In Guyana, the situation of the African family is no different from the rest of the African family elsewhere. The word Guyana means land of many waters. It is found on the mainland of South America and is bordered by Surinam in the East, Venezuela in the West, Brazil to the South and the Atlantic Ocean to the North. It is just smaller the Ghana with 255,000 square kilometers.
Guyana was controlled by the Spanish, the French, and the Dutch, and in 1814 it was seized by the British imperialists powers who used the most drastic acts of barbarianism and terrorism ever committed. Hundreds and thousands of African people were enslaved, brutalized, raped and murdered. The mainland English speaking country shares a common history and culture and destiny with the Caribbean and Africa.
Our society is made up of mainly Africans, East Indians, Chinese, Europeans and mixed races. The two major races are African and East Indian.
This potpourri of colonialism enables the oppressor to use divide and rule while the rest of the society crumbles in ignorance for control of pettiness that is made available for them.
Today, some people have everything, and some people have nothing. A recent neo-colonial regime came to power in 1992.They use a system similar to the caste system today in Guyana. The masses of the Africans remain impoverished and regarded as second class citizens, held at the bottom of the social ladder in servitude to all above.
Many African men can be shot by both the legal and illegal arms of the State, in their homes, in their vehicles and on the streets without any questions asked. The African Guyanese more than any other race in Guyana suffer from marginalization and subjegation.
So many of us find ourselves in debilitating poverty, unemployment, under-nourishment and hunger. We have an educational system designed to shift out the very poor from a tender age, and if you do make it out you are coming out as functional illiterates.
Drugs like cocaine aid diseases such as HIV and AIDS in eating away at the core of our generation. Unsafe and inadequate housing that correlate with being black and very poor are some of the factors in our communities.
We are demanding in larger and larger numbers real and meaningful change while Guyana is comprised of so-called representation from many African organizations whose leaders do little or nothing at all to help or represent the African people. Instead they are easily bought for thirty pieces of silver and cheap emancipation celebrations along with tax free concessions.
“So many of us find ourselves in debilitating poverty, unemployment, under-nourishment and hunger. We have an educational system designed to shift out the very poor from a tender age, and if you do make it out you are coming out as functional illiterates. ”
Their children drive the best vehicles, go to the best schools, eat the best food and live in the best housing They travel where and whenever they choose to do so, while the majority of the masses suffer and pay the cost of these leaders who are called upon to represent us.
Today, some of us still fight the same white supremacy, although Guyana achieved formal independence in 1966. After independence, no attempt was made to reconstruct the African people and the economy. The foreigner continues to control our economy.
Our national resources are being plundered by invitation. International politicians and external agencies and governments are dictating policies and programs that are not in the interest of the Guyanese people, much less the African people.
Economical dependency on colonial powers Britain and the United States and the agencies such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) all lead a new form of colonization
The racist and repressive neo-colonial regime is handing over our sovereignty, mortgaging the nation and paving the way for our re-enslavement. Our salvation does not lie in Washington consensus aid and foreign NGO’s or party politics. Our salvation lies with ourselves.
Let’s remember that our freedom from slavery was not won by consensual Europeans and missionaries. Too often we are misled in believing that slavery was ended primarily for economic reasons or on humane grounds, but there were decisive revolutionary struggles by our ancestors against colonialism.
We fought and struggled with our lives. In Durban South Africa in 2001 slavery was ruled as a crime against humanity and gave us a great opportunity also to fight for reparations and for emancipation to our homeland.
In Guyana, we founded the African Liberation Movement (ALM) in order to help and represent our people.
We have to unite, and we developed different projects to help the African people help themselves. We designed programs such as the One Love Movement and the Black Togetherness Program, to bring unity and purpose in the African home, family and community. So today I am asking my fellow brothers and sisters to help in the struggle and use these few words to unify our people.
In ending, I call on the words of Marcus Garvey: “The greatest weapon used against African people was disorganization.” Africa is for Africans at home and abroad, and we must unite to touch one touch all.
