THE People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has been integral to carving an identity and future for Guyana and its once very suppressed people, who did not enjoy democracy after gaining independence from Britain until October 5, 1992, hailed as ‘The Dawn of a New Era’. The story of the PPP is largely about the amazing journey of Dr. Cheddi and Mrs. Janet Jagan, two dynamic and visionary persons from very diverse cultures who merged their lives and efforts to carve through the grindstone of adversity, a future of promise and hope for the long-suffering Guyanese people.
And the men and women who joined them at different stages of the eventful journey that is slowly but surely fructifying into making that future one of peace, progress, and prosperity.
As the PPP brings to an end its year-long celebratory activities to mark its 60 years of existence, homage must also be paid to those who were martyred in the struggle for dignity and freedom for the working-class people of Guyana – especially the Enmore Martyrs, whose death so moved a young Cheddi Jagan that he vowed to dedicate his entire life to “the cause of the struggle of the Guyanese people against bondage and exploitation.”
While they laboured in the cause for Guyana, the Jagans also nurtured a cadre of young leaders, including President Bharrat Jagdeo who has achieved growing international recognition for Guyana.
Among other achievements, he has helped to eradicate the dark image of Jonestown from the silhouette of this nation’s identity within the international consciousness, and has been a passionate advocate of humanity and the earth, for which he was presented with the Champion of the Earth Award 2010 by the United Nations Environmental Programme.
His sincere commitment to all the people of this land can be gauged by his gifting the not insignificant sum of his US$40,000 prize money to the most vulnerable Guyanese community – the indigenous peoples of Guyana.
Guyanese should not live in the past that has caused this nation much pain, grief and developmental retrogression, and should instead endeavour to carve a better country for future generations, because the past should only be used for analytic purposes.
But when Guyana’s past – and present — are being rewritten to make villains into heroes and vice versa by those with vested interests then, for the edification of posterity, it is incumbent upon propagators of truth to put the dynamics into perspective and let readers judge for themselves, instead of having persons with agendas restructure the landscape of this nation’s history, to the detriment of future generations.
The PPP’s battle song ‘O fighting men’ is as relevant now as it was in the past because the struggle continues, and the PPP and its affiliate arms, the Women’s Progressive Organisation and the Progressive Youth Organisation have no dearth of the fighting spirit that has kept the PPP unwaveringly, unerringly, on the path carved in the footsteps of the Father of the Guyanese Nation – Dr. Cheddi Jagan for the 60 years of its existence as a party fighting for equality and justice for the Guyanese nation.
And the vision of Dr. Jagan of a ‘global village’ is slowly fructifying, with the latest coalition of states being the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), which is, fittingly, currently being headed by his protégé, President Jagdeo.