that if they challenged him (Burnham) they could expect the same fate as the Indo-Guyanese community experienced on the 24th, 25th, and 26th of May 1964 in Mackenzie.

However, Burnham’s move to change the name from Mackenzie to Linden was only of his many acts to show his supremacy and superiority over the Indo-Guyanese community." (Fazil (Raymond) Ali)

quote:

Originally posted by Mitwah:
that if they challenged him (Burnham) they could expect the same fate as the Indo-Guyanese community experienced on the 24th, 25th, and 26th of May 1964 in Mackenzie.

However, Burnham’s move to change the name from Mackenzie to Linden was only of his many acts to show his supremacy and superiority over the Indo-Guyanese community." (Fazil (Raymond) Ali)

Hamilton Green said that Wismar was a retalition for something the indians did to the PNC..

The PPP was fighting against the Police Force, Volunteer Force, British Soldiers, the PNC, UF, TUC, Racist blacks, and some ungrateful Indians as well..

Refelecting on the 38 hours of brutality, barbarism, and savagery on some 2000 Indo-Guyanese living in villages of Wismar and Christianburg, and the declarion of May 26th as Guyana’s Independence Day, is a humilating blow to the Indo-Guyanese community.

quote:

Originally posted by Mitwah:
Refelecting on the 38 hours of brutality, barbarism, and savagery on some 2000 Indo-Guyanese living in villages of Wismar and Christianburg, and the declarion of May 26th as Guyana’s Independence Day, is a humilating blow to the Indo-Guyanese community.

It is a coincidence. Britain had wanted May 24th but Jagan objected and they settled for May 26Th.

Wismar Report

http://www.guyana.org/features/wismar_report.html

quote:

Refelecting on the 38 hours of brutality, barbarism, and savagery on some 2000 Indo-Guyanese living in villages of Wismar and Christianburg, and the declarion of May 26th as Guyana’s Independence Day, is a humilating blow to the Indo-Guyanese community.

Were these acts of violence and murder exclusive to Mackenzie and Guyana?

The news of the murder of the African couple - the Sealeys - at Buxton reached Wismar on Friday the 22nd May, and seems to have been the incident which precipitated the planned reprisal against the East Indians in the Wismar-Christianburg area on Monday 25th May, 1964. The economic prosperity of the East Indian community must have been a latent source of jealousy, which determined that the major aim of the attack would be the destruction of property. We shall have more to say on this point in a later section of this report

Extract from the Wismar report.

quote:

Originally posted by Ireton:

quote:

Refelecting on the 38 hours of brutality, barbarism, and savagery on some 2000 Indo-Guyanese living in villages of Wismar and Christianburg, and the declarion of May 26th as Guyana’s Independence Day, is a humilating blow to the Indo-Guyanese community.

Were these acts of violence and murder exclusive to Mackenzie and Guyana?

It was the most brutal, savage and barbaric act committed on the Indo Guyanese by the Afros.

Agricola, Buxton /Lusingnan, and Georgetown were also places where Indos were victims to the burnings and looting and other heinous crimes committed on the Indo women who were too shy to come forward and report.

On the 6th July, 1964, an explosion occurred at Booradia on a launch named "Sun Chapman" which was taking goods and passengers, the majority of them Africans, from Georgetown to Wismar. About thirty-eight (38) persons perished in this disaster. The echo of the Sun Chapman disaster was immediately felt at Mackenzie when five East Indians were murdered and seven seriously injured. Before the official report of the Sun Chapman tragedy reached the Police and British army, Africans were on the rampage and in the space of two hours, 5.00 to 7.00 p.m., more people were killed than on the whole day of the 25th May, 1964.

Extracted from the Wismar Report.

quote:

Originally posted by Ireton:
On the 6th July, 1964, an explosion occurred at Booradia on a launch named "Sun Chapman" which was taking goods and passengers, the majority of them Africans, from Georgetown to Wismar. About thirty-eight (38) persons perished in this disaster. The echo of the Sun Chapman disaster was immediately felt at Mackenzie when five East Indians were murdered and seven seriously injured. Before the official report of the Sun Chapman tragedy reached the Police and British army, Africans were on the rampage and in the space of two hours, 5.00 to 7.00 p.m., more people were killed than on the whole day of the 25th May, 1964.

