Indians live peacefully, and are not necessarily meek. They have one of the oldest and richest traditions of language, music, religion, and culture the world has ever witnessed. From India and Pakistan, to the Pacific, to Europe, and to the Americas, Indian tradition remains vibrant, enduring, and colorful despite centuries of various types of conquests thrown against it.
Indians not only delivered men of religion and philosophy and nonviolence, such as the Buddha and the Mahatma, they are also famed for bringing some of the fiercest fighter-warriors ever known, such as the Pathans and the Gurkhas. Indians stopped the conquest of Alexander the Great, as well as started the struggle against the British Empire (and Apartheid in South Africa). To assume that its descends who came to the West Indies are made of a cloth different from those who remained behind, is an inappropriate presupposition.
Whoever has the power of description, has the power to write history. For most of Guyana’s post Word War II history, Burnham and the PNC controlled the media. Other media organs that did not form public allegiances with the PNC, such as the Daily Argosy, also assisted in the suppression of the Indian image. Altogether, Indians have been portrayed as being weak and overtly passive. This is NOT so. The ALBION protest proves this.
Indians have nothing to be ashamed of— then or now.
In the 60s, it was the CIA and the British Colonial presence that contrived with the PNC to defeat Indians. With simple home-made "bicycle guns," Indians fought these factions including the security forces local and British) that refused to provide adequate and timely support to the Indian population, primarily during the riots in Georgetown in 1962, and the massacre of Indians in the Black-populated Wismar (former Mackenzie). British Governor Sandys refused to send in British troops in time to prevent the massacre (despite the interpretation of the PNC). For example, according to Kit Nacimento (former Minister of Information under Burnham) in his introduction for Burnham's Destiny to Mould, Dr. Jagan had control over the forces. This is, simply, propoganda that misleads one who is not familiar with what really occurred in 1964. Firstly, it's the British who was still in absolute control because we were still a colony. Secondly, it is the British governor and not the Minister of Home Affairs who was responsible for the security forces (foreign troops and police).
People always refer to the Wismar massacre as a symbol of Indian weakness, without recognising all the conditions that led to this tragedy. Additionally, people do not speak of other incidents in which Blacks were the supposed losers, such as the bombing of the "Lady Chapman" launch. Another example: many younger people may talk about "Hami" (Hamilton Green) and the so-called "Death Squad," as examples of people and police organs that instilled fear in the Indian population. However, no one who is not old enough to remember the 60s firsthand, will talk about the defiance shown by Balram Singh Rai, a Minister of Home Affairs under the PPP, in bringing many Indians into the police force and, equally important, developed a reputation amongst Blacks for being fearless of the PNC terrorist nature. It is important that such people who refused to be bullied, regardless of there race, be recognised.
Our history is such that it is imbued with a race bias. ALL people must attempt to change it by rereading it, reinterpreting it, and rewriting it. This applies to all of Guyana's history. Righting wrongs does not only mean constitutional changes. It involves the aspect of how we are regarded, how we regard ourselves, and how we regard others...and altering it to how it really was or is. Hopefully, this is a start.
