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Joint Services assault on East Coast camp:
Cop accidentally killed
-- sweeps continue
By Neil Marks
A POLICE constable was killed accidentally by another member of the security forces who was clearing his weapon at a criminal camp in the East Coast Demerara backlands discovered in a Joint Services operation Sunday, officials said yesterday.
Dead is Kwesi Lawrence, 19, of 347 Craig Village, East Bank Demerara.
Acting Police Commissioner Henry Greene said there was no report of any animosity between the ranks and Constable Lawrence, reporting that his death was purely accidental.
Lawrence joined the Guyana Police Force nine months ago and was a member of the Tactical Services Unit deployed to the East Coast backlands in the operation to root out criminal elements and find the high-powered weapons discovered missing from the Army’s Camp Ayanganna headquarters earlier this year.
The constable sustained a gunshot wound to his right leg and was taken to the St. Joseph’s Mercy Hospital in Georgetown where he was pronounced dead, Green said.
His father, Patrick Lawrence, was upset that his son could not be treated on the spot, arguing that these are necessary facilities that should be in place during an operation of the kind his son was killed working on. His mother, Vernice, expressed similar concern.
The young constable lived with his grandmother, Maud DeViera, 60, at a house just behind the Craig Assembly of God church, of which he was an active member.
The grieving grandmother said he had been living with her since her husband died at the end of December last year. She said her desire was for him to continue his studies at the Government Technical Institute, but in order to “provide for himself” he started to work in the Police Force.
She said he called her on Saturday saying that he was involved in an operation and had gotten into an accident. She recalled him saying that he jumped out of the vehicle and didn’t get hurt except for hitting his head.
The woman recalled that her grandson was very loving and caring, and whenever he was home, he would always inquire whether she had eaten. She said if he turned on the music, he would ask if it was bothering her.
Pastor Everist Baptiste, whom the young Lawrence confided in, described him as “quiet, but jovial.” He was the drummer for the church band, Vice-President of the Men’s Ministry, and a Sunday School teacher.
Lawrence had six other siblings.
The Police Commissioner visited Mrs. DeViera yesterday afternoon and told her that her grandson died in fighting the battle against crime, while he was not involved in the actual fight.
Mr. Greene said the Police Force would be supplying the food items for the wake and would also be taking care of the funeral.
BACKLANDS HABITAT
Lawrence was accidentally shot in one of the camps that the Joint Services discovered aback the East Coast backlands in an ongoing operation.
The Joint Services last Saturday night mounted “a massive operation” in the backlands of the lower East Coast from Belfield to Golden Grove as efforts continue to recover the missing AK-47 rifles.
The Joint Services said that during the operation, two well established camps were discovered and a quantity of items were recovered that included 64 rounds of ammunition for an AK-47 rifle, 56 rounds of ammunition for a G3 rifle, 2 M70 magazines, 1 G3 magazine, five handheld radios, camouflage clothing, one cell phone and a compass.
As troops were conducting the operation “they came under fire from gunmen in a densely forested area” at approximately 07:45 h on Sunday at Cove and John, a Joint Services release stated.
The troops returned fire but the gunmen later fled. One man was later arrested.
Later in the day, at about 18:50 h patrols in the backlands of Victoria came in contact with a group of armed men who opened fire on them.
According to the Joint Services, the Police and Army returned fire, fatally wounding one of the gunmen who remained unidentified.
Commissioner Greene said the “bandit” was armed with a grenade, but before he could launch it, it exploded in his hand, severing one of his arms. During the confrontation, one Policeman and two soldiers were injured.
The two soldiers, Sergeant Dexter Bond and Private E. Boyce, were reported as being in a stable condition yesterday. Bond, however, was up to press time in the High Dependency Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.
The dead man had a 9mm Taurus pistol which investigations revealed belonged to the Police Constable Sundat Ramoutar who was burnt to death in a car at Buxton late last year.
In addition, one of the radios found was the same taken from the East Demerara sugar workers who were beaten in the backlands of Lusignan on July 24 last.
“The camps were well concealed in the heavily forested backlands and had enough supplies of foodstuff to sustain its occupants for an extended period,” the Joint Services stated.
Commissioner Greene said it had not been determined how long the men were holed out in the backlands, neither could he give an estimate of how many men were using the camps.
As the operation continues the Joint Services is appealing to members of the public to report any suspicious movements in their areas.
The Joint Services also thanked members of the public who continue to provide credible information.
Chinese radio boost for Guyana police
By Chamanlall Naipaul
THE communication capability of the Guyana Police Force will be significantly improved with the acquisition of some 100 handheld radio sets through a donation by the Government of China, acting Police Commissioner Henry Greene said yesterday.
At a simple ceremony at the Ministry of Home Affairs, Chinese Ambassador here, Mr. Shen Qing handed over the communication equipment worth some $4M to Mr. Greene.
Describing the radio sets as a “significant boost”, Greene noted that the donation by the Chinese government is very timely, because during an assessment of preparations for security against the background of national elections, it was found that radio communication was a deficient area within the force, and it was contemplating renting radio sets.
The donation will now make that unnecessary, he added, pointing out that the encrypted radio sets received will be able to synchronise with the Police Force’s existing system.
Greene underscored the importance of such equipment in rapid communication, particularly in cases of urgency.
He also assured adequate security will be provided by the force during this election period, with regular patrols, monitoring and a standby force should there be any trouble.
On the issue of complaints of difficulties by members of the public in getting through to certain locations of the Police Force through the emergency telephone number 911, Assistant Commissioner (Operations), Ronald Stuart said the problems lie with the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) Company.
He said that during discussions with the company the Police Force was assured that the problems will be fixed shortly by repairing or replacing systems where necessary.
Ambassador Qing recalled that Guyana and China have enjoyed fruitful relations for a very long time and the donation of the equipment is an endorsement by his country of the commitment by the government here towards improving security.
It also represents another step in cooperation between Guyana and China, and the latter is willing to engage in further cooperation in the area of security, he said.
He observed that China, like Guyana, attaches great importance to security and expressed confidence that efforts by the Government of Guyana would lead to improved security for the country.
He said the donation will help the Police Force here to respond more promptly and effectively to requests from the public.
The Ambassador also assured of the quality of the radios, pointing out that apart from their use in China, where they are being manufactured, they have been successfully used in Bangladesh, Mongolia and Iraq.
Home Affairs Minister Ms. Gail Teixeira in expressing gratitude to Ambassador Qing for keeping a promise he made when approached for help, said the Police Force was extremely excited about the prospects of receiving the sets because of the shortage it faced in communication equipment.
She also indicated that the donation was very timely and will be extremely useful in the face of the need for increased security during the elections period.
