Dear Editor,
Claudeston G. Massiah’s call for the removal of the statue of Queen Victoria from in front of the Supreme Court is timely. Organisation for the Victory of the People (OVP) has long advocated for the statue to be removed and placed on the grounds of the British High Commission or at the Haags Bosch dumpsite. Another idea being floated is that it should be placed in a museum that exhibits colonial relics that will serve to remind each generation of the horrors of the colonial project.

The statue was resurrected by former Mayor of Georgetown, Compton Young, from the eastern end of the Botanical Gardens, where it had been placed after being removed from the grounds of the Supreme Court by Forbes Burnham.  With explicit permission from the counter-revolutionary and reactionary Desmond Hoyte, Young placed the statue in front of City Hall. It was later removed from that location by the PPP regime and placed right back in front of the Supreme Court.

This statue is an affront to our ancestors – Indigenous, African and Indian, and our sovereignty, whatever little is left of it. To those who are proclaiming that Queen Victoria abolished slavery, I refer you to the letter by Patricia Commissiong (KN, 3/11/19) which clearly debunks this false narrative. For the record, I would like to add that the primary factor in the abolition of slavery was that of African agency. Africans resisted enslavement from the moment they were captured and it was their continuous and well organised resistance that eventually made their enslavement untenable. Any attempt to trivialise and minimise the role of our captured ancestors in their own liberation reeks of racism and the historical erasure that accompanies it.

All those who played a part in returning this statue to where it stands today, and all those who are now calling for it to remain there, are guilty of pandering to the British Government and their representatives in Guyana.  Something is wrong with the psyche of those who insist that this statue must remain in its present location simply because it is part of our history. They are making the absurd argument that this white supremacist, Queen Victoria, must retain pride of place in front of a building which is supposed to uphold justice, something that was denied our ancestors under her reign. The brutal repression that she presided over, from India to Zululand, is well documented. What exactly are we celebrating with this statue – crimes against humanity? Adolf Hitler is part of German history does that mean that a statue to honour him should be placed in front of Germany’s law courts?

Colonisation is a part of our history, however, the way we read and remember that history is very important.  Our rejection of the racism, injustice and terrorism that characterised the colonial project of the past and those historical figures like Queen Victoria who presided over these crimes is imperative. If we as a people truly understood the horrors of our past, the statue would never have been reinstated after Burnham dislodged it.  And if we do not truly understand our past, how then are we to successfully resist attempts by the ABC/EU countries to trample on our independence and right to self-determination in the present? It is self-defeating to demand respect and our right to independence, while at the same time we ourselves persist in preserving and giving pride of place to the symbols and images of our past oppression and subjugation. The statue must be removed from its present location.

Regards,
Gerald A. Perreira
Organisation for the Victory of the People (OVP)