Extracted from the Wismar Report.

Indian paid the price for the stupidity of the Afros who placed the illegal shipment of explosives in the engine room. The work of God is mysterious. If this did not happen more that 5 East Indian would have been innocently killed.

quote:

Indian paid the price for the stupidity of the Afros who placed the illegal shipment of explosives in the engine room. The work of God is mysterious. If this did not happen more that 5 East Indian would have been innocently killed.

Afros as you put it were taking explosives to Mackenzie,when at the time it was readily available in the community.
I will never excuse the support the vicious murders and killings in Mackenzie. However, you guys seem so focused on the killing of Indians, when as we all know that there were killings on all sides supported by both political parties.

quote:

Originally posted by Ireton:

quote:

Indian paid the price for the stupidity of the Afros who placed the illegal shipment of explosives in the engine room. The work of God is mysterious. If this did not happen more that 5 East Indian would have been innocently killed.

Afros as you put it were taking explosives to Mackenzie,when at the time it was readily available in the community.
I will never excuse the support the vicious murders and killings in Mackenzie. However, you guys seem so focused on the killing of Indians, when as we all know that there were killings on all sides supported by both political parties.

We should not loose foucs of the many East Indian women and young girls that were raped. Many are still alive and leading productive lives. However, they are still suffering from the psychological scars and trauma that was visited upon them by the very people they had trusted.

quote:

Originally posted by Mitwah:
Agricola, Buxton /Lusingnan, and Georgetown were also places where Indos were victims to the burnings and looting and other heinous crimes committed on the Indo women who were too shy to come forward and report.

And numerous places on teh East Coast Dem, West Coast Dem and Berbice where blacks were attacked by Indians. Stop being a racist animal and admit that Indians and Africans both attacked each other.

quote:

Originally posted by Mitwah:
[Indian paid the price for the stupidity of the Afros who placed the illegal shipment of explosives in the engine room. The work of God is mysterious. If this did not happen more that 5 East Indian would have been innocently killed.

What proof do you ahve of this? Why will black people TAKE explosives to McKenzie a town FULL of it. Remember most workers were blacks so why couldnt they have had acces sto it.

Sorry this excuse looks hollow and is a sad attempt by Indoracists to pretend that Indians werent equally violent.

quote:

Originally posted by Mitwah:
However, they are still suffering from the psychological scars and trauma that was visited upon them by the very people they had trusted.

As did many blacks who lost lives, property and were forced to relaocate to strange villages where tehy knew no one.


But to a clannish person like you blacks dont matter, only Indians so you will portray the 60s as black attacks on Indians only.

Sorry to educate you but both groups attacked each other and both suffered.

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And numerous places on teh East Coast Dem, West Coast Dem and Berbice where blacks were attacked by Indians. Stop being a racist animal and admit that Indians and Africans both attacked each other

CJ,he will not do that, it does not fit the narrative, and will only confuse the target audience.

Why change Mackenzie to Linden when he could have chosen any other places such as Georgetown?

Calling me a racist is like throwing water on a duck's back.

How many of the Wismar criminals are represenatives in the Guyana parliament and holding down high executive jobs awarded to them by the PNC? Educate me.

quote:

Why change Mackenzie to Linden when he could have chosen any other places such as Georgetown?

Calling me a racist is like throwing water on a duck's back.

How many of the Wismar criminals are represenatives in the Guyana parliament and holding down high executive jobs awarded to them by the PNC? Educate me.

None.Try and spread your deceit somewhere else.
It is truly sad to witness this display.Everyone knew about the mobs that were inspired and urged to attack Indians by party elements,that is no secret.The same was done within the PPP and yet you want to assign blame to the PNC alone.
Why is it that the deaths of entire Abraham family mean nothing to you,and the other politically inspired killing up and down the country. Your agenda is quite clear,and that is indeed sad.

quote:

Originally posted by Ireton:

quote:

Why change Mackenzie to Linden when he could have chosen any other places such as Georgetown?

Calling me a racist is like throwing water on a duck's back.

How many of the Wismar criminals are represenatives in the Guyana parliament and holding down high executive jobs awarded to them by the PNC? Educate me.

