EMANCIPATION Day is celebrated annually on the first day of August. It is the day that the heroes of past slave rebellions that ushered in the end of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and brought freedom to the enslaved is celebrated.

The celebrations follow the general concepts initiated by Africans freed on that memorable day, August 1, 1838, one hundred and eighty-four years ago, when African menus and locally produced drinks, wine and spirits were enjoyed amongst singing of emancipation songs.

The annual observance of Emancipation Day is first and foremost a commemoration of the legislated end of slavery. But moreover, a reminder of man’s brutality to fellow man, as large populations of one ethnic group had to suffer more than 400 years of injustice and abuse at the hand of another.

The abuses included, but was not limited to, the pillaging of the African continent’s natural and human resources, forcefully subjecting the human resources to bondage, dehumanisation, forced labour and sexual exploitation, destruction and relocation of segments of family units to different parts of Europe and the Americas, while stripping them of identities, dignity, generational linkages, religious beliefs, cultural norms, customs and practices, among other things.

The culmination of the tireless struggles for freedom from oppression and the ushering in of emancipation eventually meant that the remnants of those enslaved and their descendants would have the challenge of eking out a living within the territories they served, because of inabilities to return to their places of birth or origin.

This meant that the former slaves had to find creative ways to earn a living. So, armed with savings from forced apprenticeship programmes allowed under the law between 1933 and 1938, the emancipated bought land and undertook skills in agriculture and various trades.

Their high levels of education also made them suitable to serve within the Colonial Civil Service/Teaching Service and the Police Force.

Through this silent reminder that the blood, sweat, and tears of our forefathers are on this land, together we must ensure that generations of the present and future enjoy the freedoms and benefits so valiantly fought for during the years preceding emancipation and the blood spilled upon the land. Let it be not in vain.

Let us not forget those who lived upon this land before us and witnessed the anguish of our forefathers, some suffering like them, and those that came as indentured labourers in the latter years to make a better life, but suffered under draconian laws, akin to bondage.

Let’s not forget the Almighty that delivered our nation from the clutches of evil to our current status. Believe that the Almighty would continue to bless this land and its peoples and destroy those who seek to divide us.

GPSU wishes its members and citizens of Guyana, a peace-filled Emancipation Day 2022.