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DIASPORA
THIS IS THE FRUIT
Independence
What’s it
all about?
I n T h e N e w s
1966 Independence
Pocket Portrayals
INDEPENDENCE DIARY
Personal Landmarks
Health & the mystique of Forbes Burnham
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY BARBADOS
Jubilee fever
TIMES I N T E R N AT I O N A L
GUYANA INDEPENDENCE MAY 2016
JUBILEE... MAY 2016
Let us Cooperate For Guyana
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By Karen Sinclair
Editorial - Karen Sinclair
INDEPENDENCE DIARY
Jubilee events: Guyana, Jamaica, Florida, Canada, New York & New Jersey 6 Personal Landmarks - Desmond Roberts
7 1966 Independence - Pocket Portrayals by Guyanese
11 Golden Jubilee Symposium - Dr. Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith
13 A shout from an iconic poem by Martin Carter
14 Health and the mystique of Forbes Burnham - By Hubert Williams
17 Prime Minister Burnham receiving instruments
of independence - photograph
18 The Nation's Leaders
19 The National Anthem
20 Independence: What’s It All About? By Frank A. Campbell
22 Coats of Arms
23 Independence Arch
24 This is the Fruit - Poem - Karen Sinclair
26 Jubilee Fever - Karen Sinclair
27 Guyana's Totem Pole
28 “Let us Cooperate for Guyana”- Francis Quamina Farrier
30 Happy Anniversary Barbados - Karen Sinclair
32 A cry from the words of Guyana's “singing cowboy”- Nesbit Chhangur
IN THE NEWS
Symposium on Guyana - Barbados Relations
CARICOM’s Reparation ‘Baton’ moves to Guyana
I know that my fellow Guyanese will be saying “eh-eh, is wah wrang wid she?” Ok, I’ve been away for a long time, but I do remember that Quamina street is neither in Stabroek nor Queenstown and that there is no physical junc-tion linking the three. Instead, today I am calling for us to embrace the disparate historic dimen-sions of our diverse heritage, whether notorious or celebratory.
This jubilee anniversary edition of Diaspo-ra Times contains many reflections about Guy-ana’s independence as other patriots passionate-ly call for the renaming of towns, streets, build-ings and villages as a sign of this independence. While I understand the sentiments, we cannot simply wipe out our history and run from its un-pleasant truths. We may perhaps be better served if we simultaneously acknowledge and embrace all the dimensions that make us who we are.
It was in 1814 that the then three colonies Demerara, Berbice, and Essequibo first became one British Guiana. Prior to that, Essequibo and Demerara were possessions of the Dutch West India Company, while Berbice was a colony owned by the Society of Berbice, a Dutch compa-ny. So, while we may proudly acknowledge the symbols of our free heritage in the names Umana Yana, President’s College, Avenue of the Repub-lic, Cyril Potter College and the new Arthur Chung Convention Center, how could we deny the histo-ry echoed throughout the nation in names like
Berbice, Vlissengen, Ruimveldt, Bourda, New Am-sterdam, Vreed-en-Hoop? The musical tone of the name Beterverwagting, is as much a part of our heritage as that village was the home of Qua-mina Gladstone, a hero of the Demerara slave rebellion of 1823. Can we not ascribe our capital the heritage of King George, even if we have con-cerns about his legacy? British roots whisper in Regent Street, Princess Street, Duke Street, Queen Street and Alexander Street as well as in the layout of our Coat of Arms. Similarly, Linden, renamed for our first Prime Minister, Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham, is an echo of inde-pendence, as is the village, Melanie Damishana, named in tribute to one of his daughters. Man-dela Avenue forever recalls our support for the dismantling of South African apartheid in 1994, while the names of nearby Le Repentir Cemetery and villages like La Bonne Intention and Le Ressouvenir harbor traces of French occupation two centuries earlier, between 1782 and 1784.
Yesterday did contain atrocities. Like Mar-tin Carter’s protagonist, we “come from the nig-ger yard of yesterday”. Today we are free. Tak-ing ownership of our truth is freedom. Let us not forget nor bristle with denial. Indelible foot-prints of our complex history have brought us to this junction. Let us embark on a truly Happy Jubilee Anniversary with the strength to face our truths!
EDITORIAL
At the junction of Quamina Street, Stabroek Market and Queenstown
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Diaspora Times May 2016
Issue 2, Volume 5
Editorial Board:
Chairman: Desmond Roberts
Editor: Karen Sinclair
Members: Dr. Rohan Somar,
Ave Maria Haynes, Dr. Lear Matthews,
Hugh Hamilton, Freddie Shivdat
May 2016 Design and Graphics:
Richard Hooper Distribution:
Eleanor Hunte
Submissions & Letters:
Advertising:
Reprints & Copies:
Disclaimer:
The views expressed and information provided in articles published in this magazine are the responsibility of
the individual contributors and not of the Diaspora Times.
Table of Contents Editorial - Karen Sinclair
INDEPENDENCE DIARY
Jubilee events: Guyana, Jamaica, Florida, Canada, New York & New Jersey 6 Personal Landmarks - Desmond Roberts
7 1966 Independence - Pocket Portrayals by Guyanese
11 Golden Jubilee Symposium - Dr. Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith
13 A shout from an iconic poem by Martin Carter
14 Health and the mystique of Forbes Burnham - By Hubert Williams
17 Prime Minister Burnham receiving instruments
of independence - photograph
18 The Nation's Leaders
19 The National Anthem
20 Independence: What’s It All About? By Frank A. Campbell
22 Coats of Arms
23 Independence Arch
24 This is the Fruit - Poem - Karen Sinclair
26 Jubilee Fever - Karen Sinclair
27 Guyana's Totem Pole
28 “Let us Cooperate for Guyana”- Francis Quamina Farrier
30 Happy Anniversary Barbados - Karen Sinclair
32 A cry from the words of Guyana's “singing cowboy”- Nesbit Chhangur
IN THE NEWS
Symposium on Guyana - Barbados Relations
CARICOM’s Reparation ‘Baton’ moves to Guyana
COVER
President
David
Granger,
and his wife
Sandra
Granger
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DIASPORA GUYANA EVENTS MAY 2016 LOCATION DATE
National Museum Day 18-May-16
Literary Street Fair Region 6 20-May-16
Jubilee Festival Region 4 20-May-16
"Tales of Our Fathers" Play Region 10 21-May-16
Ex-Athletes Track & Field 22-May-16
Boat Cruise Region 10 22-May-16
National Symposium 23-May-16 TO 24-May-16
Guyana Golden Jubilee Distinguished Lecture 23-May-16
Legacy of Iconic Women 23-May-16
Guyana at 50 24-May-16
National Symposium 24-May-16
Flag Raising Ceremony Countrywide 26-May-16
Float Parade Region 4 26-May-16
Guyexpo 27-May-16
Football @National Stadium 28-May-16
T-20 Cricket @Albion Region 6 28-May-16
Folk Festival 31-May-16
EVENTS MAY 2016 JUBILEE DIARY
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
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DIASPORA INTERNATIONAL
TIMES
Extends Best Wishes To Guyana on its
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MAY 26TH Personal Landmarks
By Desmond Roberts
I was the person who hoisted the new Guyana flag up
that flagpole at midnight, to signal the achieve-ment of independence for British Guiana on May 26, 1966. The hasty construction of the new site at D’Urban Park for the 50th anniversary flag
raising ceremony reminds me of the new tarmac laid at what was the old Golf Ground, then labeled Queen Elizabeth Park. The wind reluctantly snapped the Golden Arrowhead to attention 50 years ago and, similarly the huge flag was winched up to receive the strong winds atop the pinnacle of the high flagpole built for the celebration of Republican status in Feb-ruary this year. We are no longer British.
