PPP’S 65TH ANNIVERSARY
This month marks the 65th anniversary of an organization that has been integral to carving an identity and a future for Guyana and its once very suppressed people, who did not achieve independence even after having been granted the instruments of independence by Britain, until 5th October 1992, rightfully hailed as ‘The Dawn of a New Era’.The story of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) is the saga of the amazing journey of Dr. Cheddi and Mrs. Janet Jagan, two dynamic and visionary persons from very diverse cultures who merged their lives and efforts to carve through the grindstone of adversity a future of promise and hope for the long-suffering Guyanese people, and the men and women who joined with them at different stages of the eventful journey that is slowly but surely fructifying into making that future one of Peace, Progress, and Prosperity.
As the PPP begins its yearlong celebratory activities to mark its 65 years of existence, homage must also be paid to the people whose lives were martyred in the struggle for dignity and freedom for the working-class people of Guyana, especially the Enmore Martyrs, whose death so moved a young and idealistic Cheddi Jagan that he vowed to dedicate his entire life “to the cause of the struggle of the Guyanese people against bondage and exploitation.”
The legacy of care and love for Guyana and the Guyanese people was entrusted by the Jagans to an equally dynamic and visionary young man, whose potential for magnificent leadership they had the vision and foresight to recognize.
And while there was vehement opposition to their choice on many fronts then, today, the world has taken cognisance of their perspicacity at placing into the hands of a then very untested and untried young man all that they aspired for this country. Thus, while they gracefully bowed to their own mortality, they did not abandon their cause to the Fates or Destiny, but continued to guide and nurture the welfare of the nation to which they had dedicated their entire adult lives, through the strong and visionary leadership of Guyana’s former Executive President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo, who has achieved international recognition for Guyana, thereby eradicating the dark image of Jonestown from the silhouette of this nation’s identity within the international consciousness, as a passionate advocate of humanity and the earth, for which he was presented with the Champion of the Earth Award 2010 by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP).
His sincere commitment to all the people of this land can be gauged by his gifting the not-insignificant sum of his US$40,000 prize money to the most vulnerable Guyanese community, the Indigenous Peoples of Guyana.
Dr. Jagdeo had said in one of his many memorable speeches, that we have to forget the past that has caused this nation much pain, grief, and developmental retrogression, and endeavour to carve a better country for future generations, because the past should only be used for analytic purposes.
But when Guyana’s past, and present, is being re-written to make villains into heroes and vice versa by those with vested interests then, for the edification of posterity, it is incumbent upon propagators of truth to put the dynamics into perspective and let the readers judge for themselves, instead of having persons with agendas restructure the landscape of this nation’s history, to the detriment of future generations.
The PPP’s battle song “O fighting men” is as relevant now as it was then, because the struggle continues, and the PPP and its affiliate arms, the Women’s Progressive Organisation (WPO) and the Progressive Youth Organisation (PYO) have no dearth of the fighting spirit that has kept the PPP unwaveringly, unerringly on the path carved in the footsteps of the Father of the Guyanese Nation and spiritual head of the PPP, Dr. Cheddi Jagan for the 65 years of its existence as a party fighting for equality and justice for the Guyanese nation.
