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June is now Guyana’s month of remembrance

Jun 15, 2013 Editorial

 

 

Every time June comes around Guyana becomes enamoured with remembering some of the incidents that have become talking points and which will remain talking points for as long as the nation detects some controversy. Way back in 1948, five sugar workers were killed, shot by the colonial police who were really young Guyanese who had joined the local militia.
These sugar workers had a legitimate grouse. They abhorred the system that operated in the sugar fields and wanted a change so that they could maximize their earnings. Cane cutters were expected to operate under a system called ‘cut and drop. They simply cut the cane and left it on the ground for a crew to fetch. They wanted a system called cut and load which allowed them to cut the cane and then load it onto the punts. This would allow them to earn more.
Of course, change in any system is not accepted lightly so there was the confrontation between employer and worker. But confrontation between the colonial administrators and the locals was nothing new. This sugar situation was just another. In the end the situation escalated to the point where the workers decided that they should shut down the Enmore estate to press for their demands.
It might have been intolerance on the part of the colonials but then again, it might have been the aggressive demand of their right to determine their role in the sugar industry. In the end five men, all of them young and one of them no more than 21, were shot and killed. The date was June 16, 1948.
There was an investigation that same year into the shooting as was expected in the case of every extra judicial killing. The findings were revealing. The investigators found that some of the men were shot even as they were fleeing from the police. It was determined that there was excessive force but there were no prosecutions.
Almost 32 years to the day, there was another killing. Again the state or the government or the authorities depending on what we may wish to call the leaders, was implicated. Walter Rodney, a man sworn to oppose the leadership of the day whom he saw as a dictator was blown up outside the Camp Street jail. The date was June 13, 1980.
Rodney has sworn to bring down the Forbes Burnham administration. He had earlier been known to be in opposition to some governments whom he perceived as pandering to the colonial masters. Jamaica’s Hugh Shearer banned him as did the government of Tanzania. As was stated, he was in direct opposition to the Guyana Government and could not even get work as an academic at the University of Guyana.
He formed a political party that bridged the racial divide and openly campaigned against Burnham. Some said that Burnham feared him and plotted his death. Today, long after Burnham died, there is still to be an investigation into Rodney’s death.
Indeed, when the ruling party was in opposition, one of the promises was that there would be an investigation as soon as it got into office. More than two decades have passed and still no investigation. On the thirty-third anniversary of Rodney’s death, President Donald Ramotar has ordered an international probe. Most of the key players are dead, including the man who reportedly gave Rodney the bomb that killed him. Many of Burnham’s close confidantes are also dead.
That it has taken thirty-three years for there to be an inquest into Rodney’s death speaks to the urgency with which the nation treated the issue. Of course, Rodney’s death had far reaching implications for Forbes Burnham to the extent that even after his death, the issue would not go away. South Africa wanted to honour Burnham for his contribution to African Liberation. The Walter Rodney issue caused South Africa to put its decision on hold.
Suffice it to say, that there are those who say that Rodney orchestrated his own demise. Whichever way the chips fall, it is time that there is some closure to this chapter in Guyana’s history although it is highly unlikely that people will ever stop blaming Burnham.

 

 

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