I was a Second Lieutenant in the fledgling Guyana Defence Force. I was based in the still ‘under con-struction’ Camp Ayanganna, sharing a bungalow with the British officer, Jimmy Jonklass, who was also a Second Lieutenant. We were about the same height; he was honey blond and I, very dark. He would lower the Union Jack. Jimmy had a very pleasant, happy personality. I have not seen him again during these fifty years.
But May 26 was important to me for other reasons. My older brother, Walter, was born on May 26th. He had returned to Guyana for the historic evening but had not been wicked enough to suggest that the fire-works had all been arranged for his 23rd birthday. He had been studying in England and would be the last time he would return to Guyana. He died in England 30 years later.
Later, my eldest brother, Arthur, was gravely ill in a Barbados hospital in 1982. I had taken him there and had visited him several times. He was very low and had been asking for me. I was Chief Umpire on our annual Force Field Exercise which ended in Bartica. I had signaled that I was leaving for Barbados that very evening. Just as the ceremonies ended I saw a young officer coming to me with a message; and I knew. My brother had died on May 26th in Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Bridgetown. My best friend’s father also died on May 26th.
The main three ceremonies of life are said to be birth, marriage and death. May 26th has shown me both birth and death. If I had thought about it then, I might have been married five days earlier than I did.
Desmond Roberts is a former Director General of the Guyana National Service and is Chairman of the Edi-torial Board of the Diaspora Times.
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INDEPENDENCE Pocket
Portrayals A
s a teenager I grew up in the pre-independence era. I can remember the
80-day strike and February 16 ri-ots, the Sun Chapman ferry and McKenzie/Wismar incidents, the pipe bombs in Georgetown, the violence on the coast and the creeks and racial dislocation of the population. I lived opposite the main entrance to the Public Hospi-tal in the vicinity of the Casualty Department. I could see the bloodied bodies being rushed in on the stretchers. I witnessed the ar-rival of the British troops, some of whom were billeted at Queens
College, causing some disruption. In my later teens things were more peaceful and we would go out in the evenings to El Globo for beer and to Itabo for coffee and listen to our seniors discuss politics while the politicians were negotiating with each other and Whitehall about independence. I soon joined the Special Service Unit and later the GDF. It is with that back-ground that I greeted independ-ence. I was in charge of security at Thomas Lands Barracks (later Camp Ayanganna), but I was not stationed in the National Park.
It was with great pride, excitement and joy that I listened to the speeches broadcast on the radio and watched the fireworks. I was elated, I don’t think it hit me then that I was a member of one of the agencies responsible for the new State, its protection, the preserva-tion of the Constitution and the creation of an environment to ena-ble Guyana to develop and realize its full potential. This was a tre-mendous responsibility. On reflec-tion our generation failed.
Carl Morgan
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T he younger generation of Guya-nese was all full of excitement and expectations of change.
Here was a chance to take responsibility for moving the country forward! I must borrow the Obama slogan of 'hope and change.' Older Guyanese were sad to see the Union Jack lowered, and to sing God Save Our Gracious Queen for the last time. Both generations, though, looked forward to the symbols of a new era; one with our local leaders in charge of political change, social change, and educational change, new flag, new national anthem, new na-tional pride. We were comrades working to see change in the new era of all things Guyanese. The Kabaka, as LFS was fondly known, was going to show the Queen that we could run the country without the British. We were going to bargain with Canada over bauxite. Oh, we were going to show the world that 'tings gun change.'
I do not remember growing up in a home hearing how "bad" and unfair being governed by the British was, but still I had a sense that what was happening
was going to be unique and very necessary for the coun-try. On the night my heart almost "burst" with emotion, with pride, as the Arrowhead was raised on that Flag Pole. Absolute joy and happiness!
Joan de Chalus
I was 15 years old when Guyana became Independent. I can recall a conversa-tion I had with my father, a business-
man, about whether getting independence was a good thing for Guyana. Without hesi-tation he said “Yes!! at long last Guyanese will be free to make their own decisions and plot their own directions without the encum-brance of the white colonial masters. The people may fight and there will be many im-pediments to smooth progress but in the end it will be worth it”. It surprised me because I thought that the older people especially those in the business community were afraid of moving away from being under the yoke of colonialism.
I had a most wonderful life during my teen-age years in Guyana.
Romesh C. D. Singh
1966 INDEPENDENCE POCKET PORTRAYALS - continued
We had the best quality gold; we had sugar; we had rice; nobody could starve in a country with so many different fruits. We had the world's highest waterfall, and best of all, we had a generation of bright young men willing to fol-low the Comrade Leader, and capable of being groomed for positions of leadership-- our new technocrats. It was a brave new world. We were filled with pardonable pride as we saw the Golden Arrowhead flutter in the air and we raised our voices to 'Dear Land of Guyana'.
Serena Brathwaite-Hewitt
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W hen my granddaughter, Kai, said to me
recently "Grandfather Fabie, Mummy
told me that at Guyana's Independ-
ence 50 years ago you were in England training.
What did you do?" it forced me to reflect a little.
After having the privilege of signing on the dotted
line and joining the Guyana Defense Force on the
29th of December 1965, my birthday, along with
David Arthur Granger, Joseph Govinda Singh and
Haydock Egbert West, we all travelled to the UK
early January 1966. Haydock and I went to the
Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, while David
and Joe went to Mons Officer Cadet School. They
were subsequently joined by Harry Hinds.
Sometime around May 1966, I was contacted by
the Guyana High Commission in London and the
then High Commissioner, Sir Lionel Luckhoo invit-
ed me to participate in the Independence Celebra-
tion in London. Haydock, Harry and I were asked
to be dressed in military uniform and to partici-
pate in the Independence Church Service which
was held at Westminster Abbey around the 6th or
7th of June. My moment of glory was taking the
Golden ArrowhHead down Westminster Abbey
aisle escorted by Haydock and Harry all dressed in
our Officer Cadet Uniforms. Even though I had no
clue of life 50 years down the road and can hardly
remember things 50 years ago, I can still remem-
ber the fanfare of trumpets as we stood on the
altar of Westminster Abbey and as I presented the
Golden Arrowhead to the congregation of Digni-
taries and Guyanese in the UK Diaspora. The re-
cent efforts of a friend of mine to get some picto-
rial evidence of my claim to fame from the British
Archives proved futile."
