Dear Editor,
As we approach Election Day in Guyana, etched in my memory is the 6th of August. On that date, eighty years ago, the Americans dropped the powerful nuclear weapon known as the atomic bomb on the Japanese city Hiroshima. The first time that newly developed bomb was used against fellow human beings. As the world condemned this assault we forgot or ignored the very Japanese using hundreds of bombers attacked the American naval facility at Pearl Harbour, destroying several battleships and killing American servicemen and women. There are lessons we must learn.
Forty years ago on the 6th of August, Guyana lost one of its brilliant sons and visionary, Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham. His sudden passing took place when the Cold War was drawing to a close. Even Burnham’s detractors admit that it was his skill that allowed us to gain Independence and he navigated the stress and turbulence in the height of the Cold War. He articulated the need for free education from Kindergarten to University. This meant giving every Guyanese child, care and equal opportunity to make optimum use of his or her potential.
He also with a passion articulated to Feed, Clothe and House ourselves. Subsequent administrations have allowed our markets to be flooded with foreign fruits vegetables and green. A sad and sorry state of affairs.
Burnham left us with a well-staffed and knowledgeable foreign service not like those staff under the PPP cuss-birds and architects of the infamous black clothes gang – the Phantom Squad.
In early 1965, before they got Independence, the three ‘B,s – Errol ‘Dipper’ Barrow of Barbados, Vere Cornwall Byrd of Antigua and Forbes Burnham , Guyana met at Dickinson Bay to provide the beginnings of Caribbean integration.
Next when even among some PNC supporters, who did not wish to offend the United States, and the PPP leadership did not wish to offend the Soviet Union, Burnham, Reid and Green had persuaded cabinet in 1972 to recognise the People’s Republic of China in the Diplomatic community.
It was Burnham breaking tradition who made Hindus and Muslims’ holy days, National Public Holidays.
Today, as we remember the sudden passing of LFS Burnham, every Guyanese, irrespective of race, colour or creed, must remember how he stood up against the people who enslaved us, who brought us here as slaves and Indentured Labourers, We must listen to his echoing wisdom, that our God-given natural resources, oil, gas, gold, timber, marine resources, must be harvested in a way, that we the people, while sharing our patrimony must ensure that the owners of that bounty benefit much more than is the case at present.
And finally, remember that our National Motto of ‘One People, One Nation, One Destiny’ must never ever be tarnished, compromised nor retooled to satisfy the greed and mirror the attitude, that of our erstwhile slave masters.
This month and this date have significance. All of our people remember the words of a Guyanese Patriot, Dr. Yesu Persaud – “we came in different ships, but today, we’re in one boat.” So let us paddle to the drum beat of the Congo Drums, the Amerindian Drums, the Tassa Drums, and every other Drums, to inherit the bounty that the Creator has so generously given to us.
Finally, Guyanese remember this is Emancipation month when the African slaves were set free legally. The effort for liberation for those whose ancestors were enslaved must continue unabated.
Yours truly,
Hamilton Green
Elder
