The Walter Rodney Institute for Social Action (WRISA) was formally launched yesterday.

According to a press release from the institute, a wide range of persons, Guyanese and non-Guyanese, have urged the formation of a non-party organisation dedicated to continuing the work of Walter Rodney beyond party politics. WRISA "is the realization of this desire and formally emerges...to meet the challenge of advancing a movement along the path initiated by the people's hero after whom it is named."

The Institute is named for Walter Rodney, a notable historian and leader of the Working People's Alliance who was assassinated on June 13, 1980.

The release said that the purpose of the Institute is to foster new thinking about the problems of emergent multi-racial societies, leading to new practice on the critical issues facing Guyana and the hemisphere.

It identified such issues as racial security and inclusiveness; indigenous peoples' ending the long history of their marginalization; inclusive governance and power-sharing; eradication of gender-stereotyped divisions of labour; the sustainable development of small states in the context of globalisation and a fragile environment.

To achieve that purpose, the release said, the Institute will engage in fostering leadership skills among excluded community and national groups (youths, indigenous peoples, women, and people with disabilities) and conducting research - formal and participatory, community and national.

In addition, the Institute will be involved in dissemination of information in academic and popular forums, besides networking with like-minded groups and participation in forums on related issues at community, national, regional and international levels.

The institute yesterday applied for registration under the Friendly Societies Act.

The Constitution of the WRISA provides for a Board of Directors and three categories of membership - Full Members, Associate Members and Patrons.

The Board is currently chaired by Christopher Ram with Egbert Carter and Leila Jagdeo as secretary and treasurer, respectively.

The 13-member Board includes Asha Rodney, youngest child of the late Dr Walter Rodney and his widow, Dr Patricia Rodney, who is currently a Professor at Morehouse University in the USA. Asha also currently resides in the US where she recently completed her law degree, the release said.

Two other young persons from Guyanese NGOs also serve on the Board - Nalini Smith of the Guyana Human Rights Association and Malaika Scott of Guyana Is First.

Also on the Board are Andaiye, Moses Bhagwan, Rohit Kanhai, Tacuma Ogunseye, Vanda Radzik and Nigel Westmaas.

Executive Director of the Institute and ex-officio Board member is Omawale, who is in the process of resuming residence in Guyana after retiring from international service with UNICEF.

The release said that yesterday's formal launch of WRISA comes exactly 22 years "after a defining moment in the popular struggle against the dictatorship of the late Forbes Burnham," when Walter Rodney, Rupert Roopnaraine and Omawale were arrested on arson charges connected with the destruction of the Camp Street "Office of the General Secretary of the PNC and the Ministry of National Development".