Guyana SPEAKS: Shifting from Empire to Independence - Sunday, 29th May 2022

This event took place on Sunday, 29th May 2022, shortly after the 56th year of Guyana's Independence and just prior to the Queen Elizabeth II's platinum jubilee bank holiday. It was moderated by Juanita Cox and Rod Westmaas. Guest speakers were: Alexander D Great, Joyce Trotman and Ian Wishart. All three had been invited to talk about their experience of the shift from being part of the British Empire to Independence. [We apologise in advance for the zoom bomb that occurs part way through.]
Due to technical issues, this recording has been edited and does not include the videos that were shown at the beginning of the session. The links to these are however provided below.
Below is a short 5 minute video of Independence preparations, immediately followed by a longer one on how Britain covertly manipulated the democratic process:
videopress.com/v/ucT7VYCr
• A look at how the Brit...
Many felt that the Queen’s presence in British Guiana was England’s way of making a tacit and graceful seal to the 152 years of colonial rule in the soon to be independent colony - a grand exit to the old era. Note the comments in the recording below about the railway to Plaisance. It was said to have been one of the oldest in the world, laid only a few years after the first railway in England.
• The Royal Tour - Techn...
The 1930 British Empire Games were the inaugural edition of what now is known as the Commonwealth Games, and were held in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada from 16 to 23 August 1930. Halfway through this recording from 1934 you will hear the name Edwards, winner of the British Empire games Gold medal in the half-mile run:
• British Empire Games (...
Dr Phil Aron Edwards (22 Sept 1907-7 Sept 2971) was born in Georgetown and educated at Queens College, before graduating from McGill University, Montréal in Medicine.
Juanita Cox & Rod Westmaas are the co-founders of Guyana SPEAKS. To attend these events, please email your contact details to [e-mail]. Guyana SPEAKS events have been taking place on a regular basis since January 2017.

[@JeanetteJu-pierre]

Good morning Rod and Juanita, We have just viewed your Empire video, in full. I enjoyed the Guyanese history lesson. My mum remembers Brown Betty and There was a naughty boy and a naughty boy was he. Smile.

[@adamfrankowski2768]

Wonderful, especially the calypsos.