Following protests under the previous government over the location of the current 1823 Demerara Revolt Monument, President David Granger has announced that his government will erect an 1823 Memorial at the Independence Park/Parade Ground.
There is a memorial already set up in Bachelor’s Adventure on the East Coast of Demerara, where the revolt took place. The former government also erected a statue at the Kitty Seawalls in tribute to those slaves who lost their lives during revolt.
However, several historians and activists did not support the seawall location. It was at that same location on Saturday that the President made the announcement about the new memorial to be built at Independence Park, where many slaves who took part in the revolt were executed.
“The Demerara Revolt is remembered in the village of Bachelors’ Adventure, where the massacre occurred and a memorial to the Demerara Martyrs has already been built. The Government of Guyana will erect a memorial at Independence Park to commemorate the executions”, President Granger said.
He added that future generations must not forget that freedom was bought at the high price of the martyrdom of hundreds of Africans on 20th August 1823.
During the memorial event at the Seawall location, wreaths were laid in tribute to the slaves who died during the 1823 revolt, which historians believe, fast tracked the move to the abolition of the slave trade.
President Granger, who is also a historian, reminded those who gathered for the commemoration activity that the Demerara Revolt was the turning point in slave society and is commemorated today as one of the most important events in Guyanese and Caribbean history.
“The Revolt’s historical role in the passage of the Emancipation Act by the British Parliament in 1833, a decade later, is undisputed.”
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