Today the foundation will be unveiled at Palmyra Village, Berbice for the erection of the Indian Arrival Monument, which is a gift to Guyanese from the Indian Government.
This month marks a hundred years since the British Crown abolished indentured labour. This experience has shaped the nation’s tapestry, not merely for the various peoples who came under the oppressive system, but also their diverse cultures and other contributions to the nation’s development.
These diverse strains in no small measure add to the beauty that defines Guyana and resilience that has shaped its peoples’ history. Though often the inclination to attend to what is considered the negative aspects of history, it should not be ignored that these very experiences have not only shaped us, but also offer opportunities to learn from and build on. Irrespective of outlook, none can deny indentured servitude was a debasement of human dignity and respect.
And whereas expressions were allowed in some instances, as in the practice of indigenous religion, the indentured labourer was not without deprivations. When one is beholden to another, who not only determines his condition of work but also standard of living by fostering a polity of two or more societies in one society, the interest of the relegated is never fully served or attained. This is the environment the indentured labourers lived under.
Conditions of plantation life, labour and living, were far from acceptable. Being treated as beast of burdens, enticed to come to the so-called New World as contract/bound wage labourers, on the pretext that life would be better than the conditions to be left behind, assistance with return passage, and reward of land, fell short of standards comparable to human dignity and respect.
The British Crown, having abolished slavery, saw the need to source a new supply of labour, and approached it from the mind-set that condemnation of the barbarity that characterised slavery though it will not be practised would not prevent mistreatment in other forms. As the indentured labourers resisted the indignity and disrespect, coupled with the support of locals in then British Guiana, Britain, and original homeland, the unison against a bad system ultimately helped to topple it.
This blot in history should not only serve as moments to castigate and condemn an entire group, lest it be forgotten among those who have suffered and resisted, were those from the oppressed group, however small in numbers made a big difference. And in our culture where it is often tempting to ignore the contributions and feel that success would have been achieved in spite of others, it requires a reshaping of thinking in recognising the importance of others to the freedom, growth and development of all.
The system that sustained indentured labour must not only be remembered for its cruelty and deprivations and honouring those who fought it, but also using it as measurement what we must not accept from others nor do unto others. For whereas the formal system is no longer a matter of law, where acts of the system remain a disservice is not only being done to those who fought to end it, but it would represent an indictment on the beneficiaries of the struggle.
Guyana’s history shows indentured labour was sourced from the continents of Africa, Europe and Asia. The majority of indenture came from India, which also represented the last group that worked under this debauched system. The contributions of all under indentureship to building Guyana are recognised and honoured, for they helped to strengthen the foundation laid by those who came before.
Trinidad calypsonian, Brother Marvin’s 1995 ‘Jahaji Bhai’ reminds of the “brotherhood of the boat.” For whereas some came through paddling, sailing, on the deck or in the hulls, in chains or not, being whipped or the whipper, denied, deceived, deprived or entitled, we are all here today, having survived the horrid systems of slavery, indentured servitude, and colonialism. That we are heirs of the pains and beneficiaries of the struggles, it’s up to us as Guyanese in reminiscence of the horrors and pains and celebration of the achievements, to never lose sight that sustaining the latter require avoiding and removing all hindrances that could lead to continuity of any aspect of the former.