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We must also commemorate Wismar Massacre on May 26
DEAR EDITOR,
Reference your editorial relating to May 26 Independence Day and several news reports (May 26) as well as planned programmes. Your newspaper reported on flag hoisting events and celebrations in Guyana and in the diaspora to commemorate the 53rd anniversary of Guyana’s Independence. Your media also carried several reports on other plans for this year’s celebrations including a concert by a convicted Jamaican drug trafficker. But there were/are no reflections on the other more significant historic event – the Wismar massacre (of Indians) that took place on May 26, 1964. The independent international media described the attack on Indians, who were an ethnic minority in the area, “as an orchestrated orgy of violence. It was an ethnic cleansing.”
We must not erase this important part of our history and effort must be made to bring reconciliation between victims and perpetrators (victors). Victims are still hurting and can’t bring themselves to celebrate independence. One must be sensitive to the remembrance of the victims and only join in celebrations of the victors.
It should not be forgotten that an official British government report on the Wismar Massacre said, “ was politically and racially inspired…and the fact that the security forces were in no case able to apprehend arsonists forces us to conclude that the destruction was not ‘spontaneous’, but was organised, and well organised.”
Reports say the Indians were beaten and robbed; regrettably, some of their neighbours took part in the pogrom. Some 3,000 Indians were victims of terror, murder, physical barbarism, and psychological trauma. They were uprooted from their homes, other properties, businesses and jobs. They lost gold, money and other valuables in the tens of millions of dollars of value at that time (tens of billions in today’s value). They fled for their safety and were not allowed to return to their properties or recoup valuables. They received no compensation for their humongous losses.
At a recent conference on the Wismar Massacre in New York, eyewitnesses (survivors) said several Indians were murdered, hundreds of women raped (including children), over two hundred and twenty five Indian homes and dozens of businesses razed to the ground, and temples and masjids desecrated as Indians fled for their lives.
News reports in 1966 stated that Forbes Burnham deliberately chose May 26 as Guyana’s Independence Day to celebrate his triumphalism over Indians which took place at Wismar. Speakers at the Wismar conference echoed that claim.
Therefore, May 26 should not only be commemorated as Guyana’s Independence but it must also served as a reminder to all Guyanese that it is a date of infamy. This is the first incident of official ethnic cleansing of a community in any part of the globe after the Jewish pogrom of Europe. It is a historic date that the country must not forget. Memorial service should also be held for the victims. Compensation for the victims should be considered.
Yours truly,
Vishnu Bisram
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