The PNCR is contending that the 171st Anniversary of Emancipation finds Guyana on the brink of possibly its worst crisis in its post-independence history but the party is urging Guyanese, however, to be resilient and not be overcome by the challenges which beset them.
“Let us take a leaf out of the book of our African ancestors and continue to struggle against the injustices and the tyranny of the present rulers so as to maintain our human dignity and freedom and the right to develop this nation in peace and harmony,” the main opposition party stated in its Emancipation Day Message.
And referring to recent “explosive revelations in a court of law in New York which suggest that the PPP/C government is directly implicated in criminal activities,” the PNCR declared that “this revelation merely confirms the true nature of the Jagdeo administration and what a threat it represents to human freedom and dignity.”
According to the PNCR, in these circumstances and since the nation is economically strapped, racially divided and without a sense of hope and purpose, many citizens are inclined to despair.
The party maintained, however, that such despair would be misplaced.
In that light the PNCR urged that “all that the Guyanese nation has to do is to emulate the example of our African ancestors,” who were kidnapped and brought here and their dignity and freedom denied and suspended, but they never gave in.
“They never gave up hope, so they constantly fought and eventually succeeded in overcoming the evil institution of slavery,” the PNCR observed.
Beginning in 1763 and later on in 1823 they struck powerful blows against the most inhumane system ever devised by man. Many historians have concluded that after 1823 slavery could not survive in Guyana and so by 1834 this abominable system came to an end, the party noted.
To the African ancestors, however, freedom was not an end in itself but an opportunity to build and create, the PNCR added.
