The list of Fifty for the Fiftieth

May 27, 2016 Letters

Dear Editor,

As we approach Guyana’s Fifth Jubilee Celebration of Independence, though that it would be a great time to honour those that have passed on, true patriots who made a significant pre and post-Independence contribution to our beloved Guyana. I thought that it would be befitting that we come up with a list of fifty individuals for the Fifth Anniversary of Independence to be awarded with maybe the Nation’s highest honour- The Order of Excellence, similar to the one received by Mr. Hamilton Green last May 26th.
Unfortunately, the majority on my list of fifty is deceased and Guyana has no posthumous awards. The more I thought about it, I wondered, why we cannot celebrate those who paved the way for Guyana to get Fifty Years of Independence, since our past is usually a determinant of our future, and there have been some great people on The List of Fifty for Fifth. We will visit my partial List of Fifty for the Fifth later in this letter with some biases and ask for the engagement of your readers to come up with their own top fifty.
First, let’s start with how I got to writing this letter to the Editor, as I digress, I thought it would be a good idea for an outstanding writer like Freddie Kissoon to pen some individual articles on the Fifty for the Fifth list of Guyanese patriots. I did some research and got Freddie Kissoon’s phone number and called to suggest the idea of him writing the articles but upon contacting Mr. Kissoon, I seem to encounter someone who understandably seemed shell-shocked with the utterance “who are you and what do you want, contact Adam Harris?”
Well Mr. Editor, I do not have a complete list of the Fifty Guyanese patriots who should posthumously mentioned for the 50th Jubilee but my bias seem to point to the labour movement and the trade unions that first started the Independence movement, starting with Hubert Nathanial Critchlow but not necessarily in any numerical order: Forbes Burnham and Cheddie Jagan were both leaders of the Guyana Labour Union, it is no accident that the Late Dr. Jagan was the one to have the statue of Hubert Critchlow commissioned of the grounds of the Parliament Building.
Clearly Jagan and Burnham and to a lesser extent Critchlow are the notable nationalists and the “Founding Fathers” of the Independence Movement but there were others in the Labour Movement that played a significant role in the pre and post-Independence movement that who have passed on and not around to see the fruits of their Labour with the 50thJubliee of Independence: Joseph Pollydore, Richard Ismael but my obvious bias is for Winslow Carrington an actual mentee of Hubert Critchlow who spent many years as a labour leader and a Minister of Labour.
Although my bias is related to fact that he was my father, it is also that he was a special patriotic Guyanese that played a pivotal role in the pre and post-independence period for the working class of Guyana.
Therefore, here are some of my Fifty for The Fifth Jubilee and I ask your readers to agree or disagree and add to the list but in no particular order, here are a few: Hubert Nathanial Critchlow, CheddieJagan, Peter D’ Aguiar, Forbes Burnham, John Carter, Martin Carter, Lionel Luckhoo, PA Reid, Sir David Rose, Arthur Chung, Desmond Hoyte, Winslow Carrington, Joseph Pollydore, Winifred Gaskin, Richard Ismael. Once again, I am asking the readers to add, subtract and build the List of Fifty for The Fifth.
Gilbert Carrington

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The list of Fifty for the Fiftieth

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