Gun found on criminal belonged to slain cop
-- Joint Services
THE 9mm pistol the Joint Services recovered from the unidentified criminal who was killed in the backlands on the lower East Coast Sunday belonged to Constable Sundat Ramoutar whose charred remains were found at Buxton late last year, the Joint Services said yesterday.
Police on October 18, 2005 found the charred remains of Ramoutar, 30, of Owen Street, Kitty, and his neighbour, Suresh Persaud, 43, of Lot 1 Owen Street, Kitty, Georgetown, a fishmonger, in a car trunk after gunshots were heard in the troubled East Coast Demerara Buxton/Stratsphey villages.
The corpses were locked in the trunk of an ‘AT 192’ Toyota motor car shell on Stratsphey railway embankment.
Ramoutar was a Constable in the Police Tactical Services Unit (TSU).
The victims were beaten by an angry mob, then shot and killed and bundled into the vehicle that was torched.
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Man shot in confrontation with police
A MAN was shot during a confrontation with the police yesterday at Houston Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara.
The police said about 09:45 h, Paul Singh, 22, of Third Street, Agricola, East Bank Demerara, was with three men on a dam in the area when they were approached by a party of policemen.
The men discharged several rounds at the ranks who returned fire, hitting Singh in his side.
Singh’s three companions escaped into the nearby cane fields.
Singh is a patient under police guard at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.
President accuses Stabroek News of anti-PPP campaign
By Mark Ramotar
PRESIDENT Bharrat Jagdeo has accused the privately-owned Stabroek News newspaper of pushing what appears to be a blatant anti-PPP campaign in its daily news coverage as well as being a consistent critic of the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Government.
The President also accused the newspapers’ Editor-in-Chief and publisher, Mr. David de Caires of using his newspaper to push the agendas of opposition political parties, especially the new and untested Alliance For Change (AFC), as a means of gaining power through the ‘back -door’.
“Stabroek News has consistently been a critic of the government because people like David de Caires and others, and I mention his name here today – they want to get into government but they don’t want to face the polls. They don’t want to face the polls but they want to get in through the back door through organisations like this one (the AFC),” the President said on Sunday night.
He was at the time addressing thousands of PPP/C supporters at a grand rally in Albion, Berbice which officially kicked-off the governing alliance’s 2006 electoral campaign in the run-up to the August 28 polls.
The President also questioned the “true motive” of Mr. de Caires giving the AFC leaders, Mr. Raphael Trotman – a former Executive member of the main Opposition People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) and Mr. Khemraj Ramjattan – a former Executive Member of the PPP/C - space to write columns in that newspaper for almost two years – even before they officially formed the AFC.
“You know why? Because I think there is another force forming this party. We have to ask ourselves what can be their objectives. Even the Stabroek News cannot deny that we will win the presidency but they want to bring our standing in parliament below fifty per cent. So if we go below fifty per cent we have to form a coalition with the other parties, that’s their way of getting into Government. So that is what they are working towards. They know the PNC cannot do it so they have created a number of front parties,” the President told supporters.
In a comment appearing in yesterday’s edition of the Stabroek News, Editor Anand Persaud expressed surprise at the President’s attack on the newspaper.
Persaud explained that the Stabroek News had invited Trotman and Ramjattan to do monthly columns for the newspaper while they were still with the PNCR and the PPP/C respectively because they were relatively young politicians with progressive views and this was seen as a positive development in the two major parties.
Persaud said the columns came to an end on their departure from their respective parties.
The President’s scathing attack on the Stabroek News, a newspaper which maintained that it is impartial in its news coverage, came on the heels of another barrage of criticisms a few days ago from PPP/C General Secretary, Mr. Donald Ramotar.
At a news conference at the party’s Freedom House Headquarters last Thursday, Ramotar said several of the PPP/C supporters from Region Ten strongly refuted claims by the Stabroek News edition of that day (July 27) that the PPP/C paid persons to support its parade from Freedom House to City Hall for Nomination Day which took place the previous day.
The Stabroek News article claimed that the party paid $3,000 per person for their support, a claim Ramotar said is totally malicious on the newspaper’s behalf.
Meanwhile, several of the Linden supporters at the media conference expressed their outrage at the Stabroek News lies.
Candidate on the PPP/C Regional List Maylene Dandrad who was part of the Linden team told the media that “not a single person could come forward and say the PPP/C paid them.”
“The young people especially, of which there were about 85 per cent, were here supporting President Bharrat Jagdeo. They want to be with him. They stand beside him and that is why we were present and were in no way involved in the payment of anyone and if you want you could go to Linden and get the facts straight.”
Meanwhile, another candidate on the PPP/C regional list, Sherry James said that the young people in Linden responded to the invitation in large numbers and the PPP/C Linden group members volunteered transportation to bring them to Georgetown in addition to the 14 large buses provided.
“I glad for them to put up (the name of) a person or persons who said so. The press must look more for information. I am surprised at Stabroek News. I liked to read the paper,” she said.
There were more than 1,000 supporters from Linden in the Nomination Day parade.
Ramotar also lambasted the newspaper for its coverage of the recent resignation of Boyo Ramsaroop from the PPP. He pointed out that there was unbalanced coverage of the PPP’s explanation of this matter by the paper.
“The Stabroek News of course had Boyo’s presentation in a very prominent position and days later gave me two paragraphs and then repeated the whole of Boyo’s presentation, which in my view clearly shows that there is an anti-PPP sentiment that has developed in that paper that is of concern and I think we will have now to recognise them as an opposition newspaper, probably seemingly mainly to be leaning on the side very strongly of the Alliance For Change,” he said.
Farmer, taxi-driver murdered
A BERBICE farmer was shot dead during an argument at his home on Sunday and police are hunting a suspect.
Dead is Tiwari Gopaul, 42, of Yakusari North, Black Bush Polder, Berbice.
Police said about 20:30 h Gopaul and one of his sons were in the lower flat of their home when the sounds of an argument were heard, followed later by a gunshot.
Tiwari Gopaul was found with a gunshot wound to his chest.
The suspect has not yet been arrested.
In a separate incident, a city taxi driver was knifed to death by a man at a night spot on Sheriff Street, Georgetown, early yesterday morning.
Dead is Elton Hopkinson, 28, of Tucville Housing Scheme, Georgetown.
Police said about 02:10 h Hopkinson was attacked by a man armed with a knife while he was a patron at the nightspot, in the company of his fiancée and her sister.
Hopkinson was pronounced dead on arrival at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation, and a suspect was arrested and is in police custody.
Gunmen rob Chinese restaurant
TWO Chinese nationals were robbed by three gunmen on Sunday at a Chinese restaurant at Plaisance, East Coast Demerara.
The police said about 22:15 h, restaurant owner, Lin Hao Biao, 38, and cook, Suta Quing, 36, were in the eating house when they were held at gunpoint by the men who forced their way in through a doorway.