Fairbairn Egerton Liverpool
I t was a terrific highlight event and a real memo-rable way to close out my seven years at Queens College, at the flag-raising ceremony at the Na-
tional Park, on the evening of 25th May 1966. There we were as QC student-cadets dressed like Bucking-ham Palace guards...resplendent in black top hats, red jackets, white trousers and armed with real-looking, but wooden, rifles. Our platoon performed the symbolic act of a departing British Army with si-lent drills. At the end of our presentation, and as we fell to the ground on our faces, all the lights in the park went out. We scampered off the square, the lights came back on, ...and on marched the military of the new Nation...the GDF. It was one of the proudest moments in my life. Two and a half years later I would become an officer in that fledgling army.
Ian C. Fraser
I felt nervous when at the State Dinner I saw the casual manner in which the invitees at the head table were moving knowing full well that the
entire programme was timed for the exchange of flags to be at midnight. The programme fell behind and the children's item was dropped. I was very sad that they who had put in so many hours/nights re-hearsing had been disappointed. Those who are to-day, the then future generation of the new nation, now in their sixties, must feel some anguish remem-bering that night. I do.
Colonel Edgar 'Pluto' Martindale
I was at the Queen Elizabeth II National Park among the thousands present for the flag-raising ceremony that fateful May, 1966 day. I remem-
ber standing ramrod-straight - heels together, toes out - and singing the words of all the verses of the National Anthem, and puzzling over the linguistic sig-nificance of the preposition-free "more worthy our heritage.” Tears were streaming down my cheeks and I silently pledged to work harder and smarter to build a better Guyana for my children and theirs. I had high hopes over our agricultural and mineral po-tential, but was fearful over the ethnic divisions I had witnessed at first hand a few years before. Neverthe-less, I had confidence that Sport and the University of Guyana would help see us through. Fifty years on, we are still a work in progress.
George N. Cave.
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A Message from
Dr. Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith, Chair
Symposium Sub-Committee, 50th Anniversary of Independence Celebra-tions Committee, New York
and
Dr. James Rose, Director of Culture
Academic Working Group
National Commemoration Commission of Guyana
Fellow Guyanese and Friends of Guyana,
In penning “The Song of Guyana’s Children” many decades ago, W. Hawley-Bryant captured presciently the sense of our young nation’s Being
and Becoming. The chorus, in particular, both commands and entreats us thus,
Onward, upward, may we ever go
Day by day in strength and beauty grow,
Till at length we each of us may show,
What Guyana’s sons and daughters can be.
Guyana has, indeed, moved onward and upward in many respects since gaining political independence in 1966. Our nation has had much to
show—both positively and negatively—over the five decades of its nationhood. This symposia series takes the opportunity, nay, exercises the
obligation, to show what some of Guyana’s sons and daughters have been and have produced intellectually with regard to our society’s myriad
dynamics and the regional and global environments in which we have pursued our political independence journey since that historic day in
1966.
Understandably, these three days of this symposia series—two in Georgetown and one in New York—can only provide a glimpse at, and a few
vignettes of, the intellectual labors of Guyanese at home and abroad. Allow us to thank the various paper authors, roundtable presenters, panel
moderators and respondents, and cultural artistes for allowing us to engage and enjoy the fruits of some of their intellectual and artistic labors.
Permit us, too, to applaud the attendees of this series for seizing the opportunity provided at this momentous national milestone to ponder the
following four interrelated questions: Who we are? What has the journey been like? What can we become? How can we get there?
Needless to say, while these four vital questions are being explored in this symposia series in relation to our nation, this conversation also occa-
sions the opportunity to probe these questions at the individual level. Whether the interrogation is done at the national and individual level, it
behooves us to face the realities as they are so we address them appropriately. As James Baldwin once said, “Not everything that is faced can
be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” This symposia series provides the safe academic space to face our realities so we can
fix them, as needed.
Thus, we commend this symposia series to you, and encourage you make the best of this opportunity to see how and whether we have truly
gone “onward, upward” and what our nation’s sons and daughters can be and have done. Let us end by expressing our deep appreciation for
the hard and smart work done by the members of the symposium sub-committee, the co-sponsors of this series—the Symposium Sub-
committee of Guyana’s 50th Independence Anniversary Celebration Committee (New York), the Academic Grounding Working Group of the
National Commemoration Commission of Guyana, the Guyana Cultural Association of New York, Inc., and the University of Guyana—and the
many volunteers who contributed to the successful design and delivery of this initiative. Enabling this success also were the many officials of the
Arthur Chung Conference Center and York College. Our thanks are extended to them, as well.
Enjoy!
Professor Ivelaw Lloyd Griffith, PhD
Executive-in-Residence, The University at Albany, State University of New York
Tenth Principal and Vice Chancellor Designate, The University of Guyana
James Rose, PhD
Director of Culture
Academic Working Group
National Commemoration Commission of Guyana
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Reflecting on the Journey to Independence POET MARTIN CARTER
From the poem “I Come from the Nigger Yard” by Martin Carter
“From the nigger yard of yesterday I come with my burden
To the world of tomorrow I turn with my strength”
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Health and the mystique of Forbes Burnham By Hubert Williams
Bridgetown, Barbados -- I have long marveled, and still
do, at the remarkable perspicacity, in some matters, of
Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham, the first paramount
leader of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, now dead
30 years.
With a mischievous glint in his eyes and that
familiar chuckle “heh, heh, heh, heh”, he at times re-
marked that whatever Rickey Singh did so also would do
Hubert Williams, and wherever Hubert Williams went
there also would go Rickey Singh… because they are like
each other’s shadow.
He called his humour ‘tantalize’…or teasing…
very familiar to Guyanese as a form of making fun of oth-
ers, which other cultures would refer to as ‘ragging’ and
by various other names.
And because he felt that despite one being Black
and the other East Indian, we were two of the same and
virtually unseparable, he took some strange delight in
personally ‘rechristening’ us Hubert Singh and Rickey
Williams, and would at times, in the presence of his polit-
ical colleagues, address us as such.
There were occasions where at cocktail parties
he would switch the surnames of our wives, referring to
Rickey’s Afro-Guyanese wife Dolly as Mrs. Williams,
and to my wife Eugenie, of part Indo-Guyanese stock, as
Photograph courtesy of KnowledgeWalk Institute. Updated: Wednesday, 11 May 2016. Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham. Retrieved from
www.caribbeanelections.com
DIASPORA TIMES MONTHLY NEWS MAGAZINE ISSUE 2 VOLUME 5
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Mrs. Singh.
We all took it rather light-heartedly, but know-
ing the man, we were always on guard against any ser-
pentine spring with bared fangs.
It must have pleased him no end, and our ac-
tions seemed to match his expectations, when first one
and then the other de-linked from the staff of the Guyana
Graphic Ltd., publishers of the country’s leading daily
and Sunday newspapers, a regional paper called “Berbice
Times” for the eastern-most county and the "Mackenzie
News" for the Upper Demerara River mining district -
the latter two of which Williams edited.
