I join in extending greetings to all Guyanese and to all freedom lovers the world over who are today celebrating Emancipation Day 2013. I trust that the significance of this historic anniversary will resonate for all time because Emancipation marked a defining milestone in the struggle against human bondage and in the fight for freedom and dignity. Slavery remains the darkest chapter in human civilization. It was a travesty that must never again see the light of day. The seeds of the ideology of racial supremacy which gave rise to this heinous and to other abominable systems must be utterly and comprehensively discredited and rejected so, that it may never again gain currency in the modern world.
We in Guyana must also not forget our own history in which the economic impulse for profits formed the basis of the introduction of slavery and other forms of servitude into our part of the world. Our history is decorated with the sacrifices and struggles of those who resisted these systems of oppression.  On this Emancipation Day, we can all take pride and draw inspiration from the heroic and epic struggles waged by our ancestors against all forms of human servitude.
 Slavery was abolished, but its scars remain. More importantly, there has been no recompense for the great human toll, the untold suffering, dislocation and deprivations that it inflicted on millions of innocent individuals who were treated as non- persons. Justice for the victims of the slave trade is still outstanding.
On this Emancipation Day, I join with all of those who have lent their voices to the plea for reparations for the most dreadful crime committed against humanity – slavery.  I trust that the collective voices of all freedom- loving people will one day ensure a fair and just response from those guilty of the slave trade and of slavery.
Happy Emancipation Day to all!  May the glorious struggles of our ancestors inspire us to value even more the freedoms we now enjoy and for which they sacrificed so much.