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THERE will be a significant number of important anniversaries in 2013. February 2013 marks the 250th anniversary of the 1763 uprising—an event in which many lives were sacrificed in pursuit of human dignity and hopes for social, economic, political, and cultural justice. August 2013 will mark the 190th anniversary of the Demerara Rebellion. In 1823, enslaved Africans again rose up against an abusive system. Again there was substantial sacrifice in the quest for human dignity and the hope of creating a society that was just and caring. The suppression was brutal. All along the East Coast enslaved Africans were slaughtered and their remains abused in an effort to “set an example” to those who dared to hope for human dignity and social, economic, political and cultural justice. The suppression was so brutal that it shook establishment power in London and is said to have been one of the factors contributing to the abolition of slavery in 1834 and the emancipation of enslaved Africans in 1838.
Even before the abolition of slavery took effect on August 1, 1834, another system for the abuse of the human spirit had established itself in British Guiana—Indentureship. In 1834, the first indentured Portuguese arrived in British Guiana to supplement a labour force which was expected to be depleted when emancipated, enslaved Africans would remove their labour from the plantations and pursue their own social, economic, cultural, and political development as free and authentic human beings.
On May 1838, three months before the emancipation of enslaved Africans, two ships, the S.S Whitby and the S.S Hesperus arrived in British Guiana with our ancestors from India — a key moment in the creation of the contemporary Guyanese society. Like our African ancestors, the ancestors from India also had sacrificed and had hopes for human dignity and economic, social, cultural, and political development as free and authentic human beings.
Sacrifices and hopes for a better future are part of a consistent theme in the experiences of all Guyanese!
2013 provides an opportunity for a new paradigm in Guyanese commemoration programming. Instead to events and activities that amplify isolation and separation, the time has come for activities and events to commemorate and celebrate mutual encounter, interaction, and exchange—the dynamics that are creating the architecture for building a just and caring society–the society that our ancestors—the First People, and those from Africa, Europe and Asia, sacrificed and hoped for. The commemorative activities and events for 2013 should be characterised as making hopes happen.
After the sacrifices … make the hopes happen in 2013!
Peace,
Even before the abolition of slavery took effect on August 1, 1834, another system for the abuse of the human spirit had established itself in British Guiana—Indentureship. In 1834, the first indentured Portuguese arrived in British Guiana to supplement a labour force which was expected to be depleted when emancipated, enslaved Africans would remove their labour from the plantations and pursue their own social, economic, cultural, and political development as free and authentic human beings.
On May 1838, three months before the emancipation of enslaved Africans, two ships, the S.S Whitby and the S.S Hesperus arrived in British Guiana with our ancestors from India — a key moment in the creation of the contemporary Guyanese society. Like our African ancestors, the ancestors from India also had sacrificed and had hopes for human dignity and economic, social, cultural, and political development as free and authentic human beings.
Sacrifices and hopes for a better future are part of a consistent theme in the experiences of all Guyanese!
2013 provides an opportunity for a new paradigm in Guyanese commemoration programming. Instead to events and activities that amplify isolation and separation, the time has come for activities and events to commemorate and celebrate mutual encounter, interaction, and exchange—the dynamics that are creating the architecture for building a just and caring society–the society that our ancestors—the First People, and those from Africa, Europe and Asia, sacrificed and hoped for. The commemorative activities and events for 2013 should be characterised as making hopes happen.
After the sacrifices … make the hopes happen in 2013!
Peace,
