Dear Editor,
I have made repeated requests of Dr Roger Luncheon’s secretary, Mrs Ingrid Ford for a meeting with him to have some clarification about what will become of the National Unity Monument which is sited on the National Gallery lawns. Those lawns have now been taken over by the Joint Services CIA headquarters. I don’t want to indulge in idle speculation but the silence on the subject has given rise to all sorts of rumours that the government intends to dismantle the monument.
In earlier letters to Dr Luncheon, I stated that the National Unity Monument was built as a consequence of an independent initiative by myself, and partly financed from the sale of my works of art. My friends, businessman Hemraj Kissoon, Colombian Ambassador Dr Hidalgo May Garcia and the late Gobin Dwaraka supported this initiative. The monument was declared open on the 15th anniversary of the assassination of Dr Walter Rodney, one of Guyana’s most illustrious sons.
Dr Dale A. Bisnauth, then Minister of Education, Social Development and Culture in declaring open the monument said, “A better day could not have been chosen for the handing over of the monument. It is a day which commemorates the sacrifice of one of Guyana’s greatest sons. A man who lived for racial harmony, struggled for peace and justice and who paid the price for these fine human endeavours with his life.” Dr Bisnauth expressed the hope that the monument launched on the anniversary of the June 13, 1980 death of Dr Walter Rodney, would also inspire Guyanese to live and struggle for the things he did.
The ceremony was attended by President Cheddi Jagan, United States Ambassador to Guyana Mr George I Jones, Canadian High Commissioner Mr Simon Wade, Mrs Philomena Sahoye-Shury, members of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) and artists. The National Unity Monument was endorsed by the late President Dr Cheddi Jagan, a man who spent his lifetime advocating national unity.
Permission for the construction of the monument was granted by the late Chairman of the Castellani House Committee, Mrs Janet Jagan, a generous patron of Guyanese art, and further permission was granted for the construction of the outlining columns which were to represent regional integration monuments – the National Unity Monument being the centrepiece.
I was never at any time consulted or informed by the Castellani House Management Committee or the Office of the President of the construction of the CIA headquarters on the lawns of the National Gallery.
Several years of my life have been spent constructing these monuments which upon completion would have advanced Guyana as the cultural centre of the region. I wish to enquire of the Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Presidential Secretariat Dr Roger Luncheon whether his government is prepared to compensate me for my time and the finance I expended on a project that his government has unwittingly brought to an end.
Guyana is a country historically and geographically located in the Caribbean and South America. Given the right kind of political leadership this country could play a major role in the integration process between the Caribbean and Latin America. Only political insularity could prove otherwise.
I did not build these monuments for prestige or fame; I built them in a country where race relations are extremely sensitive and sometimes volatile. The National Unity Monument was built to heal the open wounds of the nation and was dedicated to Guyanese of all races, in memory of Walter Rodney who, during his short lifetime had made an indelible contribution to improving race relations in Guyana. As an artist I remain convinced that the creative arts can be used as one of the instruments for national reconciliation; via a comprehensive understanding of our history and culture we can better appreciate and respect one another. Guyanese history is one in which the major ethnic groups have been deliberately placed in bitter competition over what social anthropologists describe as scarce resources, in order to engender a false racial consciousness.
Our people have forgotten the struggles that were waged by our foreparents to humanize the Guyanese landscape, and the unified struggle against the plantocracy. It is this state of ‘forgetfulness’ of our history that has made our people susceptible to political manipulation, while racial politics have always been used as a smokescreen to divide and rule.
At this crucial juncture, with general elections just months away, predictably unscrupulous politicians may resort to all sorts of skullduggery to engender racial insecurity in order to harvest a windfall of ethnic votes. Help save The National Unity Monument which is the embodiment of the triumphal spirit of Walter Rodney and would continue to serve as an inspiration to all who struggle for racial harmony, and for peace and justice.
It bears with it the vision of Guyana in the forefront of the regional integration movement, and a prosperous and challenging future which only a unified Guyanese nation can achieve.
Yours faithfully,
Desmond Alli
