APPROACHING 85 years since Marcus Garvey visited Guyana, his 135th birth anniversary today, August 17, allows the world to reflect on the legacy of one of the greatest Caribbean leaders in history.
Garvey’s visit to British Guiana in October 1937 came 16 years after he’d been banned by the British from including the colony on the itinerary for his earlier visit of 1921, that took him to 10 British West Indian colonies.

But his Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) had a long and proud presence here during (and after) the colonial period, playing an important role, alongside the British Guiana Labour Union (BGLU), in defending the rights of Guianese of African descent to better wages and conditions of life.

Garvey and the UNIA also tirelessly preached the need for racial unity and solidarity among peoples oppressed by the white colonial regimes in Europe and North America, Africa and Europe’s West Indian colonies.
And in British Guiana, he drew lessons from other parts of the world and encouraged better understanding between Guianese of the African descent, as well as with those of Indian descent, including statements of solidarity with progressive forces in other colonies fighting for independence, especially India.

The UNIA’s local branch became a permanent target for observation and reporting by the British security forces.
The British Guiana Inspector-General of Police reported to his superiors (before Garvey arrived): “For the past five years Garvey’s disciples have been preaching in the colony… the germ of racial prejudice has undoubtedly taken root in the Negro and perhaps to a lesser degree the East Indian sections of the community…”

But Garvey looked beyond racial segregation and promoted unity within and between oppressed races, including British Guiana’s people of African and Indian descent.
Garvey’s internationalism was stamped in 1917 when he welcomed the Russian Revolution; and again in 1924, when he dispatched a letter of condolences to Moscow on the death of Russian leader Vladimir Lenin, deeming him “probably the world’s greatest man”.

For such statements and daring to promote the struggles of people of all races fighting for freedom from colonialism everywhere, Garvey was personally targeted for persecution, abuse, arrest and eventual prosecution, eventually sentenced on fraudulent fraud charges in the USA, where the UNIA had over 700 branches, with another 300 abroad.

Garvey died in 1940, three years after landing on the Bookers Wharf in Georgetown. But the UNIA left indelible footprints here, organising social community formations to provide education and skills training for families of supporters in the seven branches scattered as far apart as Charlestown and Lacytown, Parika and Pomeroon, as well as Vergenoegen.

Garvey left a legacy of preaching self-awareness and pride to his followers, constantly urging them to better understand themselves and each other, and their unlimited power to match any race in the capitals that then ruled the colonial world.

Garvey’s many messages influenced millions in the USA and Africa, Europe, The Americas and the Caribbean; and his mantle was taken-up by the likes of Professor Walter Rodney and Dr Ivan Van Sertima, Guyanese of high international standing who helped the world better understand Africa’s role in its history.

Garvey’s teaching and preaching on self-reliance is as relevant to Guyana today as back in 1937 and his eternal significance goes beyond what’s being acknowledged by the heirs and successors of those touched by his groundings (back then) with his British Guiana brothers – and sisters.
After all, Garveyism has always been – and continues to be — about more than ‘Red, Gold and Green’ — or Red, Black and Green, for that matter!