Guyana joined the rest of the region yesterday in observing the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, marking the occasion with a one-minute’s silence for those who died in the Middle Passage and in the resistance to slavery.
Even though it rained ‘cats and dogs’ yesterday some persons made their way to Parliament Building where the commemoration was held. The observances included the singing of the late Jamaican reggae singer, Bob Marley’s Redemption Song and One Love led by local singer, Delma Lynch.
The programme, which was chaired by Lorri Alexander, saw Prime Min-ister Samuel Hinds, and Georgetown Mayor Hamilton Green giving speeches, while addresses from the Chairman of Caricom and Prime Minister of St Vincent & the Grenadines, Dr Ralph Gonsavles, and Caricom Secretary General Edwin Carrington were read out.
Green in his speech took the time to press for the building of a monument at Independence Park for the Demerara martyrs and all the enslaved who lost their lives in Guyana. He recalled that on August 1, 2000 a ceremony attended by President Bharrat Jagdeo had been held and coins laid at Independence Park, but since then nothing had been done. He had had cause to write the President in May 2005, he said, reminding him of the promise to build the monument. The mayor went on to say that even though a design for the monument had been done there had been no move to have this promise fulfilled.
He told the audience that there were important lessons to be learnt from slavery which could be applied to modern life and urged his listeners to use yesterday’s occasion to free themselves from prejudice, injustice, hegemony and greed, among other ills.
Prime Minister Hinds in his speech noted that slavery was one of the oldest institutions and that the government joined in condemning the abomination of Africans being held in bondage. “We must see ourselves neither as slave-owner nor slave but as members of one human race shouldering equitably all the responsibilities of humanity,” he said.
Dr Gonsalves stressed that the people of the region should never forget “one of the greatest tragedies in the history of humanity,” but the occasion of the anniversary also presented many opportunities to teach the younger generation about it, so as to ensure that the tragedy was not repeated in old or new forms.
He also reminded the people of the region that they had much to celebrate in terms of their accomplishments “as a great Caribbean civilization that has triumphed over this great adversity,” and in terms of their cultural diversity.
Yesterday’s event along with similar ones in other Caribbean countries took place at the behest of the heads of governments of the region following the United Nations (UN) declaration that the day should be observed. March 25, 1807, is the date when the act passed by the British Parliament abolishing the trans-Atlantic slave trade went onto the statute books.
While the rain put a damper on things, causing the ceremony to be held in the corridors of Parliament instead of the yard as had originally been planned, many left feeling it was worthwhile and that the songs in particular lent the occasion a poignant significance.