The victims were robbed of $63,000 cash and a cell phone.
The robbers escaped on foot.
Meanwhile, in an unrelated incident, an East Bank Berbice man was shot at his home by three men who attacked him yesterday morning.
The police said about 00:15 h, businessman, Sorron Dhanai, 45, of Sisters Village, East Bank Berbice, and his wife, Sohanie, were aroused by the sounds of the men breaking into the home through a window.
Upon checking, Sorron Dhanai was held at gunpoint and the robber took away his licensed .38 revolver and six matching rounds of ammunition.
Police said the men also took away $140,000 in cash and jewellery valued at $130,000.
During the robbery, Dhanai was shot in his left thigh and is a patient at the New Amsterdam Hospital.
Soldiers injured
TWO soldiers were injured when a policeman lost control of the vehicle they were in at Paradise Public Road, East Coast Demerara on Sunday.
The police said about 21:30 h, the soldiers were in a police vehicle driven by a police constable along the Paradise Public Road when the driver lost control of the vehicle while negotiating a turn.
The vehicle turned over causing the two soldiers, Privates 20395 Hunter and 20438 Cameron, to receive minor injuries.
The soldiers were treated at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation and sent away, police said.
Armed man hides out from Joint Services patrol
POLICE are investigating an incident that occurred about 17:00 h on Sunday, when an armed man allegedly sought forced refuge in a house at Triumph, East Coast Demerara, in efforts to evade Joint Services patrols in the area.
Police said an employee attached to the Guyana School of Agriculture (GSA) was in his home when he was attracted by the sound of his dogs barking and opening his door to check, he was confronted by the man armed with a gun.
The gunman demanded that he be allowed to remain in the house until the patrols left the area.
Later, when it was dark, the GSA employee was forced at gunpoint to take the man in his motor vehicle along the Railway Embankment in the vicinity of Buxton, where the man escaped, police reported yesterday.
Guyanese gets Bollywood Award
A LARGE number of Guyanese turned out Saturday evening in New York to witness entrepreneur Ed Ahmad receive his “Most Fashionable Person of the Year 2006 Award”.
This is the first time that a Caribbean national has been honoured by Bollywood and hundreds of Guyanese and other Caribbean people showed up for the event.
The glittering function was held at the Roseland Ballroom in the heart of New York City in front of a sold out crowd.
Amidst thunderous applause, Ahmad went on stage to receive his award which was presented to him by two international fashion designers.
He thanked the organizers for bestowing the top honour on him.
He said he accepted the award on behalf of those wonderful people who “supported me to reach great heights.”
“With their continued support, I hope to climb greater heights”, the real estate dealer said.
Two pedestrians killed
KISHORE Ramcharran, 39, died on the spot yesterday after he was involved in an accident with a truck at New Road, Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara.
Reports said Ramcharran, of Kidram and Best Road, West Coast Demerara was crossing the road when he was hit by a truck.
His brother Charran, 27, told the Guyana Chronicle he and his sibling were helping out at a wedding house on Best Road, and Kishore was sent to buy chickens when he was killed.
Ramcharran was unmarried and had no children. He earned a living by doing chores for persons in the neighbourhood.
The truck was yesterday lodged at the Vreed-en-Hoop Police Station.
And pedestrian Ricky Evans, 38, of Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice, was killed on Sunday afternoon when he was involved in an accident with a mini-bus.
He was pronounced dead on arrival at the Fort Wellington Hospital.
The driver of the mini-bus is in police custody.
For this year so far, 82 persons, including seven children, were killed in 68 road accidents.
This is down from 113 for the corresponding period last year, police records show.
Police find pistol, ammo in raids around Georgetown
POLICE in a raid on Saturday found an unlicensed Smith and Wesson pistol and eight matching rounds of ammunition when they raided 12 houses and arrested 13 men in Georgetown.
The houses raided were in Sophia, Kitty, Kingston, Albouystown and West Ruimveldt.
The police also seized 40 pairs of track boots believed to have been stolen.
One of the men arrested has a commitment warrant issued against him in a forged foreign currency notes matter, while the others are in custody pending investigations into other criminal offences such as possession of narcotics, police said.
Kellogg’s of U.S. support for Guyana agriculture project
THE United States firm, Kellogg’s, famous for its cereals and other food products, is funding a project designed to boost agricultural production in three Amerindian communities in Region Two (Pomeroon/Supenaam).
The Government Information Agency (GINA) said the scheme was launched at the weekend at Mainstay/Wyaka with support from the Guyana Ministry of Agriculture and the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA).
According to the agency, acting IICA Representative in Guyana, Mr. Cromwell Crawford, said Kellogg’s agreed to fund the project to support the expansion of income-generation activities in the lake communities in Guyana, while IICA’s objectives are the promotion of sustainable agricultural development, food security and the prosperity of rural communities in the 34 countries which the organisation serve.
IICA, founded in 1942, has been operating in Guyana since 1975.
“This project had its genesis several years ago when IICA took the deliberate decision to support agricultural rural development in Region Two. This decision followed a request by the then Region Two Coordinating Committee for Amerindian Development,” Crawford said.
He added that since then, IICA has worked with the communities on several projects, including the Wakapoa coffee production project, processing and farm activities at Tapakuma and tilapia farming at Mainstay.
GINA said that acting Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Harripersaud Nokta, in the feature address at Saturday’s launching, observed that the project is a welcome one and that it is through such schemes that Guyana seeks to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) such as eradicating poverty and hunger, reducing child mortality, promoting gender equality and empowering women.
“The Ministry of Agriculture recognises the importance of achieving these goals through improvements in access to food, increasing income, and increasing involvement of women, all vital to reducing poverty. As such, through the Poor Rural Communities Support Services Project (PRCSSP), the Ministry of Agriculture is executing a number of projects to address these issues,” Nokta said.
He outlined some of the projects, including the construction of ponds to rear tilapia for the Mainstay/Wyaka Women’s Group, at a cost of $149,145, as well as two projects for rearing ducklings at Tapakuma and Capoey, at a cost of $395,000.
GINA said the minister commended the communities for keeping the projects going, noting that communal farming is more productive than farming individually.
Meanwhile, the communities have got together to form the Tri-Lakes Farmers’ Association, with Mainstay Toshao (Chief), Ms. Yvonne Pearson as President.
GINA reported that the association’s board was installed during the launching.
It said Nokta also took time out during his visit to Mainstay to inspect the community’s pineapple processing facility, the pineapple farm and other cultivations of crops including tomatoes, lettuce and pumpkins.
Guyana, South Korea sign accord to push investments
SOUTH Korean investors are interested in investing in Guyana’s textiles, furniture, paper manufacturing and fisheries sectors and the two countries yesterday signed an agreement to promote and protect investments between them.
