The African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA), labelling President Bharrat Jagdeo’s visit to Buxton last week as “electoral opportunism”, is advocating mass action to gain constitutional reforms before elections in order to bring about “meaningful changes” to the structure of governance.
In a statement yesterday ACDA referred to the event, in which President Jagdeo met residents for the first time since becoming head of state in 1999, as the “Buxton sell-out” and maintained that it should “strengthen our resolve to reject electoral opportunism and struggle to win meaningful changes to the structure of governance in the country.”
And ACDA further contended that “this could only be realized by mass, collective action to win constitutional reforms before elections,” adding that “anything short of this will be a grave act of betrayal of our people.”
According to the statement, the “organizers” of the 170th anniversary celebrations in Buxton used “this sacred occasion to further demoralize a people struggling to rid themselves of State oppression, poverty, cultural and spiritual depression.”
ACDA declared that what was expected to be an uplifting and liberating period of public celebrations to mark African Emancipation “turned out to be a low act of self-inflicting damage to a people whose rich issue of struggle, independence, self-reliance and opposition to oppressors was compromised in a most disrespectful manner.”
We publicly applaud those Buxtonians who have rightfully separated themselves from the “Intellectual Authors” of these self destructive acts that dehumanize the village and by extension the African community.
These shameless collaborators are acting in their own narrow personal interest. Their adventurism at this point in history is unpardonable.
ACDA wishes to warn that this is a beginning of greater challenges to face the African community and the African leadership – either we take actions for liberation or self destruction.
The under-currents in our society that influence the overseas Buxtonians and their local collaborators to so willingly agree to dine with our oppressor, and to add insult to injury by inviting him to the village and giving him a misdirected hero welcome, in the hope of garnering economic development activities is not only short sighted, but based on a flaw misconception of the Guyanese and African reality.