None.Try and spread your deceit somewhere else.
It is truly sad to witness this display.Everyone knew about the mobs that were inspired and urged to attack Indians by party elements,that is no secret.The same was done within the PPP and yet you want to assign blame to the PNC alone.
Why is it that the deaths of entire Abraham family mean nothing to you,and the other politically inspired killing up and down the country. Your agenda is quite clear,and that is indeed sad.

It's indeed sad to ask Indo Guyanese to raise a flag on the 26th when it should be lowered and for their children to be dancing in the streets when we should be reflecting of the atrocities that were committed during this time.

This dark part of our history will not be swept under the rug.

THE WISMAR MASSACRE

by Fazil (Raymond) Ali

In the early 1960s Wismar and Christianburg were two mixed villages where Indo-Guyanese resided in the predominantly Afro-Guyanese (90 per cent) mining town of Mackenzie, located some 65 miles up the Demarara river from the capital of Georgetown.
But after independence from Britain, the name of the bauxite town was changed from Mackenzie to Linden. The PNC leader Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham named it after himself. It had been the scene of his greatest political triumph.
Did Burnham really change the name of the town from Mackenzie to Linden because he wanted to remove the colonial legacy and substitute a local name for a foreign or colonial one? If this was truly Burnham’s intention, then could have renamed Georgetown, which was of course named after King George of England.
Instead Burnham’s real motive for naming the town after himself was to symbolically establish his stamp and mark over a massacre where he had reigned supreme over Indo-Guyanese.
In short, "Linden" was a message to Indo-Guyanese that if they challenged him (Burnham) they could expect the same fate as the Indo-Guyanese community experienced on the 24th, 25th, and 26th of Mat 1964 in Mackenzie.
However, Burnham’s move to change the name from Mackenzie to Linden was only of his many acts to show his supremacy and superiority over the Indo-Guyanese community. He had earlier humiliated the same community by recommending the 26th of May 1966 as Guyana’s Independence Day to the British. The PPP was had fought so hard for the freedom of Guyana welcomed the end of British rule but did not participate in the independence celebrations with the same enthusiasm with which if fought to free Guyana. This was the same exact date and month that Indo-Guyanese in Mackenzie were murdered, raped, and burnt alive Blacks in the country’s worst racial violence.
The intensity of the racial violence perpetrated countrywide by Forbes Burnham’s People’s National Congress (PNC) and Peter D’Aguiar’s United Force (UF) was instrumental in bringing down Dr. Jagan’s PPP government after reaching its apex in Mackenzie.

The massacre of Indo-Guyanese began at Wismar and lasted for over 38 hours, beginning from Sunday May 24th and ending on Tuesday May 26, 1964. In the 38 hours of brutality, barbarism, and savagery on some 2000 Indo-Guyanese living in villages of Wismar and Christianburg, some 18000 Afro-Guyanese armed with cutlasses, wooden poles, gasoline bombs and guns burnt and destroyed over 230 Indo-Guyanese homes and businesses. Indo-Guyanese who thought they could find shelter in their own homes were confronted and beaten by large mobs of Afro-Guyanese screaming "kill de coolies" as their homes were burnt to the ground. One family whose home was burnt was confronted by a large mob who beat the wife unconscious, repeatedly stabbing the husband and then continuing to kick and molest two smaller children. This occurrence was by no means isolated. Some families who managed to escape from the villages into the nearby forest were also hunted down like animals.

However, their chances of survival were much better in the forest than in the villages. In addition to the mass burning and looting which resulted in over 1500 Indo-Guyanese becoming homeless, and the indiscriminate beating of Indo-Guyanese men, women, and children, 8 women were raped including two girls. Some of the women were repeatedly raped as the marauding band took turns on Indo-Guyanese women victims. This figure may even be higher since Guyanese women who were victims of rape seldom come forward and admit to such a heinous crime due to the shame associated with it. Once man was also burnt alive. Another, Mr. Ramjattan, a supporter of the PPP was found decapitated.

Injuries were in the hundreds, ranging from gunshot wounds, knife wounds, burns, broken bones, and mutilated bodies. One Indo-Guyanese man had both his legs and feet broken. An employee from the Demarara Bauxite Company said: "The Indians never had a chance". A Black woman showing no remorse said: "De ga wa dem deserve" (They coolies get what they deserved).
The evacuation of Indo-Guyanese from the massacre sites at Wismar and Christainburg did not take place until the evening of May 25th.

