Emancipation Day Messages

Aug 02, 2014 News

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Madame Deolatchmee Ramotar, First Lady

I extend heartfelt Emancipation greetings to all Guyanese but especially to Guyanese of African origin for whom this time resonates with so much significance.
The legal abolition of slavery, better known as Emancipation, is a day with special meaning for all colonized peoples but more so for persons of African descent whose ancestors were forcibly removed from their homelands and consigned to a life of servitude. Millions of innocent persons were sold into a life of unspeakable indignities, treated as the property of others and forced to work under arduous and demeaning conditions.  Emancipation was a historic act that brought to an end the most abominable system created by humanity. Emancipation represented a victory for all humanity.
While Emancipation did not end the oppression existing under colonialism, it rendered non-existent its most disdainful feature: the treatment of human persons as chattel. In this way it marked a distinctive break with the past.  In Guyana, it led to the development of a vibrant peasantry laid the foundation for the village movement and prompted the emergence of indentureship when labour shortages resulted on the sugar plantations.  Emancipation represented a defining moment in our country’s history and an important landmark in the epic struggles to end colonial rule and foreign exploitation.
I salute the indomitable spirit of all those who resisted the cruel and inhumane system of slavery. Their sacrifices are permanently etched in Guyana’s struggle for national liberation. May we also be inspired by the timeless message of Emancipation: that no system of injustice lasts forever!
Happy Emancipation to all Guyana!

People’s Progressive Party
The People’s Progressive Party (PPP) extends greetings to all Guyanese more particularly our Afro-Guyanese brothers and sisters on the occasion of the 176th anniversary since the abolition of slavery.
This is a good time to reflect on the pain and sacrifices made by our African ancestors who were brought to our shores against their will to provide cheap labour in the sugar plantations. They were treated in an inhumane manner at the hands of the planter class and were stripped of their humanity and dignity in the greed for profits.
What the planters failed to destroy however, was their strong will and determination to free themselves from the yoke of slavery and bondage.
Despite their sufferings, our history is replete with stories of heroism and rebellion led by slave leaders such as Cuffy, Quamina, Damon and Accabre who are today immortalized in the annals of our history.
The PPP is proud of the contributions made by our African ancestors and the contribution they have made and continues to make to the development of our country.
Thanks to their contributions, the foundations for a modern and cohesive society have been firmly laid. Guyana today is a free and democratic multicultural society characterized by political and ideological pluralism and the rule of law.
The PPP takes this opportunity to once again salute our Afro-Guyanese brothers and sisters on this significant milestone, and calls on all Guyanese to unite as we seek to further consolidate on the economic and social gains we have made over the years.
These gains have benefited all Guyanese regardless of ethnicity or political affiliation and are manifested in an enhanced quality of education delivery, improved health care, access to house lots and credit facilities, improved water supply-in short, a vastly improved quality of life for all our citizens.
Happy Emancipation Greetings to all Guyanese!

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Alliance For Change
The Alliance For Change joins with the rest of Guyana in celebrating the emancipation of our African brothers and sisters heralded through the Passage of the Abolition Act in 1833. As we reflect on this the most heinous practice of domination and exploitation of man by man in modern history, we celebrate our freedom and vow to preserve it for generations to come.
This “Holocaust” of enslavement saw the ruthless extraction of our African brothers and sisters from their homeland, and their subjection to the horrors and murder of the Middle Passage followed by slavery in the New World. This had a most destructive effect and cost the lives of millions of Africans.
Today, 176 years after its abolition in Guyana, we Guyanese are still battling the effects of this holocaust. Stripped of their culture and identity, Africans were both property and labour on the plantations producing super profits for expatriate colonizers. It is against this background, that we recognize and applaud our fore parents who despite being enslaved walked off the plantations after emancipation and with pride purchased
We recognize that the African Holocaust was the genesis of modern racism as our colonial oppressors found it convenient to use race as the rationale to commit untold inhumanities for four centuries. We reiterate that there is no place for racial discrimination in today’s Guyana.  Let us therefore as a Nation resolve to never again tolerate inequality, inhumanity, racism, the enslavement of and trafficking in persons, foreign oppression and domination.
Guyanese of African descent have made a marked contribution to the foundation and development of Guyana and the AFC looks with confidence to their continued vibrant role in nation-building together with all our people to complete our self emancipation and shake off the new chains that stupefy our country.
A happy and peaceful Emancipation to one and all!

Guyana Trades Union Congress (GTUC)

The GTUC shares with the world and more so Guyanese the celebration of 1st August which 180 years ago brought an end to chattel slavery in the British Empire. Full emancipation came four years later after the slaves served a four-year period of amelioration (1838).
Freedom in its present form is a continuous process of education, putting in place systems, and safeguarding same in order that people and society can be rid of the shackles of that era in whatever form it appears today. One does not have to be physically enchained to be mentally enslaved. The mind is a powerful tool and weapon, and when it remains shackled to messages of non-achievements, worthlessness and inferiority, there is no need for physical chains to enslave, oppress and marginalise.
Our African ancestors were brought to the so-called New World against their wishes and through sweat, blood and tears – despite the whips raining down on their bodies – they contributed significantly in laying the foundation and topography for this land. They built a system of dikes and drainage canals, seawalls and road networks, constructed buildings and factories, laboured in the sugar and cotton estates, planted rice, fruits, ground provisions and other crops with their hands.
Our forebears fought against the oppressive system, with some giving their lives for the cause that led to chattel freedom, indentureship, internal self-government, independence and republican status. It is because of them we have a constitution of our own and laws to protect us from marginalisation and discrimination from any individual, group or system. They have fought the good fight for equality and dignity grounded in the belief that all men and women are capable of acting toward each other in a spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood. This ideal was institutionalised in the 1948 United Nations Human Rights Declaration.
In as much as there were exploitations and their labour was unpaid and undervalued, immediately after emancipation they set about ensuring a society that will have their meaningful participation. Through the cooperative economic model they pooled their moneys and bought villages that started the Village Movement and development of their communities, a system of local self-government, education, health and business ventures, coupled with the values for discipline and family structure with the needed mix of religion and entertainment. The African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child” was not only exemplified in the biological extended family but in the wider community, including the school, church and even on the streets. These foundations are still relevant today.
Even as society becomes more complex these values must not be lost on us. For it is out of and through them the sense of belongingness and fairness is shaped. As Guyanese, irrespective of our racial identity, association, sex, class or other experiences, the foundations laid by others are what we today walk on and must build on. Given that this nation has travelled the path of resistance against domination and oppression – through its various forms – it behooves us today to rise up and re-commit to continue the journey started by our forebears for our inalienable right to equality and dignity.
1834 (Amelioration), 1838 (Emancipation) , 1905 (trade unionism), 1917 (end to indentureship), 1947 (universal adult suffrage), 1953 (internal self-government), 1966 (Independence) and 1970 (Republican status) are significant dates in this nation’s calendar, but these achievements can only have meaning when we not only work to deepen and strengthen the march for freedom, but we also resist the efforts and actions, in whatever form they appear, of those who seek to undermine and undo these achievements.
Lest we forget, freedom is not free; it requires eternal; vigilance, struggles and sacrifices to protect what has been achieved and ensure the enabling environment to realise civil, social, economic, cultural and political equality and dignity.  Only then as a people all voices can truly ring out, “Free at last, Free at last, Thank God almighty we are free at last!” (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.) The work began in 1834. It is not yet completed. But the dream still lives and the hope must never die!  There is still work to be done and as brave warriors we must put our shoulders to the wheel and march on….!

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