The agreement was signed by Foreign Minister Rudy Insanally and Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Guyana Mr. Shin Soong Chull at a simple ceremony in the main conference room at the ministry’s Takuba Lodge headquarters in Georgetown.
The agreement on the protection and promotion of investments between Korea and Guyana was previously negotiated between the two governments and in August last year, the final text agreed on by the two sides was initialed.
This event set the foundation for the signing of the agreement which will now cement relations for the protection and promotion of investments between the governments of Guyana and Korea.
Insanally said the agreement will further promote and protect investments made by investors so as to accord fair and equitable treatment that will be conducive to the simulation of individual business initiative, stimulate foreign direct investment and increase the prosperity of both countries.
The two countries have enjoyed friendly and fruitful relations since 1969 and this agreement on the promotion and protection of investments is expected to further strengthen ties between them.
Jaguars killing cattle on Essequibo Coast
FARMERS of Somerset and Berks, Cozier and Aurora on the Essequibo Coast have reported that jaguars are attacking and killing their cattle in the backlands, and have called on the Police to grant them firearm licences to kill the big cats.
Farmers of Somerset and Berks and Cozier said the jaguars killed several head of cattle and dragged them across a clogged canal to thick bushes on the foreshore of the Atlantic Ocean at Cozier.
They said the jaguars are dangerous, and they themselves feel threatened by the animals.
Chairman of the Pomona–Good Hope Neighbourhood Democratic Council, Mr. Showkat Ally, confirmed that several large jaguars in the backlands of Aurora Village are killing cattle.
According to Ally, the latest incident occurred Sunday night.
The Guyana Chronicle was informed that a group of young men went into the bushes on the Somerset and Berks foreshore to catch crabs over the weekend when a jaguar rushed at them, and they fled.
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African slave trade
The trading of slaves has been carried on for thousands of years in Africa. The first main line of supply passed through the Sahara, to which during and after the Age of Exploration, added itself the atlantic slave trade, through which slavery became an institution mainly considered to be one of African-derived slaves and non-African slave owners.
Despite its illegality, the African slave trade continues today in parts of the continent. The contemporary slave trade focuses principally on the theft and sale of children into slavery as child soldiers and sex workers; secondarily, on the forced sale of women into slavery, typically for use in the sex trade.
History
The earliest external slave trade was the trans-Saharan slave trade. Although there had long been some trading up the Nile River and very limited trading across the western desert, the transportation of large numbers of slaves did not become viable until camels were introduced from Arabia in the 10th century. Slaves purchased from black slave dealers in West African regions known as the Slave Coast, Gold Coast, and Côte d'Ivoire were sold into slavery as a result of a defeat in black on black tribal warfare. Mighty black kings in the Bight of Biafra near modern-day Senegal and Benin sold their captives internally and then to European slave traders for such things as metal cookware, rum, livestock, and seed grain. Also during this time, the European powers namely Portugal, Spain, France and England, were vying for majority control of the African slave trade, although having little effect on the continual internal black on black, or Arab trading. Great Britain's existing colonies in the Lesser Antilles and their effective naval control of the Mid Atlantic forced other countries to abandon their enterprises due to inefficiency in cost. The English crown provided a charter giving the Royal African Company monopoly over the African slave routes until 1712.
The Atlantic slave trade developed much later, but it would eventually be by far the largest and have the greatest impact. The first Europeans to arrive on the coast of Guinea were the Portuguese; the first European to actually buy slaves in the region was Antão Gonçalves, a Portuguese explorer. Sugar growing is a laborious undertaking and Portuguese settlers were difficult to attract due to the heat, lack of infrastructure, and hard life. To cultivate the sugar the Portuguese turned to large numbers of African slaves.
Increasing penetration of the Americas by the Portuguese created another huge demand for labour in Brazil, for farming, mining, and other tasks. To meet this, a trans-Atlantic slave trade soon developed. Slave-based economies quickly spread to the Caribbean and the southern portion of what is today the United States. These areas all developed an insatiable demand for slaves. From its beginning it is estimated that some 12 million slaves were taken from Africa to the Americas. The result of this trade is one of the largest migrations in history. A small number of slaves were also shipped to Europe while some were also transported to other areas of Africa, mostly to South Africa.
Why African slaves?
In the late 15th century, Europeans (Spanish and Portuguese first) began to explore, colonise and conquer the territory in the Americas. With using weapons such as gun power they easily defeated the indigenous people, whom they named "Indians". The European colonists attempted to enslave some of the Indians to perform hard physical labour, but found they were not good workers, with the poor conditions and diseases like smallpox which the Europeans brought in with them, indigenous numbers gradually decreased. The idea of using black people from sub-Saharan Africa as slaves initially came from the existing Arabian and Persian slave trade along East Africa which Portuguese sailors came into contact with in the 15th century. The Europeans had also noted the West African practice of enslaving prisoners of war. They soon started bartering these captive slaves with their black slave owners for guns, brandy and other goods, that were only produced outside of Africa, and this gave rise to an increasing demand for black tribes to continue capturing ever more Africans for the purpose of selling them into slavery to white Europeans, but trading with Arabs and other internal black tribes still continued. The African slaves were more resistant to European diseases than the Indians and a regular trade was soon established.
Effects
While, often, no one disputes the harm done to the slaves themselves, the effects of the trade on African societies are much debated due to the apparent massive wealth black Africans were making by selling their own enslaved people to the more profitable Europeans. In the 19th century, European abolitionists slowly began to see slavery as an unmitigated evil. This view continued with scholars into the 1960s and 70s such as Basil Davidson, who conceded it might have had some benefits while still acknowledging its largely negative impact on Africa. Today, however, many scholars assert that slavery did not have a wholly disastrous effect on those left behind in Africa.
These scholars assert that the numbers of slaves exported were large, but so was the population from which they were drawn. At its peak, the Atlantic slave trade took about 90,000 slaves per year out of a total population of around 25 million in just Guinea, where the vast majority originated. This number was significant, yet only a moderate annual growth rate in population was enough to sustain it by replacement. Therefore, the slave trade is unlikely to have caused a decrease in the population of West Africa, even as it may have reduced or even halted population growth in some regions.
All three slave-trading routes tapped into local trading patterns. Europeans or Arabs in Africa very rarely mounted expeditions to capture slaves. It was far easier and more common to make use of existing black African middlemen and slave traders. Slavery has long been present in Africa for millennia, as some say it is still today even with children, though some historians prefer to describe African slavery as feudalism, arguing it was more like the system that controlled the peasantry of Western Europe during the Middle Ages or Russia into the 19th century than slavery as it was practiced in the Americas.
