Emancipation is about building better lives-Pres Granger

PRESIDENT David Granger said that Emancipation Day – on 1st August 1838 marked the end of over 200 years of enslavement in the colonies of Demerara-Essequibo and Berbice and also the start of Guyanese nationhood.

In a message to mark the occasion, the Guyanese leader said Emancipation enabled Africans who had been enslaved on the plantations to gain their freedom. “It triggered, also, the immigration of Portuguese, Indian and Chinese indentured labourers. The descendants of these peoples, together with the indigenous Amerindians, make up the population of the free nation of Guyana today.”

According to him Emancipation was the opportunity for people from four continents to build better lives for themselves and generations to come. They embarked on a series of movements to transform the colonial landscape and the peoples’ livelihoods.

“The great ‘Village Movement’ started in 1839. This led, eventually, to the ‘political movement’ for civil rights and constitutional change and to the ‘labour movement’ for the improvement of conditions of work in urban and rural areas.

Emancipation Day, therefore, is a most auspicious event of Guyana’s history which should be observed by all. It was, indeed, the start of the process by which the plantations became the foundation of one nation and through which the various peoples began to live and work together in pursuit of a common destiny.

Happy Emancipation Day to all Guyanese!

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WPA urges focused attention on African Guyanese situation

THE Working People’s Alliance (WPA) in a message to observe Emancipation Day said the occasion should be a reminder to all Guyanese of both the horrors of the system of slavery and the long struggle to overthrow it.

“The memory of slavery should serve to recommit us to a country and a world free of all forms of bondage. Slavery was a political and economic system which had far-reaching consequences for the very notion of who were classified as human beings. Africans were classified as chattel, not fit to be humans. So, Emancipation was the culmination of the struggle to restore the humanity of the enslaved,” the WPA said.

According to that party, Emancipation also meant the desire for freedom on the part of the formerly enslaved—to be free to live as equal citizens, to have the right to education, to practice their culture in its deepest sense, to build and nurture their communities and above all to enjoy the fruits of their labour. “Since Emancipation in 1838, there has been a constant struggle to attain that freedom. The challenges to the freedom of African Guyanese and other powerless groups in our society have multiplied, causing many African Guyanese to question whether the Emancipation promise has been realised.” “WPA, therefore, urges that our country revisits, as a matter of urgency, that promise of freedom. When one looks at the socio-economic condition of African Guyanese, we cannot, as a country, be proud of our track-record since 1838. The decline of the villages and the village economy have had dire consequences for villagers and African Guyanese in general. The high rate of unemployment particularly among our youth population, the decline in the standard of education and the high rate of migration out of the communities are all consequences of that larger decline of the village economy.”

The WPA said it wishes to use this Emancipation anniversary to raise anew the urgency of the restoration of the right to work and to earn a living wage as fundamental human rights. “We cannot celebrate Emancipation while ignoring the fact that a large chunk of African Guyanese and the wider population cannot find work and many of those who are fortunate to do so cannot live on the wages they earn. While, we recognize that government has to juggle scarce national resources, we urge that the next budget shout treat with the matter of improved public service wages as a matter of high priority. More efficient government services cannot be realized outside of a living wage for government workers. The right of labour to be rewarded as much as capital was one of the pillars of the Emancipation promise and should be a guiding principle today.”

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The struggle for equality, justice must continue- RK’s Security Services

CHIEF Executive Officer of RK Security Service, Roshan Khan has said that the history of a nation is, essentially, the story of its people, “History” connotes past. And the past of a people – their arrivals, encounters, set-backs, challenges and achievements – must be recorded, remembered and studied in depth and objectively simply because people make nations.

In a message to mark Emancipation Day Khan said Guyana is not one of the homogenous societies of this world. It is comprised of its indigenous people and descendants coming from Europe, Africa and Asia. These groups have had their varied and rich stories inter-woven into one tapestry titled “Guyana”.