In the face of growing Burnham control, and
legislation in 1971 which provided legal cover to politi-
cal manipulation of the privately-owned media enterpris-
es, and Burnham’s strongly influential personal relation-
ships with the top echelon of the Graphic’s editorial de-
partment, Williams resigned to become an independent
operative in Guyana for the London-based Reuters News
Agency.
It was of considerable import, too, to that deci-
sion, the tragic death in a road accident of then General
Manager D. A. "Bob" Grandsoult, the strong hand that
had steered the company, and about which event Wil-
liams had remarked in a message to the Reuters head of-
fice that "the Graphic is dead".
In the case of Singh, his going was the direct
result of pressure exerted by Burnham on the then British
owners of the newspaper, which had first moved out of
its founding Booker sugar company ownership into the
hands of the Mirror Group of Cecil Harmsworth King,
and then became a property within the spreading empire
of Roy Thomson, a wealthy and very influential Canadi-
an, subsequently deemed the king of Fleet Street, and
recipient of a British peerage.
Among the several experiments in the conniv-
ance of Burnham and big business to silence Singh, was
the extraordinary banishment of this foremost Guyanese
political reporter to England to cover cases in a magis-
trate’s court for a provincial newspaper within the Thom-
son chain.
Extraordinary in the sense that this was a rever-
sal of standard colonial practice where political and other
sorts of irritants (prisoners, also) used to be sent packing
off to the colonies to get them out of the way; but in
Singh’s case (a virtual unknown outside of his own juris-
diction), he was sent up to the Mother Country from a
recently colonial possession - to get him out of the way.
When he eventually decided that being away
from his family and wasting his talent covering innocu-
ous court cases in a foreign land was totally unaccepta-
ble, to the utter dismay of the Thomson authorities in
London, he high-tailed it back to Guyana.
No one but Williams had been advised of his
intended return, and it was Williams who met him at the
airport, chauffeured him home, and when the door was
opened, was there to witness the shock and great joy of
his family.
Not too long thereafter both Singh and Wil-
liams were to relocate in neighbouring Caribbean coun-
tries…. one in Trinidad and Tobago, the other in Barba-
dos. In 1979, both the Singh and the Williams families
were resident in Barbados.
Burnham must have chuckled “heh, heh, heh,
heh” that his thesis about the two was alive and well…
whatever one did, that likely would the other do.
I was to discover subsequently that some of his
thinking had been shared with J.M.G.M. “Tom” Adams,
the then Prime Minister of Barbados, when in attempting
at his office to sort out an issue over which we had dif-
fering perceptions, he revealed that Forbes had warned
him about me and Rickey… that we were very difficult
people to cope with.
It is now a part of historical record that the re-
lationship between Rickey and Mr. Adams reached their
lowest point during the Grenada invasion by American
troops in 1983, that Rickey’s residency permit was re-
voked and that he was invited out of Barbados, a deci-
sion enforced despite the intervention of the gentleman
politician, now Sir Henry Forde, who then held responsi-
bility for immigration matters in the Adams cabinet.
What may not be in the general record is that
Rickey found a means of frustrating the Adams intent by
exploiting the island’s image as a tourism destination,
although it was a formula that carried a significant finan-
cial cost. He did initially exit on a one-way ticket, but
returned shortly thereafter on an extended visit as a tour-
ist, with a ticket showing a date of departure; and when
that time came, he would depart and return to do it all
over again.
It must be the case that the immigration authori-
ties knew what was happening, but winked at his tactics,
for if they had so wished, they could have frustrated
them.
It was my view at the time that Mr. Ad-
ams himself, having made his initial public strike against
CONTINUED ON PAGE 17
DIASPORA TIMES MONTHLY NEWS MAGAZINE ISSUE 2 VOLUME 5
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www.guyfolkfest.org/guyana50
Monday, May 23, 2016
Arthur Chung Conference Center, Liliendaal
9:30am- 7:00pm
Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Arthur Chung Conference Center, Liliendaal
9:30am-6:00pm
Sunday, June 5, 2016
York College, The City University of New York,
94-20 Guy R Brewer Blvd, Jamaica, NY 11451
8:00am-6:00pm
Golden Jubilee
Symposia Series
DIASPORA TIMES MONTHLY NEWS MAGAZINE ISSUE 2 VOLUME 5
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Rickey, did not wish to incite an international human
rights/freedom of expression issue and further sully the
island’s reputation, so he saw through what Rickey was
doing, but decided to ‘let sleeping dogs lie’.
Following Mr. Adams’ sudden death in March
1985, Rickey enjoyed much better relations with one-
year successor as Prime Minister, Harold Bernard St.
John, later to become Sir Harold..
However, it was not until the return to office of
Prime Minister Errol Walton Barrow, at elections in
1986, that the Administration regularised Rickey’s posi-
tion by granting the Singh family residency status,
though even before that, Rickey had turned down an of-
fer by the Canadians of refugee status in Canada. “I am
not a refugee,” he had responded. “I have a country to
which I can return at any time.”
Now to cap this discourse as to the quaint ex-
pectations of Mr. Burnham… that whatever happens
with one, so will it with the other:
In 1996, very suddenly, Rickey, a dynamo at
all times and an exceptionally high-volume producer,
suffered a serious heart attack. He was rushed to the
Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Bridgetown, not 10 minutes
drive away from his residence, where the surgeons’ skill
saved his life through a triple-bypass procedure.
Careful food selection and preparation, specific
medication resolutely taken as prescribed, and rigorous
exercise have served to ensure a return to full functional-
ity; and Rickey’s journal-
istic output has remained
prodigious.
But somewhere out
there – in heaven, hell,
the netherworld, or where
-ever – the sound “heh,
heh, heh, heh” might have
been heard, for Mr. Burn-
ham those years long past
had been wont to suggest
that whatever affected the
one would by some
means and in time apply
equally to the other.
And so it was
that 12 years past 1996,
on the 14th of July 2008,
there I was, presumably
‘as fit as a fiddle’ with
very comforting readings
during all phases of my
periodic medical check-
ups, but suddenly strick-
en by a heart attack: a big one, the course of recovery
from which would take me thousands of miles away
from Barbados.
In an attempt to erode the applicability of Mr.
Burnham’s thesis, one has to snatch at crumbs of com-
fort, little bits of differences: things like
(1) Rickey was rushed immediately for
medical attention, while I was at home alone for two-and
-a-half days, ignorant of the fact and trying to self-treat
for suspected food poisoning.
(2) Local surgeons at the Queen Eliza-
beth Hospital saved Rickey’s life: I spent 4 days at the
QEH, then at considerable cost, was air-ambulanced
from Barbados to Boston’s Caritas St. Elizabeth’s Medi-
cal Centre where specialists dealt aggressively with the
attack, but avoided surgery. The small jet came in from
Miami. There were the pilot, co-pilot, doctor, nurse, my
daughter and me. We flew from Barbados to North Caro-
lina, re-fueled, then on to Boston. It was the only time I
could have said (as can the U.S. President about Air
Force One) "this is my plane".
