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The history of Guyana begins about 35,000 years ago with the arrival of humans coming from Eurasia. These migrants became the Carib and Arawak tribes, who met Alonso de Ojeda's first expedition from Spain in 1499 at the Essequibo River. In the ensuing colonial era, Guyana's government was defined by the successive policies of the French, Dutch, and British settlers. During the colonial period, Guyana's economy was focused on plantation agriculture, which initially depended on slave labor. Guyana saw major slave rebellions in 1763 and 1823. Following the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, 800,000 enslaved Africans in the Caribbean and South Africa were freed, resulting in plantations contracting indentured workers, mainly from India. Eventually, these Indians joined forces with Afro-Guyanese descendants of slaves to demand equal rights in government and society. After the Second World War, the British Empire pursued policy decolonization of its overseas territories, with independence granted to British Guiana on May 26, 1966. Following independence, Forbes Burnham rose to power, quickly becoming an authoritarian leader, pledging to bring socialism to Guyana. His power began to weaken following international attention brought to Guyana in wake of the Jonestown mass murder suicide in 1978.
Walter Anthony Rodney was a Guyanese historian, political activist and academic. His notable works include How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, first published in 1972. Rodney was assassinated in Georgetown, Guyana, in 1980.
Cheddi Berret Jagan was a Guyanese politician and dentist who was first elected Chief Minister in 1953 and later Premier of British Guiana from 1961 to 1964. He later served as President of Guyana from 1992 to his death in 1997. In 1953, he became the first Hindu and person of Indian descent to be a head of government outside of the Indian subcontinent.
Brindley Horatio Benn, CCH was a teacher, choirmaster, politician, and one of the key leaders of the Guyanese independence movement. He was put under restriction when the constitution was suspended in 1953. In 1957, Benn served as Minister of Community Development and Education in the first elected government of Guyana, and between 1961 and 1964 as Minister of Natural Resources. From 1993 to 1998, he served as High Commissioner of Guyana to Canada.
Hugh Desmond Hoyte was a Guyanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Guyana from 1984 to 1985 and President of Guyana from 1985 until 1992.
Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham was a Guyanese politician and the leader of the Co-operative Republic of Guyana from 1964 until his death in 1985. He served as Premier of British Guiana from 1964 to 1966, Prime Minister of Guyana from 1964 to 1980 and then as the first Executive President of Guyana from 1980 to 1985. He is often regarded as a strongman who embraced his own version of socialism.
The People's Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) is a major political party in Guyana. As of 2020, the party holds 33 of the 65 seats in the National Assembly and forms the government. It has been the ruling party in the past as well, most recently between 1992 and 2015. In Guyana's ethnically divided political landscape, the PPP/C is a multi-ethnic organization that is supported primarily by Indo-Guyanese people.
The People's National Congress Reform (PNCR) is a social-democratic and democratic socialist political party in Guyana led by Aubrey Norton. The party currently holds 31 of the 65 seats in the National Assembly. In Guyana's ethnically divided political landscape, the PNCR is a multi-ethnic organization.
Guyanese literature covers works including novels, poetry, plays and others written by people born or strongly-affiliated with Guyana. Formerly British Guiana, British language and style has an enduring impact on the writings from Guyana, which are done in English language and utilizing Guyanese Creole. Emigration has contributed to a large body of work relating the Guyanese diaspora experience.
Martin Wylde Carter was a Guyanese poet and political activist. Widely regarded as the greatest Guyanese poet, and one of the most important poets of the Caribbean region, Carter is best known for his poems of protest, resistance and revolution. He played an active role in Guyanese politics, particularly in the years leading up Independence in 1966 and those immediately following. He was famously imprisoned by the British government in Guyana in October 1953 under allegations of "spreading dissension", and again in June 1954 for taking part in a People's Progressive Party (PPP) procession. Shortly after being released from prison the first time, he published his best-known poetry collection, Poems of Resistance from British Guiana (1954).