The slaves came from many different sources. About half came from the societies that sold them. These might be criminals, heretics, the mentally ill, the indebted and any others that had fallen out of favour with the rulers. Most came from captured tribes in black on black tribal warfare. Little is known about the details of practices before the arrival of Europeans, and so it is difficult to tell if the number of people considered as undesirables was artificially increased to provide more slaves for export. It is believed that capital punishment and human sacrifice in the region nearly disappeared since prisoners became far too valuable to dispose of in such a way.
Another source of slaves, comprising about half the total, came from military conquests of other states or tribes. It has long been contended that the slave trade greatly increased violence and warfare in the region due to the pursuit of slaves, but many argue that it is very hard to find any evidence to prove this; warfare was certainly common even before slave hunting had added such an extra inducement.
Slaves were an expensive commodity, and the traders and rulers of the African states supposedly received a great deal in exchange for condemning some of their population into slavery. At the peak of the slave trade, it is said that hundreds of thousands of muskets, vast quantities of cloth, gunpowder and metals were being shipped to Guinea. Guinea's trade with Europe at the peak of the slave trade—which also included significant exports of gold and ivory—was some 3.5 million pounds Sterling per year. By contrast, the trade of the United Kingdom, the economic superpower, was about 14 million pounds per year over this same period of the late 18th century. Thus, for those left behind in Africa the standard of living increased substantially and the region became divided into highly centralized and powerful nation states, such as Dahomey and the Ashanti Confederacy. It also created a class of very wealthy and highly Europeanized traders who began to send their children to European universities.
Abolition
Beginning in the late 18th century, reaction against the barbarities of the slave trade led to it being outlawed. France was Europe's first country to abolish slavery, in 1794, but it was revived by Napoleon in 1802, and only banned for good in 1848. In 1807 the British Parliament passed the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, under which captains of slave ships could be fined for each slave transported. This was later superseded by the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act, which freed all slaves in the British Empire. Abolition was then extended to the rest of Europe. The power of the Royal Navy was subsequently used to suppress the slave trade, and while some illegal trade, mostly with Brazil, continued, the Atlantic slave trade would be eradicated by the middle of the 19th century. The Saharan and Indian Ocean trades continued, however, and even increased as new sources of slaves became available. According to Mordechai Abir, with the Russian conquest of the Caucasus, Ethiopia became the primary source to buy slaves for the Muslim world. The slave trade within Africa also increased. The British Navy could suppress much of the trade in the Indian Ocean, but the European powers could do little to affect the intra-continental trade.
The continuing anti-slavery movement in Europe became an excuse, and a trumped up reason, for the European penetration and colonisation of much of the African continent. In the late 19th century, the Scramble for Africa saw the continent rapidly divided between Imperialistic Europeans, and an early but secondary focus of all colonial regimes was the suppression of slavery and the slave trade. In response to this public pressure, Ethiopia officially abolished slavery in 1932. By the end of the colonial period they were mostly successful in this aim, and slavery is still very active in Africa even when it has gradually was moved to a wage economy. Independent nations attempting to westernise or impress Europe sometimes cultivated an image of slavery suppression, even as they, in the case of Egypt, hired European soldiers like Samuel White Baker's expedition up the Nile. Slavery has never been eradicated in Africa, and it commonly appears in states, such as Sudan, in places where law and order have collapsed.
Apologies
At the 2001 World Conference Against Racism in Durban South Africa, African nations demanded a clear apology for the slavery from the former slave-trading countries. Some EU nations were ready to express an apology, but the opposition, mainly from the United Kingdom, Spain, Netherlands, Portugal, and the United States blocked attempts to do so. A fear of monetary compensation was one of the reasons for the opposition.
(From Wikipedia.org)
The bloody struggle for freedom in Guyana and the Caribbean
By Colin Bobb-Semple
(The writer is Senior Lecturer, Inns of Court School of Law, City University, Gray’s Inn, London; Chairperson, Guyana Law Association (UK); Solicitor and Attorney-at-law)
ON THE occasion of the 168th anniversary of Emancipation of African Slaves in British Colonies, and in this inaugural year of the CARICOM Single Market and Economy, we reflect upon the bloody struggle for freedom which occurred in Guyana and the Caribbean territories.
Leading freedom fighters
There were several leading freedom fighters throughout the region who challenged the brutal regimes of the planters and sought freedom from their bondage, genocide and inhumanity of slavery. Some of the more outstanding leaders were:
Cudjoe, who led the Maroons of Jamaica from 1729 to 1739;
Tackey, the leader of an uprising in Antigua in 1735 to 1736;
Tacky, who led an uprising in Jamaica which lasted from Easter 1760 to October 1761;
Cuffy (Kofi) who vowed not to be a slave again, with Akara, Atta, Accabre, Cossala, Goussari and others, who took control of a large section of the Dutch colony of Berbice, for 10 months in 1763;
Toussaint L’Ouverture, Dessalines and others in St Domingue, the leaders of the largest and most successful of all the uprisings. In the period 1791-1803, an army of ex-slaves, inspired by French revolutionary principles of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, defeated the Spanish, British and French armies, in turn. The British army suffered the loss of 80,000 men in their disastrous invasion of St Domingue. They withdrew in 1798. An independent state was declared on 1st January 1804 and it was given the Amerindian name of Haiti.
Julien Fedon, the leader of an uprising in Grenada in 1795, which lasted 16 months;
Bussa, one of the leaders of a large uprising of 13,000 slaves in Barbados in 1816;
Quamina, his son Jack Gladstone and others, who led an uprising of at least 12,000 slaves in Demerara in August 1823, in their demand for ‘unconditional emancipation’. The slaves reversed the roles, became ‘masters’ for a short period and confined their ‘slaves’, the humiliated managers and overseers, in the stocks. It is noted that Plaisance has been chosen as the village for celebration in honour of Victoria, the first village purchased by emancipated slaves. A number of Africans in Plaisance participated in the 1823 uprising and Attila, of Plaisance, was said to have played a significant role.
Sam Sharpe, the leader of an uprising in Jamaica in 1831-1832, in which more than 20,000 slaves were involved, and which resulted in damage and loss valued at an enormous amount of more than £1 million.
Charges against Governor Murray concerning the ‘cabal’ in Demerara-Essequibo
In a letter published in Guyana Chronicle dated 6th July 2006, captioned “The original ‘Guianese Mafia’, reference was made to members of the plantocracy who laid down and enforced the draconian slave law which promoted racism, torture and inhuman or degrading treatment of the Africans. Colonial records contain many references to a sinister Mafiaesque group which operated in Demerara in the 19th century. They often wrote anonymous threatening letters in the press signed ‘The Rough and Plain Planters’ and similar titles.
