President Jagan
© Nadira Jagan-Brancier 2000Speech delivered by Dr. Cheddi Jagan at swearing-in ceremony on
October 9, 1992
After I had been declared the winner of the Central Demerara Constituency at the 1947 General Elections, I said: "We, the People, have won!"
Forty-Five years later I can now say once again: "The People have won."
In 1948, after the shooting of the Enmore Martyrs, I pledged to dedicate my life to fighting against exploitation and bondage. In 1953, after struggling for and attaining universal adult suffrage, we won an overwhelming victory of 18 out of 24 seats. That was an expression of national, racial-ethnic and working people's unity.
After Guyana gained independence, I wrote in 1966 at the end of my book, The West on Trial: "The struggle will be long and hard, sacrifices there will be many, but time and history are on our side, and win we shall." We have been vindicated, as the results of the October 5 Elections prove, that victory was inevitable.
Your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen: We will once again build national, racial-ethnic and working people's unity. The unity of our entire nation is our goal.
We went to the elections with the slogan: "Time for Change: Time to Rebuild." We have attained the first objective of a change in government.
Now, all of us together, whatever our party, political affiliation, whatever our race or ethnicity, whatever our creed, must put our shoulders to the wheel.
It is time to embrace each other and work arm in arm to rebuild our beloved Guyana.
And we can do so now that confidence is being restored, as witnessed by the dramatic fall in the exchange rate just today.
We must move forward together and make into reality our motto: "One People One Nation, One Destiny".
In this exciting adventure, I expect the fullest co-operation not only of our many friendly countries and our overseas brothers and sisters, but also all progressive minded personalities and organizations: investors, experts and advisers.
We do so without rancour, without recrimination, without victimization, without in any way trying to cast blame.
In this regard I hope to develop a constructive relationship with Mr. Desmond Hoyte and the leadership of all parties in order to deepen our democratic process, and accelerate our economic development.
Allow me to congratulate the Commissioner of Police and the Chief of Staff and their forces for firmly maintaining law and order at this challenging time. I want to assure them that they can always count on the full cooperation and support of my government in the exercise of their constitutional duties.
As true patriots and genuine internationalists, we hope to play a vibrant role not only in rebuilding Guyana but also in establishing a democratic and humane world order - an order based on the rule of law, the eradication of poverty and human development.
I salute the major western countries for over seeing the electoral process, and I most affectionately embrace our many supporters for their support, patience and calm.
Long Live National Unity. Long Live Guyana.
June 1948 was Enmore and the brutal slaying of five sugar workers. Dr. Jagan led the funeral march of the workers from Enmore to La Repentir cemetery in Georgetown. This event had a deep effect on him and furthered his belief that he had a role to play in the liberation of the Guyanese people from tyranny, exploitation and colonial rule. In his book "The West on Trial", he expressed this more decisively when he wrote that he had made a silent pledge at the graveside of the five Enmore Martyrs that he would devote his life to freeing his people from exploitation.
Quotation by Cheddi Jagan taken from the West on Trial
"The Enmore tragedy affected me greatly. I was personally acquainted with all the young men killed and injured. The funeral procession, which was led by my wife, other leaders and myself to the city 16 miles away became a tremendous mass protest demonstration. At the graveside the emotional outbursts of the widows and relatives of the deceased had been intensely distressing, and I could with difficulty restrain my tears. There was to be no turning back. There and then I made a silent pledge - I would dedicate my entire life to the cause of the struggle of the Guyanese people against bondage and exploitation." Cheddi Jagan
We are meeting today to pay tribute to our comrades who fell under colonial bullets in 1948. They made the supreme sacrifice so that Guyana and its people could live better lives than they were living. The Enmore Five made the supreme sacrifice and we must be prepared also to sacrifice because without struggle there can be no progress. We must all be prepared to pay penalties and indeed to give up our lives.
The Enmore Martyrs followed a long tradition of working people fighting for social progress and human development. We honour Cuffy, because he and others fought against slavery. We honour others who fought against indentureship, a different form of slavery. We honour workers in Britain who not only fought for democracy, political democracy, but for trade union rights and against capitalist slavery. When they organised their first trade union they were sent off as prisoners to Australia. In fact they helped found Australia.
