Dear Editor,
Monday February 20, 2023 marks the centenary of the birth of one of our outstanding Guyanese, Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham. Winner of the Centenary Exhibition, as well as a Junior Scholarship, and the Percival Exhibition winning the highest scholastic award (1942), Winner of the Prestigious Cup in London (1947), Chairman of the People’s Progressive Party (1951), Founder Leader of the People’s National Congress (1955), loved by many and hated by some, but even those in the latter category cannot deny the grandeur of this Guyanese visionary.
His favourite bit of music was Simon and Garfunkel, Bridge Over Troubled Water, which he sang or rather hummed several times in his moments of relaxation.
Those of us who worked closely with him recognised that as he tried to sing Bridge Over Troubled Water, he could not have made a living as a singer. As a tribute to his love for this music, the late Haslyn Parris played it on his trumpet at his farewell ceremony held at the National Park in August 1985.
I knew Burnham from my early childhood through my mother and his mother who both hailed from the Upper Demerara River area with Amerindian blood surging through their veins. Due to World War II, Burnham could not proceed to London to complete his studies at the Bar until the end of hostilities in Europe.
I remember the prophetic remark of my mother as a gangly slim Forbes came to bid her goodbye on his bicycle, she put something in his pocket and has he turned away, she said to us, he will come back to be a great person and to help Guyana gain its independence
As we observe his 100th birth anniversary I briefly focus on the significance of his favourite music ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water,’ in the context of today’s world and Guyana. We’ve seen in Scotland recently, the Prime Minister throwing in the towel because among other things, she said she was divisive.
Understanding our history, Burnham wished to be the opposite. The political turbulence of the 50s, 60s and 70s is not the purpose of this tribute today. Not known to very many, in spite of different approaches to dealing with the then two superpowers in the Cold War, Burnham and Jagan remained friends, both committed in their own way to the betterment of Guyana.
So it was to fulfill their earlier dreams, to disentangle a constitutionally independent Guyana, from the grasp of the superpowers, Dr. Jagan after Burnham stretched out a hand to him, agreed to what is now known as critical support when our two Titans agreed to set aside their differences to nationalize the then two major industries, Bauxite and Sugar. A lesson, I hope the incumbent leadership would take wise counsel from and do this nation a favour by working together to avoid the spectre of imperial domination and a not so subtle form of recolonization.
As may be known to a handful of persons, I was part of secret talks initiated by the late Elvin Mc David to bring the two men and two parties together and to rekindle the hope and glory of the 1953 pre-split People’s Progressive Party. The problem which lingers unto this day is that even when Dr. Jagan agreed to certain things, those close to him in the PPP, so distrusted Burnham that they scuttled those proposals.
The PPP Leadership then felt that Burnham was so smart, so clever, so capable of manipulating the language and words that Cheddi was no match for him. The rest is history.
At another time and other places, those of us who knew Burnham could spend much time to describe the grandeur, greatness and political guide of this gifted Guyanese who I recalled when he was due to speak at a United Nations Session of the General Assembly, Delegates from the Caribbean, Asia, Africa, Oceania, Europe and North America would ensure that they were seated to hear the oratory of Forbes Burnham, oft times speaking with the aid only of notes written in the palm of his left hand.
Burnham’s wit was sharp and matchless and at the final Independence Congress, I had the good fortune of being present, I along with Sir Shridath Ramphal are the only survivors who attended the Conference held at Lancaster House, November 1965.
Mr. Peter D’ Aguiar wanted the 1st of August as a date for Independence because he argued that was the day the British signed the emancipation proclamation freeing the African slaves in Guyana. The PNC Delegation expressed a discomfort because our Independence date shouldn’t synchronize with a date fixed by our erstwhile masters and unrelated to the struggle for freedom, and proposed the 23rd of February, the date the slaves struck out for their freedom in Magdalenburg in Berbice.
The British explained that the time was too short to put in place the necessary arrangements and protocols for the transition to Independence and proposed as a compromise some date between February and August. One British official suggested the 24th of May, without a pause, Burnham reminded the official, that date was equally inappropriate since it was the Queen’s (Victoria) Birthday and so we have May 26 as a date for Independence and later February 23, 1970 was the date we now celebrate as a republic.
As we mark Burnham’s centenary, let us as citizens do all we can to make a reality of the philosophical underpinnings of the words on our Coat of Arms – One People, One Nation, One Destiny. That is the best tribute irrespective of political beliefs that we can pay to Burnham one hundred years after he was born, 20th of February 2023. One can only imagine that with the massive resources we now have we could have fast-tracked the idea to Feed, Clothe and House this nation and to make education from kindergarten to university free, so that we could have a country that is not only rich materially but is rich spiritually and morally.
Had Burnham lived we would have maintained as he did, a Foreign Service, second to none. He recognized that the quality and character of our High Commissioners and Ambassadors are the face of the Nation, an important frontline of a nation state.
Recognising the significance of our beliefs and responses and the importance of our expressions in our paintings, our songs and our dancing, he initiated the first and perhaps most exciting festival of Caribbean Arts known as CARIFESTA 72.
To tackle the generations of misinformation or what we call brainwashing he had established the Institute of Decolonization. This led us to be the first Republic in the English-speaking Caribbean.
My final statement is that Burnham was a visionary and ahead of his time.
Yours faithfully,
Hamilton Green
