An indecent public display of Afro history

Feb 13, 2013 Letters

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Dear Editor,
In his column “The 1823 monument: The tragedy of power,” of Feb. 6, 2013, Freddie Kissoon offered the thesis that the reason for the Government of Guyana stiff-necked approach to erecting the monument to the 1823 martyrs at the Seawalls opposite GDF is merely because of an obscene obsession with power.
There is another dimension this article fails to capture, the PPPs systematic plan to marginalize, distort and devalue the contribution of people of African descent, a legacy of the Jagdeo administration. In their ham-fisted and dawdled approached to honoring the struggles of the dead, complete denigration and disrespect of the living is the “badge of pride” for the Donald Ramotar-led administration.
Who would believe that the descendants of slaves are in 2013 still fighting for economic, social and cultural justice in pretty much the same manner as their forefathers did 200 years ago? Like the slave masters back in the 1800s the PPP government of the 2000s has systematically defrocked African people of their right to basic freedom of choice and cultural expression. This indecent and well-orchestrated marginalization plan to chip away and water-down the value and significance of the contribution of people of African ancestry has taken new shape on Carifesta Avenue Seashore where a symbol of oppression disguised as a monument to the 1823 Demerara slave uprising is being erected.
While on the corner of Brickdam and High Streets in the vicinity of Parliament Building a few weeks ago, I ran into Mr. Alfred King, the Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Culture. I said to him, “Please tell your superiors and political emperors that Afro People feel disrespected that yall choose to dishonor their heritage by the arbitrary decision to build the monument on Carifesta Avenue, tell dem we want it at parade ground.”
In response to my request, it was a moment of shock and awe for me when I heard the comical nonsense that proceeded from the lips of Mr. King, he opined that, “our research revealed that Parade Ground has very little significance, only a very small number of persons were executed there.” This comment brought a rush of the imagery of Joseph Packwood, the House Slave who ‘sell out’ his people giving the enslavers the upper hand in the uprising,which led to a most violent beheading and indecent public display of the remainsof African freedom fighterson poles along the roadways.
Let’s assume for one moment that Mr. King was right, I would like for him to tell the Guyanese people what great significance the Seawalls has to the uprising. In fact, during the 1823 rebellion slaves ran in directions away from the seashores and hid in the backlands where Amerindian hunters were used to track and apprehend or kill them.
The seashore was a place of abhorrence, a dead giveaway, a cul-de-sac to their escape to freedom, a stark reminder of the deadly holocaustic middle passage journey and thecruel disembark from slave ships into a life of history’s most savage and ruthless human oppression; enslaved African people wanted nothing to do with the seashore.
As it was in 1823 so it is today. Descendants of enslaved people do not want the memory of their ancestors erected at the Seawalls.
The PPP autocracy continues to succeed in its calculated effort to perpetuate a crass level of indecency and to strip Afro Guyanese and representative organizations of the right to cultural determination because of the abetting efforts of the Packwoods in servitude to this vicious, vindictive, disrespectful and corrupt regime.
Most Guyanese have no objections to a monument being placed at the Seawalls; if the PPP Serf-lords so insist let them build one but as a memorial to the 1823 fight for freedom the Cafifesta Avenue Seawalls location is not fitting.
Parade Ground has already been decided and agreed upon by all stakeholders; my mind goes back to the official sod turning ceremony August 1, 2000. I recall vivid images of the then Minister of Culture Gail Teixiera wearing a long flowing African frock and dancing and swaying to the beat of African drums. Twelve years later Donald Ramotar and Frank Anthony are doing their own brand of dance.
Dr Anthony in Parliament reported that he made attempts to consult stakeholders but got no tangible response. He also reported that public advertisements were placed in the press signaling the intention of his Government to change the location and invite submission from individuals and organization to propose alternative locations.
He received not a single response, clearly showing that the Guyanese people did not give legitimacy to hiscircus.He then took it upon himself to assemble a group of compliant house slaves who chose, of all places, a spot on the seashore to erect their monument of contempt of Afro history and struggle for freedom.
I urge the Minister of Culture to salvage whatever human decency he has left and place the monument in its rightful location at Parade Ground to honor the sacrifice of Quamina, Gladstone, Manuel and others who gave their lives it pursuit of the freedom that we are entitled to today. It is time to stop reenacting the cycle of oppression and act in the interest and good of all Guyanese.
Leonard Craig

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