We had not too long ago celebrated May Day (in 1948) for the reduction of the working day to eight hours. The slogan: "8 hours work; 8 hours recreation and 8 hours rest" was raised but for this workers were gunned down and literally put to the gallows.
While we pay tribute to the Martyrs we must remember what were then the conditions against which they were fighting. A Royal Commission came here in 1945 to investigate conditions.
In those days workers lived in logies which were built in the slavery and indentureship periods. There were pit latrines, nothing like the ones we know now or septic tanks and other facilities. Pit latrines over the trench; and when the rains came the whole compound in several estates used to be totally flooded and people had to move around in boats. On one such occasions I remember going to the compound at Lusignan to the manager; his compound was dry. I asked him why can't he use the same pump that he was pumping to clear his compound to clear also the compound of the workers. His answer was: "Jagan, do you know you are trespassing?"
Although I was elected for that area in 1947 as a representative I did not have the right to visit the people who had voted for me. Such were the powers of the sugar planters at that time. So powerful they were, that the head of the sugar plantocracy, although he was defeated in the 1947 elections when I won, was nominated by the Governor to the Legislative Council. So, as we remember our Comrades it is good that we remember from where we started and to where we have come.
A lot of things have changed. Yes, but it could have been better. Unfortunately the unity that we created, which came about as a result of the sacrifice and the struggle of the workers, was destroyed in 1955 when the PPP was split. Had the PPP not been split in 1955 the tragedy and the suffering that we experienced today would not have been so. Yes, Independence came, but where are we today under that independence and under the people who were put in power? Nearly 80% of our people are below the poverty line. We are saddled with a huge debt burden. Money borrowed, money spent, money mis-spent, stolen. Now almost every penny collected from the ordinary people in taxes has to pay for the debt burden.
One individual who is now heading the human rights section of the Carter Centre came to see me not long ago and he said: "You know, I was reading your book The West On Trial and want to congratulate you because you were fighting for all aspects of human rights. Not just civil and political; you must have the right to vote and have the right to elect the government of your choice as stated in the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights". Then he went on to say we were also fighting for economic, social and cultural rights. Under the earlier PPP government we improved education, we improved medicine and health services. We had the best education system in the whole Caribbean. We introduced the University of Guyana; we introduced the Guyana School of Agriculture and other technical schools because we understand the linkage between social development and economic development. If the people are sick, if they are hungry, if they are uneducated, then they cannot be good producers and this can affect economic growth.
If we do not have economic growth we cannot have social development. For us the two are inter-linked and we will continue to fight for them here. I want to make it quite clear to those who have spoken here from the Labour Movement, Cdes. Pollydore, Philadelphia and Komal Chand, that as long as I am in this Government, this Government will ensure that we will fight to preserve the democratic rights of the Guyanese people and all their Trade Union rights.
We didn't come in the government just to have glory, big names, to make big money and to live in high style. We came in the Government with the help of the working people and other democratic forces in this country to see that we have real development, to build a new democratic culture, to make a new ethic, not that one person must live at the expense of others, but an ethic based on humanity and high moral content.
Whatever we do, we are not only preachers of the ten commandments: We are here in Government to see that they are implemented. And I will I work with the preachers, politicians and union leaders. I will work together with them as we worked over the last 10-15 years - because our country was sinking and sinking and sinking with the debt rate, lack of democracy, racial and political discrimination, extravagance and corruption. We want unity, but unity on the basis of principle.
First of all, at the political level after the 1985 elections, five parties got together and advanced on what existed before. Prior to that period the PPP was the only party bearing the brunt of the struggle. Unity developed at the political level and at the trade union level. First there was the four-union movement at the time when GAWU had to strike for 137 days for profit sharing which was denied them, even when sugar had the very best price. Workers were not given one penny in profit-sharing. The government collected a sugar levy of $500 million. As they did until 1975, sugar workers fought for trade union recognition. We remember their sacrifices but as we remember that, we must remember that one of the things they were fighting against was the change of the method of work from cut-and-drop to cut-and-load which meant super exploitation of the workers.
What is genuinely forgotten is that the workers in 1948 were fighting for trade union recognition, because for many many years they wanted to bring in a trade union to represent them. The MPCA was bought out so the struggle of the workers was not only for better conditions but also for union recognition and collective bargaining. That was what the struggle was all about in 1940 and it culminated in the shooting of the workers at Enmore.
