WHEN Guyana became a Republic on February 23, 1970, it marked the final stride in the long journey to formal independence. It was a journey that began with emancipation in 1838 when our foreparents overthrew the most inhumane system in the history of humanity.

Emancipation was then undermined by the imposition of colonialism, which in many regards was slavery by another name. Undaunted, the colonised peoples continued their search for freedom, which eventually came with independence in 1966. But that independence, liberating though it was, required some finishing touches. We were still saddled with qualifications to our right to self-determination. The Queen of England was still our Head-of-State and the Privy Council was still our court of last resort. In other words, in some respects, we were still tied to the former mother-country in formal ways. This condition was deemed to be an affront to our sovereignty.

In an era of progressive politics in the so-called Third World, the debate over the meaning of independence raged. In the wider Caribbean, this issue was taken up by our artists, intellectuals and politicians, who in varying degrees favoured a radical transformation of the society in ways that would distinguish it from colonialism. In Guyana, where the major political parties and Civil Society organisations were left of centre on the ideological spectrum, the debate was more advanced than in many of our sister countries. In other words, there was a high degree of consensus that we should deepen our independence to include real self-determination.

It was against that background that Guyana moved to republican status in 1970. But we went one step forward. We indigenised our republic by grounding it in one of our local institutions—the cooperatives. So, we were signalling that the transition from a monarchy to a system of “rule by the people” was not isolated from the country’s political economy. The spirit of the cooperative, replete with its culture of collectivism and steeped in the creative energies of our country, was the driving influence of the new republic. Republicanism, then, was meant to be more than just a slogan.

That the republic was born in the month of February was another element of indigenisation. February was the month of the 1763 Berbice Rebellion, which continues to be a most important signpost of resistance and liberation for Guyanese. In many respects, that rebellion really marked the formal birth of our republican instinct. Here were men and women refusing to be bonded and declaring to the world the collective desire to be truly free humans. If ever our republic needed an awesome inspiration, it found and still finds it right there in the Berbice Rebellion.

Since February 1970, our country has had both its moments of glory and tragedy. We have tried with our limited resources to improve the social conditions of the majority of our people. The institutions of state, despite challenges, have survived. We have withstood challenges to the very sovereignty of the country from external forces. We have led the way in regional strides towards joint-CARICOM republicanism. Now, 50 years later, it is time to renew the republic. The world has changed and so have we as a country. We must learn both the sweet and bitter lessons of half a century as a republic.

Guyana is on the verge of becoming a wealthier nation from a macro-economic standpoint. The new challenge of the republic is how to translate that potential wealth to the wider citizenry—how to use the cooperative spirit to distribute the country’s common blessings.
Those who enslaved and colonised us thought we could not govern ourselves; that we could not exist in a state of freedom. But here we are, imperfect in some ways, but totally committed to the republican ideals.

From Burnham, Jagan and Kwayana, who breathed early ideological life into the republic; to those who kept the faith along the way; to those who are now tasked with moving the country into the new era, we give thanks. But above all, the republic survives because the dream lives and burns brightly in the minds of the masses of people who have believed in Guyana and what it stands for and who refuse to give up on the freedom quest. Celebrate we must and should in our Mashramani bands—we have earned the right to do so. The dream of the republic is still alive.