Two river steamers were commissioned to take the first batch of 1300 Indo-Guyanese refugees to Georgetown where they were booed, jeered, and pelted with bricks by Blacks as they arrived. A Red Cross worker said of the survivors: "Few wept, but the hundreds of children appeared terrified and frightened."

Out of the 1300 that arrived, 300 found shelter with relatives while the rest slept on the concrete floor of the pier warehouse in Georgetown huddling in fear while covered with tarpaulins and rice bags.
Temporary shelter was soon set up at a factory outside Georgetown with many other refugees later being put up in predominantly Indo-Guyanese areas.

For the rest of the 26th, 27th, and 28th about 500 Indo-Guyanese who had been hiding in the forest surrounding Wismar and Christainburg came out and were taken to the refugee camps outside Georgetown.

It is quite clear that the results of the massacres could have been significantly reduced or even avoided altogether, if the 75 members of the Mackenzie Police and Volunteer Force had not been all Blacks. The entire armed forces detachment at Mackenzie, which was heavily armed, took no offensive action while many friends, family and neighbors were carrying out the atrocities. Many members of the Police and Volunteer Forces took part in the looting, beating and killing of Indo-Guyanese as they had specialized military training as a profession.

In one incident two armed Black Volunteers refused to intervene when two Indo-Guyanese women were being raped. Instead, the women had to be rescued by employees from DEMBA. In another case, the Volunteer Force shot a young Indo-Guyanese man to death because he refused to stop at their command.

In those 38 hours of the massacre no Afro-Guyanese was arrested and only two wounded by bullets.
Janet Jagan, then Minister of Home Affairs on June 1st in a speech to the Guyana Parliament equated the suffering at Wismar to genocide since the police had done nothing to prevent the massacre.
She said, "It is possible for anyone to believe that, with the widespread violence, arson, rape, and murder, there could have been no show of force by the armed police and armed volunteers. Since this is impossible to accept, one can only come to the conclusion that planned genocide of a village was carried out with the connivance of all concerned."

She then resigned to protest the British Police Commissioner not responding to her orders.
However, it was not until after 24 hours of the violent massacre that British troops eventually arrived in the mining town. Their only suggestion was to evacuate the area.
The British troops they were powerless to stop the violence and the most that they (the troops) could do was to impose a curfew. The curfew did manage to quiet the situation but most of the killing, rapes, burning and beatings had already taken place.

The massacre of Indo-Guyanese in Wismar and Christianburg has remained a well-hidden and well-guarded secret. Not only have Guyanese failed to record and seriously document this important part of our history but also the older generations of Indo-Guyanese have not passed on this information even orally. Up to today these is no accurate figures on the number of Indo-Guyanese that have died during the Wismar massacre.

When Guyana’s Independence Day is celebrated on May 26th, Indo-Guyanese should also take time off to acknowledge those who suffered and died in the Wismar-Christianburg massacre. It may be necessary some atrocities orchestrated against them by the PNC, but we must not forget how and why it occurred.
All Guyanese must ensure it does not happen again. How can this be done? Obviously the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) recommendations which the PNC government agreed to implement must now be reflected in the Guyanese armed forces. Then any "ethnic cleansing" of other communities like Mackenzie will not reoccur again. Never again!

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This hienous part of our history will not be swept under the rug.

No it should not.Our history and social studies books in our school must include that. A monument should also be built in memory of those innocent persons who lost their lives for just being Indian. However, we must never forget that innocent persons lost their lives on all sides.
We must also honour their lives by forging a better Guyana than that which resulted in them paying the ultimate price.You heal no wounds or narrow the ethnic gulf by ascribing blame to one side, no sir.

Indians were massacred under the PPP gov't of the sixties. No more massacres until recently under another PPP gov't. The reason seems to be the same - a fight for African political power.

quote:

the women had to be rescued by employees from DEMBA. In another case, the Volunteer Force shot a young Indo-Guyanese man to death because he refused to stop at their command.

How come that narrative omits the role played by members of the same community,who risked life and limb and help many of those victims and others to Mackenzie for shelter in their homes and at the Mackenzie Sports Club ground. Why is that missing? Why does the narrative not speak to the efforts of Festus Adams,who appealed to the people of Mackenzie to come to the aid of Indians in Silvertown and Christianburg?