After the PPP's first electoral victory we tried to make a law patterned after the United States for union recognition. We tried to make it into law in 1953. It passed the Lower House, but before it could pass the Upper House the British troops came in and out went the law when the Constitution was suspended in 1953. Again in government, in 1963, we tried to reintroduce it but we had an 80 day strike financed from outside against our Government.
We must remember these things. When the PNC came in with Burnham as the head of the Government, although he had led the struggle for that law in 1953 he did not bring in the law. Sugar workers only got recognition, or rather a poll to determine which union they should have, towards the end of 1975 because of a 13 week strike in the Sugar Industry. Workers struck for seven weeks in the sugar industry in the first crop and they didn't get it; and six weeks in the second crop then the Government was forced to hold a poll. That was how GAWU was recognised. This was how the four union movement developed. It developed to a six union movement following teargassing and harassment of bauxite workers. And the whole battle was joined not only for trade union rights but for democratic right to have a free and fair election.
The Bishops, the church people were also harassed because they too saw the degradation of the country. The two Bishops produced a manifesto calling for a restoration of democracy. That is why this year when national honours were given I included their names. These names were not recommended by the Honours Committee because some don't remember those things, but I do.
Let us understand we have come a far way through struggle, not only struggle of all the Guyanese people, all sections, business people, church people, workers, farmers, political leaders, and politicians. We also received solidarity and we must never forget this. International solidarity is a very important concept in the struggle for human progress.
I want to assure all Guyanese that this Government will respect all civil and political rights of the Guyanese people and all elections in the future will be free and fair. As regards to union rights I am glad to see that the two arms of the trade union movement are now united. I hope a time will come when at the political level too, we will have this.
I wish to make it quite clear that we want foreign investment in this country. Investors will be welcomed with open arms. If there is some delay it is because we don't want carpet baggers who want to come and plunder this country, our resources and our people and go away. We want to see that we have agreements in place. We will protect our national right and our people's right. Why should JP Knight in this day and age use delaying tactics in recognising the union of the workers' choice, CCWU! We think this is a deterrent to the hospitality which we have extended to foreign people here.
We don't want the old days to return to Guyana when British Guiana was called Booker's Guiana, when this country was so plundered, the people were left in poverty. I remember Clive Thomas saying that before nationalisation Bookers McConnel & Company did not bring one penny in 30 years to this country. And in that period they not only built their empire abroad but increased/heir assets in this country. Let us hope those days will never return. Let us hope that we will have a new partnership. I am happy to see that today we have built good relations with the British, American and Canadian governments. I am very happy about that. I don't live in the past but we must never forget the past. The past must be a guide to us on how we move in the future. We must remember the past in seeing what was good and what was bad, to have no more of the bad. I hope that we will have more investment coming from outside. Although we felt so strongly against the sugar plantocracy in the past, we are not against Booker/Tate today.
We stand for justice, through partnership between Government and investors. We want justice for workers through unity between labour and capital.
© Nadira Jagan-Brancier 2000
Opening Address to the Conference on
"Poverty in Guyana: Finding Solutions "
(University of Guyana, March 18, 1993)Mr Chairman,
It is indeed a special honour for me to be offered the opportunity to open this most important conference which is to deliberate on issues of poverty in Guyana and to find implementable solutions.
Personally, I would have preferred to be among you and to make my contribution from the floor. You perhaps know that the problem of poverty, its causes, effects and cure, not only in Guyana but in the world at larger, has always been a key motivating factor in my political career. Today, I am heartened that so many of my fellow countrymen from all walks of life, understand the importance of finding solutions to poverty, and are prepared to utilise their time and knowledge to address the issues involved.
I wish sincerely to thank the Institute of Development Studies and the University of Guyana for organizing this event and to state that my administration pledges its full support for this effort and will give all encouragement, and more, to continue informed public discussions and debate on such fundamental issues.
It is not by chance that such a debate is being initiated here by the University of Guyana. This is like a dream come true. When the idea of a local university first took hold of me, I knew that one day, if we persisted, this institution would play a pivotal role in our development and be, so to speak, the "brain of our nation". Today, I can say with pride that the University of Guyana has come of age and it has a glorious future ahead of it.