So, now, we are both survivors: And as our
lives course through the excess years granted beyond
three-score-years-and-ten, it is only human to wonder:
What else might Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham have
seen that we two are yet to experience? ….“Heh, heh,
heh, heh”. ==== ENDIT ====
Prime Minister Forbes Burnham receiving instruments of independence
from the Duke of Kent in Parliament, 1966
Photograph Courtesy of KnowledgeWalk Institute. May 5 2016. www.caribbeanelections.com/
DIASPORA TIMES MONTHLY NEWS MAGAZINE ISSUE 2 VOLUME 5
18
Cheddi Jagan
Oct. 1992 to Mar.1997
David Granger
President - May 2015–
GUYANA’s PRESIDENTS
Bharrat Jagdeo, Aug. 1999 to Dec. 2011
Forbes Burnham, Oct. 1980 to Aug. 1985
Arthur Chung, Mar. 1970- Oct.1980
Desmond Hoyte, Aug. 1985 to Oct. 1992
Janet Jagan, Dec. 1997 to Aug. 1999
Sam Hinds, Mar. 1997 - Dec 1997
Donald Ramotar, Dec. 2011 to May 2015
DIASPORA TIMES MONTHLY NEWS MAGAZINE ISSUE 2 VOLUME 5
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National Anthem of Guyana
Lyrics: Archibald Leonard Luker - Music: Robert Cyril Gladstone Potter
Dear land of Guyana, of rivers and plains,
Made rich by the sunshine and lush by the rains,
Set gemlike and fair between mountains and sea,
Your children salute you, dear land of the free.
Green land of Guyana, our heroes of yore,
Both bondsmen and free, laid their bones on your shore;
This soil so they hallowed, and from them are we,
All sons of one mother, Guyana the free.
Great land of Guyana, diverse though our strains,
We are born of their sacrifice, heirs of their pains,
And ours is the glory their eyes did not see,
One land of six peoples, united and free.
Dear land of Guyana, to you will we give
Our homage, our service, each day that we live;
God guard you, great Mother, and make us to be
More worthy our heritage - land of the free.
DIASPORA TIMES MONTHLY NEWS MAGAZINE ISSUE 2 VOLUME 5
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H uge flags, gun salutes, par-ties, galas and
masquerade bands are images that come to mind when we think of independence anniver-saries. But what is inde-pendence really about? This article, first pre-pared as part of the 50th anniversary program for the Toronto area, is an attempt to answer this
question.
In the quest for answers, I sought the opinions of a few friends, relatives, colleagues and acquaintances. Here are some of their thoughts, blended with my own.
1. Responsibility for our own national destiny
I was among those Guyanese coming of age during what poet Martin Carter calls the time of our standing up. For us, the simplest and perhaps most important way to think of independence was, as one of my re-spondents said, “having a country of our own, instead of having to obey a mother country.” She sees the transition to independence as “a separation from those who had brought us as slaves to be discarded, and as indentured servants to be given land and mon-ey and kept separate by this means.
2. Dignity
Another writer described independence as “the only path to dignity” and the “only choice of every right-thinking individual or people.” He added: “It is better to have less as an independent person or nation, than to prosper materially under tutelage.”
3. Controlling our natural and other resources for our own benefit
Independence also represented an opportunity to take control of our natural and other resources. No less important, it offered us the challenge to use those resources to build a country that met our needs and that we could be proud of. That aspect of the independence project could be as basic as producing the foods we need instead of importing them from, and exporting our hard-earned wealth to, other na-tions. And it could be as profound as the right and the power to build layers of value added into our raw materials instead of continuing to export those mate-rials and that privilege to others.
4. Cultural, social and inter-ethnic unity
Independence enables and requires us to combine, as our national anthem mandates, the beauty and diver-sity of being a “land of six peoples” with the strength that comes with being “united and free.” One of the letters I received called this “an opportunity to try to live together as one people and to develop a culture of our own” in which “there would be a place for eve-ryone and respect for all.” Increasingly, there has been talk of this unity encompassing a sharing of the aspirations and resources of Guyanese at home with those of Guyanese in the Diaspora.
Independence: What’s It All About?
By Frank A. Campbell
DIASPORA TIMES MONTHLY NEWS MAGAZINE ISSUE 2 VOLUME 5
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5. Patriotism, nation building, growing up and na-tional self-discovery
One correspondence I received was from a writer who was less than seven on May 26, 1966. He there-fore rightly calls himself “a child of independence.” Important elements of his growing up included learn-ing the national anthem, singing patriotic songs, and later, as a boys scout, roaming from one part of the Guyanese landscape to another. “Now in my 50s,” he says, “as Guyana turns 50, I believe that independ-ence is about growing up and self-discovery. It is about journey, a work in progress.”
6. National security, international relations and in-terdependence
With independence, the British military and the British Foreign Service were no longer even notionally a part of the Guyanese security and diplomatic reality. Local military and paramilitary forces were estab-lished. There was a Guyanese diplomatic service, which, although young, was formidable in its own way. And a young Guyana was helping to create, or build upon, a global infrastructure of interdepend-ence ranging from CARICOM to the Commonwealth and the Non-aligned Movement.
In the words of one of my more academic respond-ents, "The intensifying global dynamics of the age in which we live make independence of countries such
as Guyana a challenge of managing shackles. Guy-ana’s independence in 1966 witnessed the formal re-moval of political shackles, but not only have eco-nomic shackles endured since then, but they have al-so developed new dynamics, with new state and in-ternational corporate players.”
7. A work in progress: making our own mistakes
The late Ghanaian anti-colonial fighter, statesman and pan-Africanist, Kwame Nkrumah, promised that after independence, “the mistakes we make will be our own.” We continue to prove him correct. We are, after all, a work in progress. Nkrumah also said that, “it will be our responsibility to put [those mis-takes] right.” I pray that Nkrumah’s prophecy will be correct in this respect also, and that our success in correcting our mistakes will be perhaps the most en-during legacy of the Guyanese independence experi-ence.
Frank A. Campbell is a former Guyanese journalist, ambassador and Cabinet minister. In preparing this article, he has benefited from the ideas of several oth-er Guyanese patriots. He especially thanks Professors Ivelaw Griffith and Roslin Khan; Dr. Riyad Insanally; Frank’s wife Barbara Campbell, a poet, playwright and former teacher and community leader; his broth-er Nestor, a church leader and former teacher; and their nephew, Jos-el Principal Wil Campbell. Frank accepts re-
sponsibility for the article submitted under his name.
Former Governor General of British Guiana, Sir Richard Luyt (L) in discussion with newly independent Guyanese, (L-R),
Cecil Ramsingh (Mirror Newspapers), partly hidden Peter DeFreitas (Central Garage), Shamir Ally (Bookers Lithographic &
Boxmakers). Photograph, 1966, courtesy of Dr. Shamir Ally
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C oats of arms were first used in medieval battlefields as distinctive heraldry for illit-erate combatants to distinguish between
friend and foe. The word originates from the Old French cote a armer which were tunics draped over battle shields to prevent the reflection of the sun on soldiers’ shields. Today, a national coat-of-arms is a symbolic canopy boasting motifs of a nation’s pride, values and accomplishments.
