Guyana will today join the rest of the Caribbean in celebrating 175 years of freedom from slavery, which to some is a relatively long time to have attained such a noticeable feat.? However, there are others who consider 175 years as a rather short period considering the fact that Africans were enslaved for more than 400 years.Nevertheless, the fact remains that liberation was formally realised for all Africans brought to the Caribbean Colonies, including Guyana, by August 1, 1838.African Rights Activist, Dr David HindsThis achievement was however, followed by some noticeable highs and some very cataclysmic lows for the freed Africans in Guyana who were then expected to integrate themselves into the normal human existence,Cheap Adidas Hockey Jerseys, centuries after enduring slavery.Taking ChargeImmediately after emancipation, the Africans in Guyana moved to procure lands and before long,Cheap Arizona Diamondbacks Jerseys, they were creating communities, a move which was then dubbed the ‘Village Movement’. This, according to Executive Member of the Working People’s Alliance (WPA) and African Rights Activist, Dr David Hinds, was characterised by the creation of African Villages along the East Coast of Demerara. “It is not that they just bought the land and created the villages, but one of the first things they set up was their churches and their schools; so that means education was uppermost in their minds,” disclosed Dr Hinds during an interview with this publication.Working together towards one common goal – the development of the African people – was an imperative so much so that there was distribution of farmlands, situated at the back of the villages with a view of ensuring economic stability.This, Dr Hinds emphasised, demonstrated their capability to put in place a political economy, whereby they were able to govern themselves.“What they did was remarkable; it has not been replicated anywhere in the African Diaspora…Guyana stands out in regard to the village movement,” insisted Dr. Hinds.In fact, this outstanding achievement is expected to be highlighted by one of the foremost recorders of African history, Eusi Kwayana, when he launches a book ‘The Village Movement’ on August 31, 2013, in New York, United States of America. The book, this publication understands, encapsulates an interview between Dr Hinds and Kwayana about that period of the African Guyanese history.Downward SpiralBut being in slavery for many centuries did nothing for the willpower of the former slaves. In fact they were constantly subjected to the “scars of bondage” or the “wounds of slavery”, which were manifested in a number of daunting ways.This,World Baseball Classic Jerseys 2017, according to Dr Hinds, was due to the fact that slavery was a total institution which saw those enslaved as “non-persons…They had no dignity or worth in life. As a slave, you were a commodity, you had no rights…The master, if you behaved bad, could cut off two of your fingers and that’s it; nobody charged him for anything.”And although emancipation meant a reclaiming and a regaining of humanity for the freed Africans, it was a tremendous undertaking, Dr Hinds asserted. This, he said, was in part due to the fact that those who were enslaved were behind the rest of the peoples of the world in terms of development.This state of affairs has therefore allowed for the African society to be in dire trouble today, according to Dr Hinds.He attributed this to his belief that “we have had a ‘prolonged down’ over the last two decades or so, which hinges on the perception that the development of the peoples of a country is dependent on who rules, politically.”“That is a fact; and so African Guyanese, having become part of that national model now where there is no political power,Cheap Soccer Jerseys Free Shipping, they have found themselves on the margin of the society,” said Dr Hinds.He explained that ever since the attainment of Independence of May 26, 1966, “we have come to calculate the progress of the ethnic communities based on when they are in Government and for the last 20 years we have not had an African Guyanese Government.”Moreover, he intimated his conviction that the group that holds political power is in fact the group that has the power to distribute resources. “It has the power to determine who gets contracts, to determine who gets a job, to determine which village gets its roads fixed and the quality of schools in particular communities; so really as a Government you have total power….”As such, Dr Hinds expressed that “a ruling Government could, in a sense, have power similar to that of a slave master on a plantation.”Multiplying PovertyAs evident even today, Dr Hinds observed that without resourceful backing, there