Since I have been given the task of simply opening this conference I will refrain from dealing with the reasons, local and international, for our present predicament. These a are, however, extremely relevant and should be analysed since they would have a bearing on whatever strategies we may want to implement to eradicate poverty in our society. My reasons for doing so is not to avoid looking at "imperialism's strategy" or the "imperialist vehicle that perpetuates poverty in Guyana", as Mr. Freddie Kisson, in today's Stabroek, insists we do.
Today I want to say a few words about aspects of the historical majority who have been marginalized for whatever reason, and which majority cannot play their rightful role in the development process.
This conference will be looking at poverty in Guyana and attempt to find solutions. There are many measures of the extent of poverty in Guyana. Some even say that all Guyanese are poor. But whatever source we use, the inescapable fact is that poverty in Guyana is a serious problem and affects the majority of the people.
I want to impress upon you the need to keep in mind the people we are talking about. These are real people. We have to know them. We have to put ourselves in their place ad see how they think. We must ask ourselves how they interpret these efforts in conference halls to deal with their plight. We have to see if these people, who live daily in need. in slums, are hungry, poorly educated or illiterate, have broken families, are no stranger to crime, can understand themselves, can help themselves, and can involve themselves in whatever bright plans we advance in their cause.
In thinking about my unfortunate countrymen, I recall a few lines from 'The Stranger of Raveloe' by George Eliot about those who live a life of want. The lines are, I quote, " To them pain and mishap present a far wider range of possibilities than gladness and enjoyment: their imagination is almost barren of the images that feed desire and hope, but is all overgrown by recollections that are a perpetual pasture of fear."
Mr Chairman, as you can see, our major tasks in eradicating poverty in Guyana is not simply to find solutions. We have to find and articulate solutions and positions that those people out there understand and accept, to the extent that they are prepared to lift themselves out of their misery. Should our attempts here today be seen as another effort at charity, simply to ease their pain for few moments, then we would have failed.
It is my firm belief that an anti-poverty strategy cannot be successful outside of an integrated development strategy. An inherent feature of that strategy should be aimed at improving the quality and efficiency of social programmes. This is in no way a suggestion that measures aimed at targeting any of the vulnerable groups cannot be effective. As a matter of fact all endeavours to alleviate poverty are welcomed, given the scope of this problem.
We have to bring those marginalized sections back into the mainstream of economic activities. To be successful, we would have to continue on the road to economic growth and human development. At the end of the day, all our strategies must result in the poorer strata being able to meet their basic needs. We have to find ways to find productive employment for our people, increase their purchasing power and improve primary health care, reduce malnutrition, provide pre-school education, train and re-train adults and improve housing. Special efforts will have to be given to children, pregnant mothers, the elderly and Amerindians.
As you know the government has placed much emphasis over the past five months on the formation of community groups and has given much encouragement to non-governmental organisations. We will continue to do this and to seek more funds for SIMAP with the help from the IDB and the EEC. SIMAP, of course, will have to be better organised and oriented to deal with vulnerable groups on a broader scale. But it will take more than SIMAP to achieve success.
There is definitely need for a national effort at mass mobilization to confront this problem. I think that our present shortage of cash is offset by the presence of a strong political will and commitment by all to find imaginative and bold solutions to chart a successful anti-poverty programme.
We all recognise that there is need for a concerted anti-poverty programme. I think, however, that serious debates must take place on how to bring together all the players in the game. This will create the conditions for proper coordination and creation of appropriate planning and executing bodies This will certainly help to bring about more effective social management, a strengthened statistical database and innovative institutions.
An important aspect of an anti-poverty strategy is democracy. As I said before the people we have in mind must be involved. While there is a growing role for the government to play in eradicating poverty, there must be a great degree of de-centralization. The beneficiaries of the programmes must be given a chance to be involved in arriving at solutions and to work out methods of implementation. I think that experience will show that programmes for the poor are more likely to be successful when they offer scope for broad community participation especially with the injection of self-help and self-management at the micro-economic level.
Mr Chairman, I want to use this opportunity to urge the private sector, foreign donors, charitable organisations, all NGO's and interested individuals to come forward and play a role in this national effort.
My government will be following closely these proceedings and will be especially interested in the results of this conference.
