Walter Rodney his alma mater University of the West Indies in Mona. He was sharply critical of the middle class for its role in the post-independence Caribbean. He was also a strong critic of capitalism and argued for a socialist development template. On 15 October 1968 the government of Jamaica, led by prime minister Hugh Shearer, declared Rodney "persona non grata". The decision to ban him from ever returning to Jamaica and his subsequent dismissal by the University of the West Indies, Mona caused protests by students and the poor of West Kingston which escalated into a riot, known as the Rodney
1988 October Riots and torture of detainees has been reported at the police academy. The state of emergency was decreed on October 6th and a curfew established that ran from midnight to six o'clock in the morning (starting on October the 8th the curfew was not enforced until 8 o'clock at night). Police were taunted as "Jews" by the demonstrators (a comment on the intifada in Israel). In general the riots were directed at the increasing social despair – to a large extent the result of oil prices dropping sharply the preceding years – and at the slow pace of economic and political