Happy First of August – Eusi Kwayana
This is the Anniversary that marks the end, forty years after Haiti, sadly not of human bondage, but of the right to own human beings in the British dominated Caribbean. This outcome of the resistance of the Africans and their supporters meant that enslavement was outlawed in the hemisphere.
Neither Portuguese from Madeira, nor Indians from India, nor Chinese from China nor West Indians, nor West Africans, nor the First Peoples, nor Germans, could then be enslaved. As the laborers sang:
Emancipation Bill guh pass
Bakra man sah eat long grass
it will be folly to ignore one another’s jeopardy and make way for subtle forms of bondage that may already be on the drawing boards , as new social engineers perfect their plans to ‘save’ society from the common people.
Comments
Eusi K brings important recall of emancipation and slavery in our history. It is wishful thinking if our people were sensible enough to understand and appreciate the importance of being ONE PEOPLE moving forward to independence and Republican status. Today we gripe in divide and indulge in fighting among ourselves. Nothing but shame !!
The Guyanese are disgusted with becoming Independent. It is better we were under the British flag. There is too much disunity now among the the two major races ALL because of the politicians. We do not know anything about UNITY among the people any more. Politics have made our lives a misery and although they(Politicians) know this, they couldn’t care a darn because they all live in fancy houses and having a good life when the poor are still living in poverty.
You both could not have said it any better but also remember also, that the legacy of slavery still lies buried deep within the souls of many of us and it is difficult for some people to shake this scourge away. We must remember also, that the enslave eventually becomes the enslaver.
In fact, Mahatma Gandhi once said “A religion that takes no account of pratical affairs and does not help to solve them, is no religion”. end of quote. Do any of us realise that this philosopher lived this reality.