Fifty years ago there were riots over money

Feb 18, 2012 Editorial

History has a strange way of repeating itself because the human mind is such that more often than not, unless a people are involved in something, that thing would pass almost unnoticed. And so it is with some anniversaries. There are husbands who have been consigned to the proverbial dog house because they forgot their wives’ birthdays.
Fifty years ago, on February 16, 1962, Georgetown erupted in flames. The day became known as Black Friday. It was a day when workers were angry over many things, all of which were said to have been of the government’s making. They wanted more pay among other things and after prolonged negotiations, at the prompting of the trade unions, they went on strike.
There might have been mere protests and chants through the streets but someone started a rumour. The police were called out to disperse the crowds; they used tear smoke in some cases, mostly in the Water Street area where there was a large crowd of stevedores. These waterfront workers were among the most agitated and coming from the ranks of people not known for their temperate nature, they were often the ones to set the spark to any trouble.
The history of Guyana is replete with instances of disgruntled sugar workers changing the course of history. It was they who must be credited for the trade union movement in Guyana and it is they who were among the first to take to the streets at the first sign of trouble or at the first sign of dissatisfaction with the administration.
So it was that they were on the streets when the events of February 16, 1962 Black Friday, dawned. They were there, this time joined by the unemployed, the restless and the scores of housewives who were already complaining about the harsh economic realities. They were there when the rumour that tear smoke had killed a baby did the rounds.
That was the start of the violence that was to become a feature for two years. Many stores in Upper Water Street went up in flames and to this day some of the scars still remain. That was the start of a strike that had been threatening.
Looting was the order of the day. There are reports of people running through the streets with refrigerators, some with beds and others with all manner of household articles.
Fifty years later, Guyana is an independent country; the city has changed a lot. The wooden houses that predominated have been replaced by concrete; the storefront windows have become barricaded to protect more from thieves than from acts of violence.
But on the anniversary of Black Friday 1962, the main political parties were locked in Parliament debating financial transactions. Tempers flared, just as they did fifty years ago and immediately brought back memories of the dark days.
For the first time since it acceded to the seat of government the People’s Progressive Party Civic has to cope with not having its own way with the nation’s finances. In the past, the government would use its majority to brush aside opposition objections. On February 16, last, this was not the case. The opposition, using its parliamentary made its voice heard.
It refused to vote for allocations that had already been disbursed in certain areas; it questioned certain expenditures and in the end the government was angry. In most countries there is no excuse for sending before approval. This was, however, the case in Guyana to the point that it had become the accepted norm.
The signal is that those days are over; there must be accountability. But old habits die hard and this is where the problem lies. It turned out that although the administration knew of certain events in advance there was no planning for the event. Instead, the government never budgeted, choosing instead to use supplementary votes. The opposition was not prepared to allow this to continue.
What we now have is a case of the government being forced to plan and to justify every expenditure. Of course, the nation has been fed a daily dose of government corruption.

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Fifty years ago there were riots over money

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