TODAY Guyana observes its 54th anniversary as an independent nation. This year’s anniversary comes against the backdrop of developments which give us cause not only to reflect on our independence journey and to redouble our collective efforts to preserve the gains we have made these five and a half decades, but it also gives us cause to reflect on the challenges to that independence which have raised their ugly heads in recent times.

As a society which had been ravaged by centuries of forced bondage and external exploitation, we are all too aware that the formal end to systems of bondage does not necessarily translate into the de facto erasure of those systems. Independence for us therefore must always mean a constant and persistent struggle of preservation and deepening of our freedom space.

It must always be remembered that Guyana and its Anglophone Caribbean CARICOM family of countries gained our independence in a world that was not configured to accommodate us. The parameters of the new world order which was conceived after the second World War did not take Guyana into consideration—Guyana did not exist. It meant that we became independent in a world that was hostile to the existence of small post-plantation societies trying to build new countries out of the ashes of slavery and colonialism. The anti-colonialism and independence imperatives ran counter to the hegemony promulgated by the victors of the war.

Guyana also became independent in the middle of the Cold War which would help to shape the motion of our independence for its first two and a half decades. This realty meant that we had the onerous task of navigating a world that forced small countries to choose between two global Goliaths or face the punitive penalties of refusal. History records that even before Guyana became independent, it faced the fury of global actors who viewed our quest for true independence and freedom as inimical to their designs for the world.

The 1953 invasion, the dark time as Martin Carter dubbed it, was a signal of things to come.
We also became independent in the wake of civil disturbances which tested our very ability to live together as a cohesive nation. Our ethnic diversity, born of the European quest for accumulation of wealth in far-off lands brought with it a meeting of cultures that promised a positive diverse space. But it also provided fertile ground for a historic suspicion and competition that was unhealthy for peaceful co-existence. Independence therefore meant that we were tasked with holding together our multiethnic nation even as we navigated the global challenges.

Given the enormity of these challenges, we must congratulate ourselves for weathering the storms and surviving as an independent nation five decades later. We have had our influenzas and whooping coughs, but our immune system has not been shattered. Guyana is alive as a sovereign state looking to turn the corner in a state of new development as we welcome our oil-and-gas finds. This god-send discovery of a natural resource capable of helping our country to a new plateau of development is the dream of all countries such as ours. If handled well it could help to eradicate the curses of our sordid past which have followed us into independence.

So, this anniversary should be a time of anticipation of better—a time of thanksgiving. It should be an anniversary when we ought to be linking our hands and hearts and looking to the future in unison. Not since emancipation have our road to independence been so brightly lit. The dreams of our foreparents of then and the 1966 generation threaten to burst into reality for their forebears. Our Guyana could be the paradise that we longed for—a new dawn and a new day for the children of bondsmen and women.

Yet even as we are set to welcome this new dawn, we are being visited by the forces of doubt and denial who seem set on a course of derailing our independence and its attendant right to self-determination. The dark clouds of greed and grab are at work as we observe this independence anniversary. Suddenly, old forces dressed in new garb are at our gate trying their level best to uproot our independence; and what is most disheartening is that they are being encouraged by domestic forces with greedy agendas. They have conspired to test our resolve as a nation.

They come with sweet tongues hiding behind political clichés. They seek to disrespect our flag and our sovereignty. They assault our dignity. But we must use this 54th anniversary of independence to affirm our dignified existence and cry out loud enough for the global family to hear. We are an independent nation that deserves our space to address our challenges. Our potential wealth is ours — not theirs. Let us stand tall as Guyanese armed with centuries of struggle for better. In the end our independence must mean our unvarnished freedom. Let Guyana be free.