David Arthur Granger is a Guyanese former politician and retired military officer who served as the ninth president of Guyana from 2015 to 2020. A member of the People’s National Congress (PNC), he previously served as Commander of the Guyana Defence Force and as National Security Adviser from 1990 to 1992. He was leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly of Guyana from 2012 to 2015.
Rupert Roopnaraine is a Guyanese cricketer, writer, and politician. Roopnaraine served as Minister of Education of Guyana between 2015 and 2017.
On 14 July 1979 Bernard Darke, a British-born, Guyana-based Jesuit priest and photographer for the Catholic Standard, was stabbed to death by members of the House of Israel, a religious cult closely tied to the People's National Congress, while photographing Working People's Alliance demonstrations of the PNC. Guyana's Stabroek News described the murder as "the low point of democracy in Guyana" and, for those in the media, "perhaps the most traumatic event of the [Forbes] Burnham regime."
African Society for Cultural Relations with Independent Africa was an Afro-Guyanese grassroots organization in Guyana, to emerge soon after the country's independence from British rule. Dedicated to the revitalization of African culture in the Caribbean country, the organization was a significant political and economic factor in the early 1970s, the Pan-Africanist organization was founded in the 1960s by Eusi Kwayana as a successor organization of Black separatist African Society for Racial Equality (ASRE). During the 1960s and until 1971, ASCRIA was an influential force in Guyana's post-independence politics, as both a competitor and an ally of Forbes Burnham's governing People's National Congress (PNC). After breaking with the PNC and altogether with Black Nationalism, in 1974 it merged into the Working People's Alliance.
Karen de Souza is a Guyanese women and child's rights activist who has worked to advocate for victims, educate and provide support for victims of violence. Founder of the NGO Red Thread anti-violence campaigns, she has been involved in training programmes of judicial officers and contributed to the drafting law to protect trafficking and anti-violence. Her advocacy has been recognized by both regional and international organizations.
Winifred Gaskin, CCH, OD was an Afro-Guyanese educator, journalist and civil servant who entered politics. After a career in public service, she was appointed as the first high commissioner of Guyana to the Commonwealth Caribbean Countries organization. Her dedication to public service was honored with the Jamaican Order of Distinction and the Cacique's Crown of Honour, Guyana's second highest service award.
Jessica Elleisse Huntley was an Guyanese-British political reformer and prominent race equality campaigner. She was a publisher of black and Asian literature, and a women's and community rights activist. She is notable as the founder in 1969 of Bogle-L'Ouverture Publications in London.
Andaiye, born Sandra Williams, was a Guyanese social, political, and gender rights activist, who has been described as "a transformative figure in the region's political struggle, particularly in the late 1970s, '80s and '90s".
Clive Youlande Thomas is a Guyanese economics professor and political activist. He publishes on issues relating to development and poverty eradication in Guyana and the greater Caribbean region.
Tchaiko Ruramai Kwayana, born Ann Cook, was an educator, pan-Africanist, and civil rights activist from Georgia, US. She was married to Eusi Kwayana, Guyanese politician.
References
- ↑ "Political Activist To Give Lecture In Toronto", Jamaica Gleaner , 4 October 2012.
- 1 2 David Hinds, "Eusi Kwayana: A Biographical Sketch", guyanacaribbeanpolitics.com.
- 1 2 3 Michael Parris, "Eusi Kwayana – Brief Bio", Guyanese Online.
- ↑ Westmaas, Nigel (15 May 2017). "Elder, sister, mother, aunty, teacher, cultural ambassador: Three tributes for Tchaiko Kwayana, 24 June 1937 – 6 May 2017". Stabroek News . Retrieved 16 February 2021.
- ↑ Editorial, "Passing the baton", Kaieteur News Online, 29 July 2012.
- ↑ Francis Quamina Farrier (27 January 2019). "The power of youth and the changing theatre of life". Guyana Chronicle.
- ↑ "EUSI KWAYANA – Toronto visit – Sept 27 – Oct 6". Guyanese Online. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
- ↑ "Eusi Kwayana: controversial and outspoken". Kaieteur News. 31 March 2021. Retrieved 1 February 2022.