Dear Editor,
I am writing on behalf of the members of the Steering Committee of the African Cultural and Development Association. We are concerned that a notice was placed in at least one daily newspaper in Guyana, to inform the public that a decision was made to fence the Square of the Revolution.
One of the reasons given for deciding to take such action was the Minister of Culture’s concern for the security of the 1763 Monument.
We too are concerned about the 1763 Monument, the entire square and its security. What has taken us aback is his decision to effect a change to an environment that is important to the nation generally and is of much spiritual significance to Africans in particular, without prior consultation with any of the special interest groups.
We who are regular visitors to the square hold that it is not lack of fencing that is at present undermining the security of the site but the following:
- The lack of will on the part of the authorities to employ guards on a 24 hour basis for the square, even though a guard hut was built.
- An Information Centre was built, but no personnel are employed there, therefore visitors to the square are unable to obtain the intended information.
- There is only one facility built seemingly intended to be a toilet. However the deplorable condition of this one-unit public convenience is more akin to an outhouse/latrine.
- Litter bins intended to be receptacles for solid waste are allowed to overflow, so much so that more discarded matter is on the ground around the bins, than in the bins.
- Finally African cultural groups have been denied permission without an explanation from the Office of the President, to gather at the square; however, on Sunday mornings it seems as if permission is given to hold sporting events involving gambling, inappropriate music and other behaviour which in all respects degrade the square.
We are saying that the above mentioned are doing more to undermine the security of the square, than a lack of fencing.
Added to all that is mentioned above, we are afraid that fencing of the square would be a conscious or unconscious mechanism to control the development and expression of African spirituality. We know that the Minister is aware that African-centered or culturally conscious Africans consider the square as an important centre or source of African spiritual energy.
We are aware that the Minister is in receipt of a petition to place the body of the late Philip Moore at Seven Ponds. That petition pre-dates the public notices in the newspapers. In the preamble to that petition the following is written: “For Africans in Guyana the 1763 Monument at the Square of the Revolution is the creation of a Spiritual Energy-force, the first to be recognized in Guyana that speaks to the grounding of Africans to our Ancestors.”
The Holocaust of enslavement was a ‘fencing’ that separated us from knowledge of our ancestors, and therefore from the spirituality of our ancestors. Africans in Guyana are, after more than four hundred years re-connecting to the culture and spirituality of our ancestors. It should be understood that we will not take lightly any tendency that sets out to again ‘fence’ us from our spirituality.
Further, I wish to indicate that the last time a site which is considered public space was fenced, the public was subsequently denied the privilege to access it. I refer to no other space than the People’s Parliament Park.
Yours faithfully,
Elton McRae
ACDA Steering
Committee Member