The Relativity of Freedom

Guyana, on Tuesday, will be celebrating its 49th year as a sovereign state, having been granted the instruments of independence by Great Britain on 26th May, 1966.
Guyana is today a fully democratised nation, with its citizenry guaranteed unrestrained freedoms under its constitutional provisions – of course within the ambit of the laws of the land.

As the nation commemorates the birth of its new identity and its coming of age as a free people, we must reflect on the long road that was traversed by our freedom fighters to win for us this freedom that we take so much for granted, even as many other nation-states wield the ‘Sword of Damocles’ over the heads of the citizens of those countries and those people live in fear and under subjugation.

Celebration should not only be about the state of being of our sovereignty, but cognisance should also be taken of the fragility of the freedom we enjoy, because we sometimes attack each other like rabid beasts, thus curtailing the freedoms that are the right of every citizen of the land.

Recognition that we have a neighbouring country that is intent on annexing a large swathe of our country and that it can, at any given time, invade our territories in a bid to force us to concede to their superior military might should give us cause to pause and reflect on the necessity for us to always realise and live up to the edict: “united we stand, divided we fall”.

It is apt to remind readers of the powerful words stated in the first few paragraphs in the preamble to our Constitution:
“WE THE PEOPLE of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, the proud heirs of the indomitable spirit and unconquerable will of our forefathers who by their sacrifices, their blood and their labour made rich and fertile and bequeathed to us as our inalienable patrimony for all time this green land of Guyana,
SALUTING the epic struggles waged by our forefathers for freedom, justice and human dignity and their relentless hostility to imperialist and colonial domination and all other forms and manifestations of oppression;
ACCLAIMING those immortal leaders who in the vanguard of battle kept aloft in the banner of freedom by the example of their courage, their fortitude and their martyrdom, whose names and deeds being forever enshrined in our hearts we forever respect, honour and revere;
INSPIRED by the glorious victory of 26th May, 1966, when after centuries of heroic resistance and revolutionary endeavour we liberated ourselves from colonial bondage, won political independence and became free to mould our own destiny;
CONSCIOUS of the fact that to bring about conditions necessary for the full flowering of the creative genius of the people of Guyana formal political sovereignty must be complemented by economic independence and cultural emancipation….”
Within the complexity of the human condition, the context of freedom has varying definitions.
And unless and until we live our national motto: One People, One Nation, with One Destiny – we will never, as a collective people achieve our full developmental potential.

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