The center of a coat-of-arms is a place of honor. The shield at the center of Guyana’s coat-of-arms gives highest honor to Guyana’s abundance of water sources in-cluding the magnificent Kaiteur Falls, Essequibo River and innu-merable waterfalls, rivers and naturally occurring bodies of wa-ter. Those are symbolically rep-resented by three horizontal blue waves. That center spot also pays homage to the beauty of Guyana's rare flora in the depiction of Guyana’s na-tional flower, the exquisite Victoria Regia water lily; and Guyana’s national bird the Canje Pheasant, all on a white shield connoting Guyana’s peace. The bird is considered to be the only member of the genus Opis-thocomus (from the Greek for “long hair”) character-
ized by the large crest on the head of the bird.
The vertical center third segment of a coat-of-arms grants tribute to the most significant insignia of a na-tion’s pride. That segment of Guyana’s coat-of-arms asserts our pride in self-government (the indigenous head-dress that crowns and rises above all the other symbols), our waters, unique indigenous wildlife spe-cies, and our united nationhood spelled out in the words “one nation” in the center of the scroll at the bottom that records the nation’s motto. The motto, a specific chronicle of our pledge at independence, supports and is part of the entire motif.
Guyana’s treasure of mineral resources is represent-ed by diamonds on either side of the headdress. The two jaguars represent wildlife, and a pick axe, sugar cane and rice stalks attest to the value of Guyana’s agricultural resources.
According to the College of Arms in the United King-dom, Coats of arms are granted by letters patent is-sued by the most senior heralds, the Kings of Arms to subjects of the Crown. Guyana’s coat-of-arms was recommended by Guyana’s National History and Arts
Council, approved by the Col-lege of Arms and, after Guyana gained independence, accepted by Guyana’s House of Assembly. It is not only a symbol of our pride as an independent nation, but also reflects the undeniable heritage of our colonialism.
Below is a depiction of the coat-of-arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. It boasts motifs of the monarchy some of which have been attributed to changes
made by monarchs throughout its history. The acknowledgement of God (“Dieu et mon Droit”, French, meaning “God and my right”) is said to have first been used by Richard I and later adopted as the royal motto by Henry VI.
Coats-of-Arms
Karen Sinclair
Guyana Coat of Arms
DIASPORA TIMES MONTHLY NEWS MAGAZINE ISSUE 2 VOLUME 5
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Guyana’s Independence Arch
Unveiling Guyana’s Independence Arch, a gift from the Demerara Bauxite Company, 1966.
Photograph courtesy of KnowledgeWalk Institute. May 5 2016. www.caribbeanelections.com
DIASPORA TIMES MONTHLY NEWS MAGAZINE ISSUE 2 VOLUME 5
24 Poem: © Karen Sinclair, 1995, 2016
From the book Jungle Heart, a poetic journey through the emotional jungle of contemporary life, p 15
This is the long ripening fruit of the rotted tree of vile slavery
Farmed under burning rays in plantation fury,
Germinated from an imported seed
Uprooted from distant African shores by white savages
And shipped shackled in chains;
A special variety,
Unique characteristics spliced in tempestuous ocean journey
By furious, rebelling natives
Unwilling scientists of a disturbed history,
Black rage fuelled with displaced energy
now embedded in the genes
of a hybrid cultural seed.
Suppression is the climate that fertilized that seed
which defied unrelenting seasons of oppression,
withstood thundering hurricanes of brutality,
and branched widely to shelter the bare backs of an entire people,
raw from the cruel whips of economics,
of subjugation,
of displacement,
Providing refuge in flourishing shade of green artistry
Filling hungry minds with tangy, liberating fruit;
A passionate crop,
Anger its flavour.
Reaped and relished
This fruit nurtured the budding embryo of emancipation
So that free seeds scattered abundantly in every clime
Took root,
And new varieties flourished each new day,
Bitter fruit now tempered with sweet taste of freedom
Roots in opportunity’s fertile soil;
Cultivated with a renewed hopeful vision
Enlightened by the bittersweet harvests of history
This fruit is ripe.
Pick,
Savour!
THIS IS THE FRUIT
DIASPORA TIMES MONTHLY NEWS MAGAZINE ISSUE 2 VOLUME 5
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DIASPORA TIMES MONTHLY NEWS MAGAZINE ISSUE 2 VOLUME 5
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J ubilee fever is spreading among Guyanese at home and abroad, as the Government of Guyana is preparing the Guyana landscape for a fiftieth
anniversary celebration like no other!
It was infectious enough that many Guyanese planned to return for the celebrations and made airline and hotel reservations since last year. Now it seems that as May 26th draws closer and emails are flying off laptops an-nouncing a growing list of events in Guyana, some for-merly event-shy members of the Diaspora are becoming increasingly willing to pay the ever inflating prices for a last minute decision to travel to Guyana. More Guya-nese have caught Jubilee fever!
Jubilee fever is heightened by announcements of high school and other reunion affairs and the prospect of meeting long lost friends, some from fifty years ago! Then there is the lure of new venues, nostalgia of old
familiar names and the tales of sprucing up that keep trickling out daily to make it seem as if a whole lot of welcome change is taking place and the trip is going to be the trip of a lifetime!
While taking whatever is the appropriate medication for this kind of fever, (some XM might do the trick), we must stay sober long enough to take the advice of our wise Francis Quamina Farrier to change our USD into GD, steer clear of political talk and watch out for ‘dem boys’ on the corner. Then, for the inevitable trip to a govern-ment office, take heed of Lear Matthews’ warning to wear outfits with sleeves and legs. Here’s hoping that you feel better soon!
Happy Fiftieth Independence Anniversary!
by Karen Sinclair
Photograph of D’urban Park Courtesy of Guyana Information News Agency
JUBILEE FEVER
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The mini totem is 3 feet tall and 6 inches wide. An Amerindian cultural icon, it consists of ten carvings sym-bolizing the unique identity of the 10 Administrative Regions of Guyana. The full scale Golden Jubilee of Inde-pendence Totem Pole will stand 50 feet tall. Since January 2016, the anniversary totem pole has been mak-ing its way through the ten administrative regions of Guyana, gaining a section in each region. The mini to-tem pole was launched in March at the National Gallery of Art. The unveiling of the full scale totem pole is scheduled for Saturday May 14th at Umana Yana.
The Totem Pole
A symbol of Guyana’s Indigenous Heritage
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L to R: President David Granger, Ambassador Bayney Karran, Aubrey Stephenson, AA, CEO of Federal Management Systems, Inc., Mrs. Karran
I t is now one year since President David Arthur Granger took the oath of office and commenced his
service as President of the Coopera-tive Republic of Guyana. While on the Balcony of the Public Buildings imme-diately after his Swearing-In Ceremo-ny, he invited all present to link hands and sing the Billy Pilgrim composition, "Let us Cooperate for Guyana.” That cooperation extends to those Guya-nese in the Diaspora as well. One of the principal projects of David Granger, is to bring Guyanese in the Diaspora and those in the Motherland, even closer. The president is anxious that the aspirations of those in the Di-aspora, who desire to have business and other projects in Guyana, become easier to achieve. To that end, he has made quite a number of visits to the Diaspora, holding discussions with a variety of stakeholders... He has a vision of how "the two Guyanas - the one in North America and the one in South America" - as he puts it, can complement each other.
