Guyana: Remembering Forbes Burnham. (Diaspora).

Seventeen years ago, Africa lost one of its leading sons in the forefront of the liberation struggle when Linden F.S. Burnham, the founder president of Guyana, suddenly died. The time has come for continental Africans, writes Kamau Cush, to honour Forbes Burnham.

Under President Linden F.S. Burnham during the 1970s, Guyana was a great supporter of the African liberation struggle. Burnham was the quintessential pan-Africanist. He inspired generations of young people to commit to the principles of self-empowerment and self-awareness.

His pan-Africanism was not limited to Africa but extended to other regions of the African diaspora where Africans were asserting their humanity. In the 1995 book, POWER--The Black Power Revolution 1970 published by the University of the West Indies, Burnham was hailed as "the only important English speaking Caribbean leader who had any moral authority among radical black youth."

It was therefore not surprising when, two years ago, the Nation newspaper of Barbados conducted a poll, Burnham was the overwhelming choice of thousands who chose him as the Caribbean leader of the 20th century. He was measured against the likes of Marcus Garvey, Fidel Castro, Cheddi Jagan, Michael Manley, Eric Williams, C.L.R. James, etc--all giants in their own right.

But what was Burnham's specific role in his support of the African liberation struggle? Beginning in 1970, he, on behalf of Guyana, at the non-aligned heads-of-government conference in Lusaka, Zambia, donated US$100,000 to the African Liberation Fund. He then pledged to donate US$50,000 annually.

That decision triggered tremendous opposition within Guyana from those who were not truly committed to African liberation, including Cheddi Jagan who was then the leader of the opposition in Guyana.

Burnham's support for the African liberation struggle was not limited to the Guyanese government. The People's National Congress (PNC) which he led, also supported the struggle with monetary donations to the African Liberation Fund.

During the height of the struggle in Zimbabwe and Namibia, scores of Zimbabwean and Namibian students were provided scholarships to study in Guyana by the Guyanese Government. Guyana was also a refueling stop for Cuban planes on their way to Angola with troops to assist in Angola's liberation struggle. In fact, Guyana was one of the first countries to recognise the MPLA government of Angola. In 1974, in recognition of Guyana's sterling contribution to the African struggle, Guyana's permanent representative to the United Nations, Rasleigh Jackson, was appointed president of the Council for Namibia. This was a position that was usually reserved for the representative of an African nation. Guyana's unstinting and uncompromising support for the African struggle incurred the equally uncompromising wrath of the American government. In fact, Guyana and Tanzania were particularly singled our for special pressure by Washington.

Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the American permanent representative to the UN at the time, led the crusade to block support of Guyana by the IMF, World Bank and other multi-national lending agencies. As a result, Guyana suffered severe economic hardship which triggered a period of political turmoil and instability. Consequently, when Burnham died in 1985, the country was in such dire economic straits that the succeeding administration had no choice but accept, carte blanche, the structural adjustment prescription that was in vogue at the time. Needless to say, that prescription exacerbated the economic hardships in the country, thus ushering in a prolonged period of social degradation.

Today Guyana is a far cry from those glory days of the 1970s when the country was led by a great pan-Africanist leader who inspired hope among hundreds of thousands of young people in Guyana and the Caribbean. Today, the Asian-dominated People's Progressive Party (PPP) in control of Guyana and which is stamping down on the interests of the African-descended Guyanese, does not even pretend to have any pan-Africanism in its belly. In fact, the PPP's late founder, Cheddi Jagan, opposed Burnham's support for the African liberation struggle.

Perhaps the time has come for Africans on the continent to honour Forbes Burnham by supporting Africans in Guyana in their hour of need.