historian Dr Walter Rodney was under British security surveillance from the age of 19, after visiting Russia and Cuba while a student at UWI in Jamaica. He was seen as subversive both as an academic and as an activist who supported anti-colonial movements and civil rights. Rodney was assassinated in 1980 by the Guyanese regime put in power and supported by the British and Americans.

By the time of his death, he was under surveillance by at least five different nations. Shockingly, a British secret propaganda unit paid for a negative review of his major work.

It was only in 2021 that the Guyanese government accepted responsibility for the assassination.

WALTER RODNEY: WHAT THEY DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW, will be screened as part of the Opening Night program, the ones who shared their souls.

Walter Rodney: What They Don’t Want You to Know is an original circa 72-minute documentary featuring a murder, Cold War conspiracies, Black Power, the end of Empire, and how that connects to the policing and surveillance practices of today. It feeds a growing appetite for history from a different perspective, as we grapple with the legacy of empire, colonialism, and its impact on the modern world.

Join BAP-Atlanta on October 8th from 4-7pm at the Little Five Points Community Center for this film screening and community discussion about "Walter Rodney: What They Don't Want You to Know."

This event will take place during the fourth annual International Month of Action Against AFRICOM, which aims to raise the public's awareness about how the U.S. military's existence in Africa exacerbates violence and instability throughout the continent.

Join us for a screening of Walter Rodney: What They Don’t Want You to Know (2022), a documentary exploring the life of Guyanese academic and activist Dr Walter Rodney. 

The event will be accompanied by a panel and Q&A with:

Arlen Harris, director

Dr. Patricia Rodney, academic and widow of Walter Rodney

Selma James, writer and activist

Prof. 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 the 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. Contributors include Angela Davis, Gina Miller, former President of Guyana Donald Ramotar, Edward and Donald Rodney, and Walter’s wife Patricia Rodney, as well as prominent historians. The film premiered at the British Film  Institute's largest screen to a sell-out audience of 450, the BFI is Britain’s most prestigious film organisation.

Walter Rodney, a historian and activist in the anti-colonial movement, was considered subversive and a threat to British interests. Murdered in 1980 in Guyana by the government, it took 41 years for the Guyanese government to acknowledge the role of the state in his murder. From Guyana, to Barbados, Jamaica, Tanzania, the United States and the United Kingdom, WALTER RODNEY: WHAT THEY DON'T WANT YOU TO KNOW traces the life of this activist. Filmmakers Daniyal Harris-Vajda and Arlen Harris tell the story of a man who is little known to the general public and who still inspires social movements today.

With Dr. Patricia Rodney and Arlen Harris in attendance.

In cooperation with Global South Studies Center, Friedensbildungswerk Köln, Theodor Wonja Michael Bibliothek, Stadt Köln - Amt für Europa und Internationales & Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung NRW.

The 14th Annual BronzeLens Film Festival will be a hybrid festival held in-person on August 23-27, 2023, and virtually starting on August 28 at 12:00 AM - September 6 at 11:59 PM. The line-up includes daily screenings of new works by independent filmmakers from across the country and around the globe, workshops, panel discussions, the BronzeLens Awards, and much more!

blaxTARLINES Film Screening:
Walter Rodney: What They Don't Want you to Know

Friday 2nd June, 2023. 5:30 pm at old tech sec.

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.

Q & A with Connie Bell (DTA) U.K. & special online appearance from Professor Patricia Rodney (WRF) U.S.

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.

Dr. Walter Rodney, a Guyanese historian and revolutionary, is the subject of this doc-umentary. Filmed in Guyana, Barbados, Jamaica, Tanzania, the US, and the UK, it features revelatory interviews and explores the life of a guerilla intellectual - according to his own wording - whose political thought and action remain as relevant as ever to contemporary anti-colonial, internationalist class struggle. 41 years after his assassination in 1980 by the authoritarian Forbes Burnham government in Guyana with the support of the CIA and MI5, the Guyanese government has finally admitted the state's involvement in his assassination. Followed by a community discussion with the afrofeminist revolutionary Mwasi Collectif and Migrantifa Berlin Including special recorded message from the directors, Arlen Harris and Daniyal Vajda-Harris Please RSVP at studio@alberlin.com The film will be shown in the English language, with the possibility of arranging whisper translation for the discussion part upon request. Please include this and/or any other specific accessibility needs in your RSVP emails.