The president was in the USA earlier this month, where among other activi-ties, he met with Guyana's Ambassa-dor to the United States and the Or-ganization of American States, Bayney Karran. At a function at the home of the Ambassador, President Granger witnessed a ceremony at which the CEO of Federal Management Sys-tems, Inc., Guyanese, Aubrey Ste-phenson, AA., made a presentation to Ambassador Bayney Karran. The president also visited the Guyana Em-bassy in Washington, DC, where he addressed the Ambassador and Staff-ers, telling them how much he recog-nized the service which they are giving to Guyana.
There has not been any professional survey taken in the Diaspora, of the president's performance and popularity during this his first year in office. But what is certain, is that he still enjoys a high degree of respect and admiration by many Guyanese in the Diaspora. The way he conducts himself interact-ing with both the great and the simple,
has earned him many supporters. He has been inviting Guyanese in the Di-aspora to return home and join in the many developmental projects in their homeland. Businessmen are being invited to establish businesses in Guy-ana. That is what Aubrey Stephenson of Federal Management Systems did. Federal Management Systems, Inc. employs hundreds of Guyanese both in Guyana and in the Diaspora and pays tens of Millions of dollars in Tax-es into the Guyana Treasury. The Guyana branch of Federal Manage-ment Systems, Inc. with Office on Pe-ter Rose Street in Georgetown, is now celebrating their twenty-fifth anniver-sary.
As President David Arthur Granger commences his second year in Office, it is left to be seen how well he will succeed in dealing with the many chal-lenges which Guyana faces; the strengthening of the bridge between the Diaspora and the Motherland be-ing a vital one.
“Let us Cooperate for Guyana” Francis Quamina Farrier
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As Guyana celebrates its fiftieth anniversary of
Independence, Barbados is celebrating
One hundred and fifty years since the 1816 Bussa
Rebellion against slavery
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
BARBADOS
C ARICOM countries share a history of colonial rule, slav-
ery, slave revolts and
emancipation from slav-ery. Long after, mostly in the 1960s, many also ob-tained independence from colonial rule. Inde-
pendence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain was granted through civil parliamentary processes. Barbados was granted in-dependence on Novem-ber 30, in the same year with Guyana, 1966. Ja-maica and Trinidad and Tobago were granted in-dependence in 1962. In-dependence for other Caribbean islands oc-curred in the 1970s and 1980s. Anguilla, Bermuda and Montserrat are still territories of the United Kingdom.
As we celebrate inde-pendence, we also recall the fight for freedom from slavery. In a revolt begin-ning on February 23rd 1763, British Guiana’s slave, Cuffy, said to have
been of Ghanaian de-scent, led fellow slaves in Lilienburg plantation in Canje Berbice, in a violent rebellion against slavery. Barbadian slave, Bussa, led a rebellion against slavery in 1816. The Slave Trade Abolition Act had been passed by British Parliament in 1807. It banned the slave trade and trading of slaves but did not free the already enslaved people in the British Empire, including British Guiana on the South American Continent and the British islands in the Caribbean Sea. They fought violently to be free. In 1823 over 13,000 slaves in Demerara, Guy-ana rebelled to force local plantation owners to obey British orders to free them.
“CUFFY STATUE” The 1763 Monument,
Square of the Revolution, Georgetown
Sculptor - Phillip Moore
DIASPORA TIMES MONTHLY NEWS MAGAZINE ISSUE 2 VOLUME 5
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DIASPORA TIMES is inviting
readers to write short
memoirs about
experiences in Guyana.
Send to [email protected]
Guyana’s emancipation was finally achieved in 1838. Emancipation and Independ-ence are two different mile-stones, but in the same con-text of freedom.
The British, (as did the French, Dutch and Spanish) invaded countries around the world, took possession of natural re-sources, and made many peo-ples subjects of their empires. They also captured unwilling people on other continents, primarily Africa, recruited oth-ers, primarily from India, and shipped them to supplement the labor force in their occu-pied colonies. Independence for these descendants of those people may seem a tiny gain in the context of those major atrocities that are the genesis of this nation. But it is undeni-ably a milestone. A milestone
soaked with the blood and sweat of strong, determined, and intelligent people who or-ganized themselves and per-sisted despite limited re-sources and seemingly insur-mountable hurdles. Free gen-erations still, however, have miles to travel. We must cele-brate independence as a mile-stone, not a destination. They fought for freedom, then sought independence. Now free and independent, it is our job to climb above disad-vantage and conditions we despise.
As we celebrate independ-ence, let us join our sister Bar-bados on their sesquicentenni-al anniversary of rebellion against slavery, and remember the graves on which we dance.
EMANCIPATION STATUE Bussa - Round-a-Bout
BARBADOS
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In the words of 1960s singer songwriter Nesbit Changur
A Guianese Lament (extract from the song)
First we must learn to see brothers…
then can we start to be
building our destiny
building our justice with love.
In all Guyana
our own land strong and free
when tears and hatred end and race with race work
together as friends.
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GUYANA’S 50TH
ANNIVERSARY MAY 2016
Fifty Years of Memories: What is most significant about your life in Guyana in
the last fifty years? Send us a photograph and your 20-50 word summary.
DIASPORA TIMES MONTHLY NEWS MAGAZINE ISSUE 2 VOLUME 5
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IN THE NEWS
Where are We Now? Symposium on Guyana-Barbados Relations
B arbados’ Ambassador to CARICOM Robert “Bobby” Morris reiterated his country’s support for Guyana in matters of Foreign
and Community Relations, particularly against the expansionist plans of Venezuela.
The Ambassador was speaking at a (GABI) sympo-sium entitled “The History of Guyana-Barbados… and where are we now?” The symposium was the third monthly event organized by GABI as part of its year-long observances of Guyana’s 50th Inde-pendence Anniversary.
He said that Barbados and Guyana have kept com-mon counsel with regard to Climate Change agen-da of vulnerable small island and coastal states.
On the sensitive issue of “problems around immi-gration matters”, Ambassador Morris said that be-
DIASPORA TIMES MONTHLY NEWS MAGAZINE ISSUE 2 VOLUME 5
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IN THE NEWS
tween 2007 and 2010, the problems were blown out of proportion, but have fortunately been overcome.
Quoting statistics for the period, Mr. Morris said that Guyanese visits to Barbados between 2007 and 2012 were highest in 2008, with 31,276 visitors; and lowest in 2010, with 19,432. Refusals for entry, he said, were usually about one (1%) percent, but never above two (2%) percent. Overstays were usually between eleven (11%) percent and twenty four (24%) percent. “Work Permits” were given to Guyanese workers, especially in Agriculture and Construction, but economic con-traction after 2007 led to a reduction in numbers of work permits granted or renewed, and that Guyanese then pursued CARICOM strategies for migration. These refusals and denials tested the bonds between the two countries.
