Latest update April 19th, 2024 12:59 AM
Oct 14, 2014 News
Members of African cultural bodies and other citizens yesterday poured libation
(ritual act) to commemorate the first of future Remembrance Day observances in honour of one of Guyana’s first post-slavery African liberation fighters.
The African Cultural and Development Association (ACDA), and the 1823 Coalition of the Parade Ground Monument gathered at Parliament Building at mid-day to honour ‘Damon’; who was slain for hoisting the first flag which signaled the freedom of African slaves in Guyana.
The raising of this flag also signaled the resistance of African indentureship which occurred prior to the importation of other ethnicities that worked following the abolition of slavery.
Yesterday’s ceremony involved the burial of an egg which signified the laying to rest of ‘Damon’. It was said that Damon was never given a proper burial.
Dr. Rudi Guyan of ACDA said that the events leading to Damon’s murder begun when some 700 workers downed their tools and took refuge in a church against African indentureship. Following the abolition of slavery in 1834, Africans were made to work for meager pay.
The workers, from Richmond to Devonshire Castle, had gathered in the Trinity Church Yard in La Belle Alliance, Essequibo, and declared themselves free and therefore refused to work on the plantations.
According to records, about 40 armed soldiers of the West India Regiment were ordered to disperse the crowd, but again, as free Africans, they refused. The soldiers took up positions in the church yard and were ordered to shoot down the defiant workers. However, the Captain in charge at the time, refused to commit the act until the Governor of that time, had returned. During this time, Damon was said to have hoisted a flag within the church yard signaling the freedom of the African workers.
It was said that the women were at the time very vocal in this movement, while it was organized mainly by Damon. However, for three days the workers camped out in the church yard until the return of the governor who gave orders that the Africans should be arrested.
Several persons were flogged severely while others were arrested and sent to other counties. Damon who was found to be the leader was brought from Essequibo to Georgetown with a few others. They were tried and found guilty. Damon was kept in confinement while a scaffold was built on which he was later hanged to intimidate other freed slaves.
Dr. Guyan explained that Damon was not given a proper burial. “The fact that he was not laid to rest, we have to perform that ceremony.” Libation was also poured to signal the cleansing. Guyan said that Damon in 1834 recognized the importance of being independent and urged for it. That very year, the Guyanese Parliament came into being, and in October, Damon was murdered.
To this date, Guyan said, “No one should have jurisdiction over Africans in this land. We are manumitted and when you are manumitted you are totally free.” Colonialism, he said, did not pertain to Africans, but to the Indians and Portuguese and other indentured workers who later arrived in the country in 1838. When they came, he continued, Africans were the only ones who owned lands in the country.
Not even the European planters had owned the land they worked, since they were leasing it from the English Monarch. “When we talk of ancestral land,” Dr. Guyan continued, “no one should have control of our lands.”
On Sunday, the cultural organization along with other citizens paid tribute to ancestors who would have perished during slavery and those who later fought for freedom. They were observing African Holocaust Day (October 12) which represented the arrival of Christopher Columbus’ in the Western hemisphere, the subsequent enslavement of Africans and destruction of their culture.
A programme of activities is ongoing in observance of this time. This year includes lectures by prominent American historian and anthropologist Dr. Runoko Rashidi who is sharing his experience and research on the African presence prior to European enslavement of Africans and after. ACDA is providing all information at 218-0151for the upcoming events that will be held this week.
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