May Day (1st May) is not a party. It is not a concert, a parade, or a fleeting social media hashtag. It is a hard-won symbol of resistance, of workers’ blood, sweat, and sacrifice. Yet, in today’s oil-rich Guyana, May Day risks becoming a hollow ritual, paraded once a year while the everyday struggles of the working class are buried under the noise of massive societal dysfunction and government-funded distractions.
We must keep May Day alive, not just in banners and speeches, but in action, solidarity, and unrelenting pressure on those in power.
Guyana stands at the crossroads of obscene wealth and persistent poverty. With billions flowing from oil production, the nation should be seeing rising living standards, thriving public services, and empowered workers. Instead, we see a widening chasm between the elite and the working class.
Nurses are still underpaid. Teachers are forced to strike for what is rightfully theirs. Single mothers juggle two jobs and still go to bed hungry. Young people are increasingly disillusioned, unemployed, or emigrating. The poor are surviving — not living — while oil companies rake in profits and cart them offshore with the blessing of a government that has turned public wealth into private capital.
The Natural Resource Fund, designed to secure the nation’s future, has become the government’s personal wallet. Wasteful spending and flashy events have become the order of the day, not to uplift a weary population, but to numb them. These are not investments in the people; they are campaign gimmicks, a cynical effort to mask the decay and fear festering beneath the surface.
Where is the opposition in all this?
The governing People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has perfected the art of corruption, of laundering not only money but truth, justice, and democratic norms. Their record is clear: deteriorating human rights, widespread corruption, an emboldened and unaccountable police force, erosion of law and order, and governance that thrives on fear and division.
And yet, the parliamentary main opposition — the A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC)— continues to stumble. There is no coherent strategy. No sustained message. No credible attempt to build alliances with civil society, trade unions, or independent voices. The country is crying out for a viable alternative, and what we get is silence, infighting, or worse — performative outrage with no follow-through.
In a functioning democracy, an opposition serves as a check on government excess. In Guyana today, that cheque has bounced. This is not just a political failure, it is a betrayal of the people, especially the workers whose daily struggles are going unrepresented.
The time for political ego and nostalgia is over. We call — no, demand — that the opposition get its act together. Unite with others who want to build a just and equitable society. Form a coalition rooted not in race or rhetoric, but in vision, accountability, and the rule of law. Use May Day not as a photo op, but as a moment to recommit to the people of Guyana, to their rights, their futures, and their dignity.
May Day is a reminder that every right we enjoy was fought for, and that the fight must continue. Not just against the government’s mismanagement and exploitation, but against political infighting, complacency and cowardice.
The workers of Guyana deserve better. The country deserves better. And time is running out.