Join us for an evening of film and rich discussion @ the Library of Africa & the African Diaspora, Accra, Ghana.

Dr Walter Rodney was an activist scholar killed in his prime for the work he was doing to bring about a better world.

Directed by father-son team Arlen Harris and Daniyal Harris-Vajda, the film explores the Cold War conspiracies, Black Power activism, and end of Empire politics surrounding Rodney’s life and death and how these connect to modern-day policing, surveillance practices, and social movements.

The film features personal contributions from Professor Patricia Rodney (Walter Rodney Foundation) and prominent historians, activists, and scholars like Angela Davis, Gina Miller, and former President of Guyana, Donald Ramotar, among others.

For this screening, we are honoured to welcome Professor Patricia Rodney and Director Arlen Harris as our special guests for the post-film Q&A

ADDITIONALLY, FOR OUR PALM WINE GROUNDINGS AND REASONING WE ARE HONOURED TO WELCOME:

Anakwa Dwamena - a freelance journalist, researcher, and editor focusing on the African diaspora. Inspired by African traditional religion, his work centers on the discovery, analysis, and preservation of African indigenous knowledge systems, narratives, and ancient ways of seeing and understanding the world through culture and memory.

Namata Serumaga-Musisi - a Pan-Africanist with roots in Uganda. An architecture graduate, her work is intended to facilitate the movement towards decoloniality, focusing on the People of Africa and the Global South, and how we can facilitate the reclamation of African identity as defined by inhabited space and its making. Architecture led Namata to Socialism. She serves as Commander of Creative Arts & Communications with Ghana-based Nkrumahist movement, the Economic Fighters League.

Connie Bell - the co-founder of Decolonising the Archive, a cultural producer and memory worker based in the United Kingdom. Connie’s work contributes to the development of strategies and methods for the identification, formation, and access of ‘the archive’ by people of African heritage.

Walter Rodney: What They Don‘t Want You To Know premiered at the British Film Institute’s largest screen to a sold-out auditorium. It is a must-watch for those seeking to understand the legacies of empire and colonialism and its impact on the modern world.

This event is organised by Decolonising the Archive (DTA), UK, and the Library Of Africa and The African Diaspora (LOATAD), Ghana.

Special Thanks to The Walter Rodney Foundation & The Ameena Gafoor Institute.

'Walter Rodney: What They Don’t Want You to Know,’ an original documentary about political murder, Cold War conspiracies, anti-colonial struggles, and how these connect to policing, surveillance practices, and social movements of today.

Directed by award-winning filmmakers Daniyal Harris-Vajda and Arlen Harris, the documentary grapples with the legacy of empire and colonialism and its impact on Latin America and the Global South more broadly. Using declassified security service documents, penetrating interviews, and historical reconstruction, it reveals that Walter Rodney was under security surveillance from the age of 19, after visiting Russia and Cuba as a student. Seen as subversive both as an academic and as an anti-colonial and civil rights activist, national and international elites and state agencies worked to destroy his career. Contributors include Angela Davis, former President of Guyana Donald Ramotar, and Walter’s wife Patricia Rodney, as well as several prominent historians. Rodney, whose classic How Europe Underdeveloped Africa is a staple in university syllabi across the globe, continues to inspire social movements for human rights, equality, and national sovereignty.

Co-sponsored by the Human Rights Institute, The Citizenship, Rights and Cultural Belonging Transdisciplinary Area of Studies, and the Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention (I-GMAP)

Join Africa Is A Country and the Radical Books Collective for a film screening of the newly released documentary, Walter Rodney: What They Don’t Want You to Know.

The documentary uses declassified security service documents, revealing interviews and reconstruction to tell an important, yet little-known story and detailing Rodney’s global influence. Contributors include Angela Davis, Gina Miller, former President of Guyana Donald Ramotar, Edward and Donald Rodney, and Rodney’s wife Patricia Rodney.

Walter Rodney: What They Don’t Want You to Know is directed by father-and-son team Daniyal Harris-Vajda and Arlen Harris. In the last two years, Harris-Vajda worked as an Assistant Producer, Cameraman, and Editor at Noah Media Group. Harris is an award-winning program-maker with over 30 years’ experience in print, TV, and radio, working mainly for British television for World in Action, Panorama, and Dispatche. The film is supported by the Walter Rodney Foundation.

