A COLLEAGUE who recently passed away used to describe the work of writers in this fashion: “Our writers value us in words, presenting us to ourselves for re-evaluation.” To that I add, “We must not diminish the subject matter a writer may choose to explore, however infinitesimal it may seem to us; however unfamiliar to us; however distant to us; or however unaffected we are.”
June 16 is commemorated as Enmore Martyrs’ Day. On June 16, 1948, five sugar workers were shot to death on the Enmore Sugar Plantation, at Enmore, East Coast Demerara, by the police. The crime of the workers was a protest against the ‘cut-and-load’ system, which meant that the workers would now be liable to cut the cane and then load them unto the punts as against the previous system of ‘cut-and-drop’.
A monument, known as The Enmore Martyrs Monument, was erected on June 16, 1977, to mark the event of 1948. The monument was designed by the late Dr Denis Williams.
The following are extracts from two poems, marking that infamous struggle against  colonial exploitation.
The first, titled ‘The Monument’, was written by Peter Jailall, who hails from the said village of Enmore, and taken from his most recent collection of poems, ‘Sacrifice: Poems on the Indian Arrival in Guyana’.

THE MONUMENT

Site of our memory
And of the Enmore martyrs
Who were gunned down
In the killing canefields

Site of dripping blood from bullets
And from razor sheaves
Ratoon juks on naked feet
Site of planters’ heavy boots trampling

Site of our struggle
Our suffering
Our sacrifice

The second poem, titled ‘Enmore Martyrs’, was written by Nadeer Bacchus, and is taken from ‘An introduction to the Poetry of the East Indian Diaspora’, edited by Kampta Karran, who recently passed away.   

ENMORE MARTYRS

Blood!
red hot blood
spouting! Gushing
and flowing
like flood –
sacrificial blood
that stains forever
the hearts and minds
of those
that robbed you
of your lives:
for in your search
for emancipation
your innocents minds
opened the door
of the dark world
and finds it inhabited
by inhuman creatures…
O rude death
thou will eternally prey
on their living conscience…
in our eyes,
you are heroes – Enmore Martyrs
Our Martyrs.

That sacrifice was only one in a long string of remonstrations and demonstrations by the East Indians against the colonial overlords, but it was a defining moment in our history, and our writers have recorded the aftermath in various genres of literature, so that we may revalue the efforts of those martyrs, guarding against forgetfulness.  (To respond to this author, either call him on (592) 226-0065 or send him an email: oraltradition2002@yahoo.com)