The lessons learnt from the Enmore Martyrs are manyfold

Jun 21, 2020 Eye on Guyana with Lincoln Lewis, Features / Columnists

Last Tuesday (16th June) the nation marked 72 years since five sugar workers, on the East Coast Demerara estates, died as a consequence of a political system that had no tolerance for the right to life, collective bargaining, strike, freedom of speech (dissent) and association. These workers were involved in industrial action and shot at by the colonial police, a force established to protect the colonisers not the colonised. The five, known as the Enmore Martyrs, were Rambarran, Pooran, Lallabagee, Surajballi and Harry. The stated rights which many today take for granted and are enshrined in the Constitution of Guyana came through blood, sweat, tears and loss of lives.
Today as we look around the world, we find similar intolerance and denial of persons’ rights. The world is still embroiled in a struggle for rights and dignity. From a distance, though not disconnected, we are witnessing in the great United States of America (USA), the bastion of democracy and the free world, an unarmed man can have his life snuffed out in the twinkle of an eye, in a slow tortuous act of a knee on his neck lasting for 8:46 minutes.
This murder was watched, and thankfully recorded, by public-spirited citizens whose pleas of mercy for the life of George Floyd fell on the deaf ears of police officer Derek Chauvin, who seemed unmoved and bent on carrying out this dastardly act. The Minneapolis Police motto is “To Protect with Courage, To Serve with Compassion!”
Today the USA is on trial and if not careful will lose respect to the privileged status advising the world as to what is right and wrong because of the failure to lead by example and practice what it preaches at all times. That in the 21st century the world would have to witness such barbarity coming from a society that prides itself as the moral police, it is not surprising such cruelty has been met with outrage not only within the USA but around the world.
We have witnessed persons across the ethnic spectrum, worldwide, engaged in various acts of protestation demanding police reform, an end to police excesses and contempt for the right to life. Those from the other races standing in defence of black lives know they stand in defence of their lives and all others. In this sustained display of camaraderie, we are reminded of the sage words of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”
Today as we focus on Black Lives Matter it is to say that persons of colour continue to face the greatest threat to loss of lives and suffering at the hands of those who are employed to serve and protect. Black lives matter does not disregard that all lives do matter. It comes without saying, and it is unfortunate when any group, when black people have to stand up in the 21st century and fight to remind the world that their lives matter.
I use this story to say the lives of the Enmore Martyrs matter. It matters to their families who suffered, their friends, communities, and to the Guyanese labour force. For though long past and gone their lives symbolise the ultimate sacrifice some have paid to allow us today to enjoy what they did not; what they struggled for and lost their lives for. Today we are the beneficiaries, for they have taught us lessons of oppression and workers resistance.
As I memoralise the five today I say to all Guyanese that your lives matter. And together we must ensure that no life is sacrificed in the pursuit of what is an entitlement under the laws, international conventions, United Nations declarations, and universally acceptable principles. No life needs to be sacrificed if we as human beings, as Guyanese, respect the right of each other and settle our concerns and our grievances through dialogue, where we use the laws of the land to guide us in our preservation of each other’s rights across the spectrum of human interaction.
The lessons learnt from the Enmore Martyrs are manyfold.

(The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of this newspaper.)