The apparent massive Afro-Guyanese support for and participation in and the apparent Indo-Guyanese absence from activities associated with the golden jubilee celebrations have led some to claim that the event will be more of an African fest than a national celebration than those who gathered to hoist the Golden Arrowhead on 26 May 1966 would have expected. I have had to point out on one such occasion that like most Guyanese, most Afro-Guyanese know that comparatively not much progress has been made over the last 50 years, but they are celebrating not so much the anniversary but their release from what they perceive to have been nearly a quarter of a century of PPP dictatorial rule.
Indo-Guyanese also know that not much has been achieved since independence, but had the PPP/C still been in office today, Afro-Guyanese participation would have been muted and critical. However, our Indian compatriots would have been flocking to Guyana to celebrate our 50th independence anniversary, which would have been demarcated to expose the years of the Burnham dictatorship and the ‘vast developments’ that have taken place since ‘the return to democracy’ in spite of the continued machinations of the PNC.
