Friends of Eusi Kwayana are pleased to announce the republication and launch of his book The Bauxite Strike and the Old Politics at Moray House tomorrow.
“First published in 1972, the book gives a first-hand account of the events beginning with the retirement income life assurance fund (RILA) through the useful reproduction of newspaper editorials, articles, and pamphlets by the strikers’ organisation and ASCRIA whose local Chapter in Linden joined the workers in their struggles to secure and defend their rights,” a press release said.
It also said that the book is “a real time documentation of the cataclysmic events in 1971, the year in which the National Assembly passed the Bauxite Nationalisation Act with three MPs voting against nationalisation.”
The Bauxite Strike and the Old Politics recounts the role of foreign exploiters of Guyana’s natural, non-renewable resources; the transformation and conduct of the PNC Government once it assumed the role of employer; the beating and jailing of workers by soldiers and their tear-gassing by police; the part played by then Leader of the Opposition Dr Cheddi Jagan; and the plight of ordinary workers betrayed by their own trade union.
The book also captures “in vivid and inspiring detail the power of self-organisation and the fearlessness of the workers, who were not prepared to accept a status quo in which they were second-class but were ready to take on the power of elite Georgetown as they struggled for emancipation.
According to the release, Kwayana’s book also sheds light on the roots of the post-colonial crisis of governance worldwide and is a lesson against which to frame a response to recent developments in Linden. As the author has written recently, the story of the bauxite workers struggle in the 1970s is a challenge to those who choose to forget that 2012 was not the first time that Linden rose up against injustice from the state.
At tomorrow’s launch, there will be a panel discussion featuring Estherine Adams whose post-graduate work was on the early years of Kwayana, Sharma Solomon and Lincoln Lewis. There will also be an audio interview with Kwayana and Dr Nigel Westmaas moderated by Dr David Hinds.
The launching is set for 5.30pm.