Mr Sergeant William Rough, the President of the Court of Criminal and Civil Justice of Demerara from 1816-1821, referred to the members of the group of planters as a ‘cabal’, in a petition containing charges which he laid against Governor Murray. He accused the Governor of allowing this ‘cabal’ to indulge in corruption, oppression and extortion. The charges included misgovernment, oppression by reason of office and conspiracy. The Privy Council’s opinion was that Governor Murray was ‘…not justified…’ in suspending the President of the Court, that his conduct was ‘…reprehensible in not having taken any measures for preventing a procession … evidently designed as an insult to the President … and threatened not only his personal safety, but the public peace…’, that there was ‘…much irritation between the parties…’, that they saw ‘…cause to regret the indiscreet conduct…’ of Sergeant Rough on some occasions, and ‘…also the remissness…’ of the Governor ‘…in not sufficiently maintaining the respect due from the inhabitants of the colony to the judicial character and authority of Mr. Sergeant Rough, and the Court over which he presided; and in not endeavouring to protect them from a series of libellous calumnies to which they were exposed’.
The Guiana planters received much support in England. Colonial Office records contain the minutes of a meeting held at the house of Charles McGarel in Wimpole Street, London on 21 June 1823, when The British Guyana Association was formed. Members of the Committee were James Baillie, Chairman, James Blair MP, Andrew Colville, I. W. Dunkin, John Gladstone MP, Tully Higgins, John Innes, William King, Charles McGarel and Spencer Mackay. This association included the largest Guiana absentee plantation owner, John Gladstone (father of William Gladstone who later became UK Prime Minister) and represented the interests of the Guiana plantocracy. Their lobby provided strong opposition to the abolitionists.
Abolition of Slavery and Apprenticeship
It is clear from the debates in the British Parliament in 1833, when the Slavery Abolition Bill was being considered, that the Jamaica and Demerara uprisings greatly shocked and troubled the British nation. Abolitionists such as William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, Thomas Fowell Buxton and others had been adopting a ‘softly, softly’ approach of gradual abolition, after the slave trade from Africa to the Guianas and Trinidad was abolished by an Order in Council in 1805 and further abolished throughout the British Colonies on the 1st May 1807 by the Slave Trade Act 1807. The British Government had issued several Orders in Council and Instructions to colonial legislatures to implement legislation for the amelioration of the conditions of slaves as part of the gradual process towards abolition. The legislatures blatantly refused to implement some of the policies, especially those placing restrictions on the punishment of slaves. Mr Secretary Stanley expressed his concern that the colonies ‘disdainfully refused to obey the suggestions and determinations of Parliament and the mother-country’ (Ministerial Proposition for the Emancipation of Slaves, House of Commons, May 14, 1833, Hansard, p. 1199). The uprisings of the freedom fighters forced the issue before Parliament and resulted in the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. The legislation was a compromise with the powerful West India planters, whereby the slaves would be declared to be ‘free’ from slavery on 1st August 1834, on condition that from that day they would be kept in the bondage of apprenticeship for 4 years if domestic, or 6 years if they worked in the field. They were not free. They were forced to labour for their former masters for up to 45 hours a week without pay, though they could expect pay for work in excess of those hours. The British Government’s intention was that the former slaves would be gradually transformed into wage labourers and would remain on the plantations. The system did not, however, apply to some islands such as Antigua and Bermuda, which freed their slaves on 1st August 1834.
There was widespread resistance to the system of apprenticeship. Strikes occurred throughout the colonies. Some labourers argued that they were already skilled, and resented being called ‘apprentices’. Others argued that they were still being treated like slaves, and demanded ‘full freedom’ or ‘unrestricted liberty’. Damon was a notable leader of about 700 labourers who went on strike and demonstrated against the apprenticeship system in Essequibo in August 1834.
‘Full freedom’ was eventually achieved when the apprenticeship system was prematurely terminated by the British Government, and apprentices were declared free on 1st August 1838. In Guyana and some of the Caribbean colonies, however, indenture, another form of bondage, was relied on to supply African, Portuguese, East Indian, Chinese and other immigrants to labour on the plantations.
** (The writer acknowledges that information for this account has been gleaned from several sources, too numerous to list, including: Bobb-Semple, C. (2005) Demerara sugar, plantation injustice: Two centuries of suffering in Guyana, Guyana Chronicle, 24 February (see sources listed).
Bobb-Semple, C. (2005) God, Moses, the law and the genesis of human rights in Guyana, Guyana Chronicle, 30 March (see sources listed).
Colonial Office Records, several, especially CO 111-43 1823 re: Offices and Individuals (Guiana).
da Costa, E. V. (1994) Crowns of Glory, Tears of Blood – The Demerara Slave Rebellion of 1823, New York: Oxford University Press.
Hamilton, A. (2006) ‘Slaver’s descendant begs forgiveness’, The Times, June 22, News, p. 9.
Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, May-July 1833.
Hart, R. (1980) Slaves Who Abolished Slavery: Vol. 1 Blacks in Bondage, Mona, Jamaica: Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of the West Indies.
Report of His Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council (1825) In the Case of William Rough … against John Murray … London: Longman et al.
Shahabuddeen, M. (1978) Constitutional development in Guyana 1621-1978, Georgetown, Guyana.
Shyllon, F. O. (1974) Black Slaves in Britain, London: Oxford University Press.
Walvin, J. (1993) Black Ivory, A History of British Slavery, London: Fontana Press.
Reflections on Emancipation
TOTA C. MANGAR
This month of August, 2006 marks the 172nd anniversary of Emancipation Day. It was on August 1, 1834, that the despicable system of slavery was abolished in all British colonies including Guyana the former British Guiana.
Such a development emerged as a consequence of intense and ongoing struggle, sacrifice and resistance by the victims themselves along with the valiant efforts of energetic supporters such as religious leaders, humanitarians, politicians and enlightened individuals of the day.
Our history tells us that our Afro-Guyanese forefathers were first brought here during the early decades of the 17th century by the Dutch in their quest for settlement and colonization. This was part of a wider and forced movement of people from the continent of Africa to the West Indian islands and the Americas which started more than a century earlier.
Slavery in the New World was institutionalized by the Europeans on the grounds of economic necessity through the Trans-atlantic slave trade. The end-result was that millions of Africans were uprooted from their homeland through trickery, kidnapping, raids, bribery and other forms of deception and taken against their will to these parts where they found themselves into the monstrous system of plantation slavery.
In order to justify their actions Europeans quite persistently argued that slavery was in existence in Africa even before they made contact with that continent. But, let me hasten to say that the slavery that existed in Africa before the advent of New World “Slavery”, was a completely different system. It was more or less a social institution. Africans saw it as an honour and obligation to give service to their rulers in the army, in agriculture, in construction works and other areas of development. It was a relatively humane system which permitted upward social mobility.
On the contrary, the slavery that emerged in the West Indies and the Americas due to European imposition was characterised by greed, injustice, cruelty and gross exploitation. There was nothing humane about the system and the victims were reduced to the status of ‘properties or things’ of the masters. It is little wonder that prominent African scholar, Dr. Ajayi, aptly states that it is absurd to use the same word “slavery” to describe the two systems, the humane social institution in Africa as against the very oppressive economic institution which unfolded in the New World.