“Today, our Chairman/Founder, Mr. Roshan Khan, management and staff of RK’s Guyana Security Services yet again join in the national celebration marking the one hundred and seventy-ninth (179th) anniversary of the emancipation of the forefathers of our African Guyanese citizenry. This has become a joyful tradition and one which holds great significance for us. Freedom from physical bondage which brought on unspeakable brutality and exploitation spawned by colonialism/capitalism was undoubtedly a step along the way to our independence, the breaking of the colonial relationships and the forging of a Guyanese nation.”

He said 179 years ago the cry of freedom reverberated throughout the British Commonwealth. It was the cry of Africans, enslaved for hundreds of years in chattel slavery, now free. “The achievement of emancipation, which was not without struggles, was among the first major accomplishment in a people’s march for self-determination. It is a march that has been paved with setbacks, challenges and achievements. Most importantly, this experience ought to serve as a reminder that freedom was/is never free. Freedom requires eternal vigilance and sacrifices to preserve and defend gains, even as achievements are marked along the way, and work is intensified to strengthen, deepen and advance the cause.” Khan said his company recognises the major contribution of the descendants of those freed African slaves in the continuous development of Guyana and in all areas of our country’s life – sport, culture, politics, security, foreign -service.

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GAWU salutes memory of those who laid down their lives

“THE final “full freedom” of Emancipation was won after decades of death, suffering, slavery and exploitation from 1763 through 1823 to 1834 and finally 1838. The spirit of yearning for freedom – that liberty of mind, body and soul from ownership by others never deserted the African slaves and the indentured contracted workers who followed them after full Emancipation in 1838. Numerous were the uprisings, rebellions, protests, riots and strikes. Emancipation never came willingly or cheaply from the colonialists.”

Against those sentiments, the Guyana Agricultural and General Workers’ (GAWU) salutes the memory of those was struggled and sacrificed for freedom and the descendants of our African forefathers who today have hopefully inherited their spirit of justice and true freedom from those who dared to stand up against the brutal, enslaving colonial system. It is now popular to repeat that “had there been no Emancipation there would have been no Arrival”. But it is still a valid observation of our shared history. Both slaves “apprentices” and indentured labourers were children of the plantation – however illegitimate they were made to be. Sugar is the historical reason for today’s diverse demography we know as Guyanese society.

“It is perhaps a curious but understandable fact of Guyana’s socio-economic history that sugar brought us together, often forged bonds of collective struggle against the plantocracy and for independence. GAWU feels that this Emancipation 2017 period should re-inforce in us all the lessons of the post-1838 history. In unity, strength is most sustained. Today, sugar workers are at a low ebb facing the disaster of unemployment as government flounders to fashion a valid structured lasting plan to rescue an historic industry. Closure threatens thousands – both sugar workers and other members of the working-class. As with the forced apprentices in 1838 today’s sugar workers face a bleak, hopeless future unless, economic sense prevails and the workers’ representatives are listened to with serious intent.”
GAWU said the descendants of Emancipation must all share in equal opportunity as our natural and human resources become available to development for all.

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FITUG: the spirit of man is resilient and given to liberty

THE Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) joins with all Guyanese in the observance and, indeed, celebration of Emancipation 2017.

“We are well aware of our colonial history which this occasion reminds us of. We recall that the British colonial plantocracy did everything in its guile and power to keep African slaves in plantation bondage even after the British Parliament passed the Emancipation Act in August of 1833. The enslaved had to wait until August, 1834 – one full year later – to enjoy liberty. But with stiff conditions. They had to register as “apprentices” to work for limited payment on the same pre-1834 plantations. This apprenticeship was intended to last for four (4) to six (6) years,” FITUG said in a message.

FITUG said freedom was not easily granted, noting that hundreds of slaves had died in the 1823 East Coast Uprising – just eleven years before 1834. Slaves on the Essequibo Coast saw their leader, Damon, executed for thinking that complete emancipation had been granted. To add salt to the wounds of the forced population, the planters were awarded thousands of pounds as “compensation” for the loss of their African labour. The slaves received nothing for their years of slave service.

“But the Spirit of Man – however severely tested – is resilient and given to liberty. The African forefathers utilised savings from the apprenticeship service to buy lands and began anew their lives under the new conditions. Since then their descendants have made admirable strides in the various fields of human endeavour. They have become an important part of Guyana’s demography.