The Ambassador said that the signing of the Agree-
ment for Deepening Bilateral Cooperation between the Government of Barbados and the Government of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, ushered in a new era in relations between the two countries.
The Articles of that Agreement allowed for establish-ment of a Joint Economic, Technical and Cultural Co-operation Commission to implement the Agreement. It was also agreed that the Commission would meet alternately in Guyana and in Barbados. Issues have in-cluded investments and exports. Other areas include an offer of land to be purchased by Barbadians; Tour-ism, Hospitality and Services; Agriculture and Fisheries; Maritime Administration/Maritime Affairs; Education; Immigration and Security and Culture, Youth and Sports.
Ambassador Morris said that one of the highlights of this cooperation is Sir Kyffin Simpson’s Rice Farm in Re-gion 9 in the Rupununi. He said that the farm was visit-ed by Minister Maxine McClean and other officials in 2013. “This is a prime example of the type of coopera-tion which can be a model for the development of CARICOM”, the Ambassador concluded.
The symposium was also addressed by Mt. Pat Thomp-son of Guyana, who spoke on “Growing-Up in Guyana – The Bajan Connection”; Dr. Jeannette Allsopp on “Education – The similarities between Guyana and Bar-bados”; and Mr. Frank Da Silva who spoke on the “Private and Public Sector – Bridging the Gap”. Mrs. Roxanne Brancker was the moderator.
Also present at the well-attended session were Guy-ana’s interim Counsel General Mrs. Monique Jackman, Cuba’s Ambassador to Barbados, His Excellency Fran-cisco Fernandez Pena, Barbadian Attorney and Social Activist Davis Commissong and several members of the Barbados business community.
The attendees were treated to Guyanese snacks after the event while listening to renditions by the “Birdman”.
Submitted By Ian Keith Haynes
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The initiative by the Regional CARICOM Reparation Commission to actively send the reparation message around the region, has moved to the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, with the passing of the “Reparation Baton” from Barbados.
The “Baton” was presented to the Deputy Consul General of the Coop-erative Republic of Guyana in Bar-bados, Ms. Monique Jackman, by Chairman of the Barbados Task Force on Reparation, Professor Dr. Pedro Welch. The handing over was done at the start of the Island’s 50th Anniversary of Independence at the historic Golden Grove Planta-tion, St. Phillip.
The “Baton” is now in Guyana in the possession of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and it is expected to be passed on to the local Commis-sion on Reparation.
Commenting on the passing of the Baton Saturday April 30th, Barba-dos’ Prime Minister Mr. Freundel Stuart, who is the Chairman of the CARICOM Sub-Committee on Repa-ration, said “For Barbados, the 1816 Bussa Rebellion was a prominent uprising whose bicentenary helps us to recognize its effects in shaping the future of this small island devel-oping state.
“Barbados has recommitted itself to the call for reparation on this
occasion, as a mark of respect for our ancestors who struggled for reparation justice. To mark this event, Barbados has the distinct honour of leading off the symbolic passing of the reparation Baton to Guyana as a show of CARICOM soli-darity for the cause of reparation.”
The Caribbean Reparation was formed by CARICOM Heads of Gov-ernment in 2013. The Commission is headed by Chairman Sir. Hilary Beckles, and there are several na-tional reparation committees throughout the region.
Submitted By Ian Keith Haynes
CARICOM’s Reparation
‘Baton’ moves to Guyana
IN THE NEWS
DIASPORA TIMES MONTHLY NEWS MAGAZINE ISSUE 2 VOLUME 5
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See more at: http://xpressblogg.com/books/
By Verian Mentis-Barker, Publicist
Phone:(864) 595 1741
B O O K S
Sacred Secrets: Shedding
the Shackles of my Shame A Shocking Story of Abuse and Trauma
DIASPORA TIMES MONTHLY NEWS MAGAZINE ISSUE 2 VOLUME 5
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DIASPORA TIMES MONTHLY NEWS MAGAZINE ISSUE 2 VOLUME 5
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GUYANESE CELEBRATE JUBILEE IN JAMAICA
A Newspaper Supplement to be published 26th May, 2016 Kingston, Jamaica
Independence Day Flag Raising 26th May, 2016 Emancipation Park-Kingston Jamaica
Health and Legal Aid Fair June, 2016v Bog Walk, St Catherine-Kingston Jamaica
A Banquet/ dinner with President of Guyana as Guest Speaker September, 2016 Jamaica Pegasus Hotel - Kingston, Jamaica
A one day conference/Summit to co-inside with the President’s visit
(to be held at the UWI Regional Headquarters) eve Sep, 2016 UWI Regional Headquarters- Kingston, Jamaica
GUYANESE JUBILEE OBSERVATIONS IN CANADA
Flag Raising Ceremony 26th May, 2016 Ottawa City Hall
Gala (Ottawa) 7th May, 2016 (tentative) Ottawa/Montreal
Flag Raisings Ceremony (2 Locations) 26th May, 2016 - (Time TBD) (afternoon) Winnipeg City Hall;
Portage and Main
50th Anniversary of Guyana’s Independence Gala Banquet 28th May, 2016 Canad Inn Polo Park
(6:00 PM- 1:00 AM)
JUBLIEE OBSERVATIONS IN NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY
Interfaith Prayer Service June 4th, 2016 Queens
Unity Concert June 4th, 2016 Brooklyn
Symposium: Guyana at 50:
Understanding our Independence Journey June 5th, 2016 Queens
Exhibition of Guyanese Art, June 6th, 2016 Manhattan
Invest Guyana
Business Investment Conference June 7th, 2016 Manhattan
Guyana Gives Back" Day of Volunteerism June 8th, 2016 Queens & Brooklyn
United Nations Reception to
Commemorate 50 Years of Membership June 9th, 2016 Manhattan
Flag Raising Ceremony June 9th, 2016 Paul Robeson, East Orange, New Jersey
Cultural Extravaganza June 10th,2016 Prospect High School Performing Arts Theater, Brooklyn, New York
State Dinner & Awards Ceremony (evening) June 11th, 2016 Manhattan
President’s Cup Soccer Tournament & Youth Fun Day June 11th, 2016 Brooklyn
Mashramani in New York June 12th, 2016 Brooklyn
JUBILEE OBSERVATIONS IN FLORIDA
Guyana Day 2016- By Guyana Inc 29th May, 2016 West Palm Beach
Independence Gala-By Guyana Day Inc 4th Jun, 2016 West Palm Beach
Family Fun Day- Guyanese American Cultural Assn 5th Jun , 2016 Orlando
CCUSA VS Guyana Amazon Warriors-
Cricket Council USA 23rd -28th Jun, 2016 Guyana
Family Fun Day 7th Aug, 2016 Ft. Lauderdale
DIASPORA TIMES MONTHLY NEWS MAGAZINE ISSUE 2 VOLUME 5
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DIASPORA T I M E S I N T E R N A T I O N A L
“VICTORIA REGIA”- Guyana’s National Flower