The Trans-Atlantic slave trade and plantation slavery were degrading, demoralizing and dehumanization to the victims in every sense of the word. From the very outset, it was a supreme sacrifice and valiant struggle to survive this obviously harsh and oppressive system.
It was not surprising, therefore, that resistance quickly became an integral part of the system. Our foreparents resisted capture on the African continent itself, they adopted innovative methods of resistance on board the overcrowded slave ship while crossing the Middle or Atlantic Passage and on the plantations they rightly intensified their resistance.
The varied forms of passive and active resistance clearly demonstrated their determination as a people and their non-compliance with the evils of bondage and oppression. Malingering, feigning illness or ignorance, hunger strike, deliberately doing poor work, self-inflicted actions, damage to master’s property, maronage, and slave rebellions were all part of the strategy to undermine the economic, social, political and cultural dominance the master class enjoyed at the expense of the victims.
The 1763 Revolt and the heroic efforts of Cuffy, Atta, Accabre and others must certainly have been an inspiration to many in the cause of Emancipation. The same could be said of other slave rebellions including the 1823 East Coast Insurrection which vividly illustrated the slaves’ desire for freedom.
These very actions of the slaves undoubtedly instilled fear and uncertainty in the minds of the plantocracy. Above all, they contributed significantly in complementing the efforts of those within the Abolition Movement to sensitize and mould public opinion in the furtherance of Emancipation.
In the final analysis the ongoing struggle, sacrifice and resistance bore fruit as the British Emancipation Act which was passed in 1833 came into force on the 1st August, 1834, bringing to an end the atrocious system of slavery which for centuries had brought so much pain, suffering and bitterness.
As a matter of fact, at midnight of July 31, 1834, an estimated ¾ of a million men, women and children ceased to be slaves. In the case of Guyana it meant that approximately 85,000 slaves became ‘partially freed’ in 1834. It was considered ‘partially freed’ because in reality it was not ‘full freedom’ in the initial stage. The Emancipation Act catered for a period of transition called the apprenticeship system and so the ex-slaves were apprenticed to their former masters. This apprenticeship system lasted for four years, 1834-1838, after which ‘full freedom’ was achieved.
During this period the apprentices had to provide compulsory unpaid labour to the extent of three-quarters the working week for their former masters, while the remaining quarter working week they were expected to earn wages.
By opting for the apprenticeship period the British Government intended to have a smooth transition from slavery to full freedom. It also wanted to ensure a continuous labour supply to plantation owners thereby ensuring the survival of the dominant sugar industry.
Indeed, the piece of legislation which ended slavery hinted at momentous, far-reaching changes in the society. It transformed the legal status of more than 80 percent of the population by abolishing the legal oddity of property in person and by substituting equality for all before the law.
It altered the labour base of the society by substituting a wage labour system for unpaid slave labour. It outlined the basis for the existence of a greatly enlarged body of free persons by removing the legal authority which had over the years enabled a small elite group (the planters) to exercise unlimited arbitrary power over the activities and lives of the overwhelming majority (slaves).
In reality, Emancipation and Apprenticeship created problems. The ex-slaves quite rightly could not understand why they had to be apprenticed to their former masters and at the same time being told that they were free. Planters made life more difficult for them by adopting an increasingly hostile attitude. They wanted to extract as much labour out of the apprentices before the period was over. They arbitrarily deducted wage rates and even withdrew basic supplies. They indulged in unjust provocation and apprentices had to fend for themselves. They practiced many features of slavery.
It was this state of affairs which led to the heroic passive resistance by Damon and his followers on the Essequibo Coast in 1834, and by labourers elsewhere. It is not surprising, therefore, that the system came to a premature end in 1838, and full freedom was eventually achieved.
Undoubtedly, the ex-slaves had high hopes, aspirations and expectations with the coming of Emancipation. Their mass exodus from the plantations during the critical period of ‘crisis and change’ tells a lot.
Several decades of cruelty and injustice under the slavery system had resulted in the plantation being seen as the symbol of dehumanization, degradation and demoralization as far as the victims were concerned.
They quite naturally wanted to rid themselves of planter class social, cultural and political domination and at the same time they were very keen to assert their economic independence largely through agricultural activities. They wanted to start life afresh and with dignity and pride.
In spite of the tremendous difficulties these freed men faced it was with great determination and enthusiasm that they embarked on the village movement commencing with the admirable communal purchase of Northbrook (now Victoria) and other abandoned estates throughout the country.
It was through their laudable efforts that many communal and even proprietary villages emerged. Within a few years after emancipation the African village population had by far outnumbered that of the estates. Associated with this was their cash crop cultivation which resulted in a vibrant and rapidly expansive peasantry.
In the face of planter class antagonism, inadequate finance for capital investment and infrastructural development, periodic flooding and destruction of crops, exorbitant land prices and high rentals, virtually non-existent transportation and marketing facilities, restrictive ordinances and some unsympathetic administrators, the ex-slaves and their descendants persisted in the 19th century.
It was the free village life which initiated development in many rural communities such as the establishment of churches, schools roads, bridges, sea defences, drainage and irrigation, canals and even village management. The latter was local democracy in its infancy stage.
Emancipation Month is certainly an occasion for rejoicing and at the same time one for sober reflection. Our Afro-Guyanese fore-fathers who endured slavery with all its viciousness have paid the supreme sacrifice through their toils, perils and lives to help lay the foundation for our country’s development.
Their descendants have over the years given, and continue to give, invaluable contribution to every sphere of activity including the social, economic, cultural and political fields. Some of our leading politicians, trade unionists, professionals, agriculturalists, miners, sportsmen, businessmen, artistes, industrialists and the like, are descendants of those Africans who dedicated their lives for betterment.
This is clearly a time for us to take inspiration as we strenously strive for full national unity so necessary for our country’s continued progress and the well being of all.
I salute our African brothers and sisters and indeed all Guyanese on the occasion of our 172nd Anniversary of Emancipation.
HAPPY EMANCIPATION MONTH TO ONE AND ALL!
Reflect on experience of foreparents
President Jagdeo
President of Guyana, Bharrat Jagdeo is asking that Guyanese reflect on the experiences of their foreparents this Emancipation Day.
“On August 1st 1834,” said the President in his Emancipation Day message, “plantation slavery, a most horrendous and barbaric system of human exploitation was abolished in the British Caribbean. We are celebrating another Emancipation anniversary and it is an opportunity for us to reflect on the long and tumultuous experience of our fore-parents and their struggles to rid themselves of bonds that for so long stifled their existence, creativity, culture, free will and spirit.”