Join the NYU Gallatin Amplified Voices Series and Radical Books Collective for a film screening of the newly released documentary, Walter Rodney: What They Don’t Want You to Know, to be followed by a moderated conversation with film director Arlen Harris.

The documentary uses declassified security service documents, revealing interviews and reconstruction to tell an important, yet little-known story and detailing Rodney’s global influence. Contributors include Angela Davis, Gina Miller, former President of Guyana Donald Ramotar, Edward and Donald Rodney, and Rodney’s wife Patricia Rodney.

Walter Rodney: What They Don’t Want You to Know is supported by The Walter Rodney Foundation and directed by father-and-son team Daniyal Harris-Vajda and Arlen Harris. In the last two years, Harris-Vajda worked as an Assistant Producer, Cameraman, and Editor at Noah Media Group. Harris is an award-winning program-maker with over 30 years’ experience in print, TV, and radio, working mainly for British television for World in Action, Panorama, and Dispatches.

‘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 the 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. Contributors include Angela Davis, Gina Miller, former President of Guyana Donald Ramotar, Edward and Donald Rodney, and Walter’s wife Patricia Rodney, as well as prominent historians. The film premiered at the British Film Institute's largest screen to a sell-out audience of 450, the BFI is Britain’s most prestigious film organisation. 

SOAS, School of Oriental and AFRICAN Studies. But after the African Studies degree has been cut off in 2020, Where is the A in SOAS? Where are our indigenous languages, our (hi)stories, and cultures at SOAS?

Since the African Studies undergraduate degree was cut off in 2020, SOAS has shown less and less interest in including Afrika and the Afrikan Diaspora in its curriculum. In an institution that claims itself as an advocate for decolonised education, it is unacceptable that so much of the Afrikan historical and cultural heritage is left behind.

WHERE'S THE A IN SOAS is a series of events where we will take the space to talk about the things that they don't want us to know. From stories of independence struggles, languages of our ancestors, and cultures that our generations are keeping alive after decades of repression...

Come join us for the first event of the series! We will be screening "Walter Rodney: What They Don't Want You To Know", a documentary filmed in Guyana, Barbados, Jamaica, Tanzania, the US, and the UK and made up of ground-breaking interviews with those who knew the legendary activist-historian. Walter Rodney was an alumni of SOAS, who never held back in his critique of the Afrophobic institution, yet still used its resources in his revolutionary research and world-making activism. Let us reflect on his life, work, and lessons for today.

This documentary explores the life of historian and civil rights campaigner Dr Walter Rodney. Filmed in Guyana, Barbados, Jamaica, Tanzania, the US, and the UK, featuring revelatory interviews, it examines the life of a man who sought unity in the face of division and whose ideals lie at the heart of global struggles today. Walter Rodney was killed in 1980 in Guyana, South America by the CIA and MI5-supported autocratic government of Forbes Burnham. Forty-one years after his death, the Guyanese government has finally acknowledged the state’s role in his assassination

Plus Q&A with director Arlen Harris and author of Black History Walks Volume 1, Tony Warner.

We are really pleased to announce that joining the discussion will be Dr Patricia Rodney (CEO of The Walter Rodney Foundation, academic and author), Gina Nadira Miller (activist politician and businesswoman), Lavinya Stennett (founder of Black Curriculum), Arlen Harris and Daniyal Harris-Vajda (directors). The discussion will be chaired by David Dabydeen (broadcaster, novelist, poet and academic, UNESCO Exec Board).

This documentary explores the life of historian and civil rights campaigner Dr Walter Rodney. Filmed in Guyana, Barbados, Jamaica, Tanzania, the US and the UK, featuring revelatory interviews, it examines the life of a man who sought unity in the face of division and whose ideals lie at the heart of global struggles today. Walter Rodney was killed in 1980 in Guyana, South America by the CIA and MI5-supported autocratic government of Forbes Burnham. Forty-one years after his death, the Guyanese government has finally acknowledged the state’s role in his assassination.

Supported by The Walter Rodney Foundation and the Ameena Gafoor Institute.