…while the police just looked on

THE Commission of Inquiry (COI) into the death of former leader of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA), Dr Walter Rodney, yesterday heard how the Guyana Police Force (GPF) acted in conjunction with the House of Israel to break up peaceful pickets held by the WPA and the People’s Progressive Party (PPP). 

Lawrence Edward Rodney, 73, the eldest of the Rodney siblings, took the witness stand at the second day of the COI hearings in the Supreme Court Law Library. The COI was ordered by President Donald Ramotar last February 6 to investigate the death of Rodney.

The witness, led by Lead Counsel to the Commission, Glen Hanoman, related how the GPF was at the time acting as an arm of the ruling People’s National Congress (PNC) and was being used to intimidate any enemy of the ruling party. He noted, though, that there were some professionals in the force which created a kind of balance.
The police, known then as the ‘Brown Clothes,’ was also used to break up strikes organised by workers and trade unions, and the HOI acted in concert with them.
Asked why he concluded the police was in league with the HOI, Rodney said whenever the House of Israel disrupted meetings held by the PPP and WPA, the police never approached them. In fact, the police had strong reservations about restraining the House of Israel, he said.
Rodney also told the Commission that during 1977 and 1978, he witnessed this type of behaviour by the police on several occasions, at meetings at Kitty Market, Merriman’s Mall, and La Penitence, opposite Twins Drugs Store, among others.
He said whenever the House of Israel came out in public, their general posture and demeanor showed their loyalty to the PNC Government. They also carried such slogans as: ‘Down with the WPA’ and, ‘We don’t want Rodney.’
There is no doubt that preferential treatment was given to the House of Israel, Edward Rodney disclosed. Whenever they disrupted meetings, they were known for throwing bricks and beating people with sticks, and cutting wires.
According to Rodney, Gregory Smith, also known as Cyril Johnson, was also a member of the House of Israel. He said he knows this because he once saw him walking on Russell Street, dressed in the uniform of the HOI.
Furthermore, Edward Rodney said from the first instance he met Smith, he had a strong impression that Smith was part and parcel of a group that was out to disrupt meetings.
The House of Israel was based in Alberttown, but had branches throughout the country. Edward Rodney described them as “local bullies”. For example, known for selling plantain chips, they would become furious when someone refused to buy from them.
Their colours were red, black and green, as were those used by the PNC. Rodney specifically recalled the name of a Deacon, Joseph Hamilton, who was very active at the time at the House of Israel branch in Triumph.
According to Rodney, the HOI, which came into existence about 1971, was used to break up meetings of WPA. WPA speakers, for instance, had to be surrounded by groups of persons so HOI members would not get to them. Today, House of Israel is not so prominent, but it is still there, at the corner of Sixth and Light Streets, Alberttown.
Rodney said the main purpose of HOI was to mobilise black people as Jews. It was formed when the notorious Rabbi Washington came to Guyana. He was a fugitive of the United States justice system. It was a sect and so certain information could not be known to outsiders, Rodney explained.
Rabbi Washington, who hosted the House of Prophesy programme on television, was definitely affiliated with the PNC, Edward Rodney said. It was almost impossible for any entity or individual who was not pro government to conduct such a programme.
The main Opposition party, the PPP, could not have access to the radio programmes, more so the WPA that was formed many years later, Rodney said.
The HOI marched alongside major parades of the PNC; and at massive rallies held by the PNC, there was usually a contingent of the HOI. Rodney said he never heard of the House of Israel breaking up PNC meetings as they did with the WPA and PPP.

(By Telesha Ramnarine)