The President said in his statement that Emancipation Day provided an opportunity for everyone to recognise the tremendous contributions made by Guyanese of African descent in all areas of endeavour and national development.
“Africans have found a place in all strata of society and have contributed significantly to Guyana’s development in several spheres such as sport, education, academia, politics, medicine and government.”
The President said that Guyanese must recognise that Emancipation is that is a struggle still in progress as “we work to free ourselves from the modern shackles that seek to once again enslave us: misinformation, violence and seeds of division.”
The President stated that this day, August 1, is significant not only to the Africans but to all Guyanese, whatever their ethnicity. Freedom, he noted, brings with it responsibility for actions and words spoken so Guyanese can reflect with pride upon the journey. This can only be done through love, peace, cultural and religious tolerance, he added.
“By rededicating our efforts towards a cohesive Guyana,” stated the President, “our beautiful country will be stronger to face the challenges forced upon us. Happy Emancipation Day to all Guyanese!”
PPP/C announces
No campaigning on Freedom Day
The People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), has announced that it, will not be holding any Elections Campaign public meetings for today, August 1, in deference to the observance of Emancipation Day 2006.
“The PPP/C believes,” stated a release from the party, “that this occasion should be spared the partisan rhetoric and Guyanese be not distracted from participating in and marking this most important event of our country – the abolition of slavery.”
In the release, the PPP/C urged all Guyanese to reflect on the tremendous sacrifices endured by their African fore-parents, inspiring subsequent struggles for the country’s and people’s freedom.
“The Guyanese people,” stated the party in a separate release, “as a whole caught the spirit of the freedom fighters as they fought to end indentureship and colonialism. It was the spirit of liberation that sustained us during the struggle to establish a democratic society in the post independence period.”
Emancipation was never an ends in itself
Freedom Day Message from the PNCR
The PNCR joins with the rest of the nation in celebrating the 168th Anniversary of the emancipation of slaves. This occasion marks a moment in our history of unsurpassed significance and impact for all Guyanese.
The abolition of slavery in 1838 did not automatically mean the total liberation of slaves. While ex-slaves were freed from being the property of others and freed from living at the total mercy and caprice of others, they still remained the victims of economic, political and social sabotage and mental bondage.
Today therefore, as Afro-Guyanese take stock of themselves 168 years later, they must measure their progress not only by how much they have managed to unshackle themselves, but by how much further they have to travel to achieve economic, spiritual and social self-fulfillment. They must appreciate that emancipation was never an end in itself; it only provided the necessary condition for Africans to realise their life goals as individuals, as families, as communities and as a people sharing the country with others.
African-Guyanese can be justifiably proud of their enormous efforts and achievements towards building this nation. Their inputs have been in all fields of human endeavour including academia, public service, business, politics, diplomacy, arts and culture, sports and community development. Afro-Guyanese must continue to travel the road of total liberation in honour of those who fought for freedom. They must continue to work with others to build a better nation for all.
The PNCR believes that Guyana's ethnic diversity has to be acknowledged and catered for. Far from distracting from the broader national agenda, the resolution of specific ethnic concerns is an essential prerequisite for the successful achievement of national goals. In other words, our collective well-being hinges on the well-being of our distinctive parts.
The celebration of the 168th anniversary of Emancipation therefore, is, not only a recognition of Afro-Guyanese as a distinctive people, but a reaffirmation of our diversity and common destiny.
A Happy Emancipation Anniversary to all Guyanese!
Work for true Emancipation
Message from the AFC
The Leadership and members of the Alliance for Change (AFC), salute all Guyanese of African descent as together we celebrate Emancipation Day. May the joyous spirit of Freedom that saw the end of slavery transcend the boundaries of the physical and manifest itself in the minds and thinking of us all.
May we work together for that true Emancipation from the archaic thinking of the past and reach for a future that encompasses the bold new idea of unity, integrity, service before self and peace for all Guyana.
We at the A.F.C would wish that all Guyanese would reflect on this as together we work to break the chains that still holds us.
Emancipation Day and working for the good of all
A Message from the ACDA
Today, we join our African brothers and sisters to celebrate the 172nd anniversary of emancipation. And we cannot help but notice that over the last few years there has been a deeper perception of the significance of emancipation reflected in the various forms of the celebration.
Bagotville, on the West Bank, Demerara, has for many years been a leading community in the observance of emancipation. The four-day celebration there began with a church service last Saturday, and will conclude with a libation ceremony today.
One of the memorable features will be a meeting under the shade of a spreading tamarind tree, which was a meeting place for slaves in the plantation days.
Another notable landmark which gains prominence at this time is the St. Thomas Anglican Church in Kingston, where slaves were once housed and where they attended religious services.
Today, the National Park will be the venue for a big meeting, organized by the African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA). At this gathering, we will have much to celebrate. Not only the freedom from slavery anniversary, but the outstanding achievements of Afro Guyanese and their stellar contributions to national development.
The entrepreneurship displayed among slaves at emancipation had sown the seeds for their drive and desire to uplift themselves and their communities and nation.
More than a dozen villages were purchased by the freed slaves, testimony to their cooperative philosophy and vision. One of the unfortunate realities we just cannot ignore is that while there had to be change in the politics of the country, it brought with it sociological perceptions which resulted in ethnic divisions.
But the truth of the matter is that every ethnic group making up this nation of ours has made and continues to make outstanding contributions to national development.
These perceptions come to the fore at various times of the year and at certain periods of our development.
Today we join in celebrating the achievements of our Afro-Guyanese community. Needless to say, today’s celebrations are even more important as today is also the beginning of the month when we go to the polls to elect a government, with the prayer that we elect the government of our choice, that we abide by the results, and that we all put our shoulders to the wheel and work for the good of the nation. Happy Emancipation Day to all.
Demonstrate Emancipation in thought, word, deed
GAWU
The Guyana Agricultural Workers’ Union (GAWU) is urging that Afro-Guyanese community demonstrate Emancipation in thought, word and deed, not only for itself but for all Guyana as well.
The Union called on all Guyanese of African ancestry to reflect both on the concept of freedom, and how the freedoms gained since Emancipation have been used to benefit them and their country.
“We have the rights and freedoms denied us as slaves, apprentices, indentured immigrants and colonials. We have the rights and freedoms to vote, own property, be educated, assemble and to express ourselves freely. But we must not use those freedoms to incite racially, to discriminate and to deny others of different views that which we wish for ourselves.”
Cement unity of the races
NFA
The National Front Alliance is urging Guyanese to use the common bond of resistance to cement unity of the races in Guyana and the Caribbean.
“We are in danger of being recolonised spiritually, mentally, and even physically,” the party stated in a release,” so it is imperative that we forge a common bond across all differences in our country and throughout the Diaspora to preserve that freedom which was won with the blood, sweat and tears of our foreparents.”.
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