THE historians have recorded all that the Indian immigrants and their descendants suffered then contributed to the making of the Guyana nation over the 174 years since the grand arrival here on May 05, 1838. The Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Guyana (FITUG) is most pleased to join all Guyanese in observing, even celebrating, the arrival of all immigrants to the British Guiana landscape of the 1800s, to fill the European plantation void in the aftermath of the African Emancipation.
From the Indian sub-continent, history records, a prominent British planter “imported” contracted labourers to work on the sugar plantations. Some labourers were duped; most were glad to attempt the new life promised in the Guiana tropics. All were made to slave, to produce, to people an alien land owned by Europe. The Indentured Indian Immigrant Story is a saga of survival and triumph over frightening exploitation of their labour, shrewd ethnic manipulation against earlier and later groups, also “imported”, but a tale of achievement and contribution.
FITUG, within the context of today’s Guyana, struggling to keep the unity of the purpose and the solidarity of successful gains intact, urges that these Arrival Day celebrations avoid any hint of triumphalism over others, but rather celebrate the triumph of a collective spirit which kept the indentured immigrants and their descendants as a determined, dignified and culturally strong component of a colony turned into an independent state. FITUG celebrates the contributions of the Indo-Guyanese, the Chinese and Portuguese elements, to our labour movement, our politics and governments. Today’s immigrant sons and daughters must use the inspiration of survival and success in every field of endeavour and national development to continue to serve national development which ensures personal satisfaction and comfort.
From working-class to the higher echelons, let the sons and daughters of the 1838 arrivals feel Guyanese enough to share success and contributions with their fellow citizens.
Happy Arrival Day 2012