MASHRAMANI FEBRUARY 23-2020

Murphy Browne © February 22-2020


MASHRAMANI FEBRUARY 2020

On February 23-2020 the people of Guyana will celebrate 50 years of Republic status. February 23 was chosen because on February 23, 1763 a group of Africans in the Dutch colony of Berbice, (modern day county in Guyana) South America seized their freedom in what was the first uprising of enslaved people in Guyana. The Africans decided that they had had enough of being treated inhumanely by the Dutch colonizers and enslavers of the area. The Africans had been kidnapped from their homes and transported across the Atlantic under barbaric and horrific conditions in the holds of ships manned by White Christians who claimed to worship a God of love. When later these Africans were told of hell as imagined by White Christian missionaries, they could very well imagine that it would be comparable to their journey from Africa to the New World. Kofi, an Akan man born in Ghana is the recognized leader of what many consider the first Revolutionary War of Independence in the Americas, which was waged in the Dutch colony of Berbice, South America from February 1763 to March 1764.

On February 23, 1970 the former British Guiana became the Co-operative Republic of Guyana. Guyana had gained its independence from Britain on May 26, 1966 but became a republic on the 207th anniversary of the beginning of the Berbice Revolution. Kofi, who had worked as a “house slave,” (so much for the myth of the docile “house slave”) and his lieutenants struck their first blow for freedom. To put the lie to the myth of the docile “house slave” Kofi is one of several enslaved Africans who led their people in their fight for freedom; Toussaint L’Overture who is one of the leaders of the Haitian Revolution was also a “house slave.” 

It is important to recognize that enslaved Africans had no choice in where they were forced to labour. Africans had no say in which positions they were put to work; so being forced to work in “Massa’s” house or “Massa’s” fields, was never an indication of the enslaved African’s state of mind. So, whether it was as a domestic worker or a field worker could not determine the feelings of an African towards their unfortunate state of captivity. It has been surmised that Kofi was captured from his home in Ghana as a child and taken to the Dutch colony of Berbice. This is not surprising since the Dutch had been involved in the European slave trade from Ghana since 1598 in competition with the Portuguese.

On February 23, 1763 Kofi led the Berbice group of enslaved Africans in what would become a yearlong struggle that they almost won except that they trusted that the Dutch were engaging in talks that would lead to a negotiated settlement. The Dutch however were biding their time, waiting for military reinforcements while engaging in a meaningless negotiation process. The Africans with superior numbers could have effortlessly wiped out the Dutch but they trusted the manipulating, underhanded Europeans. When the reinforcements arrived, the Dutch struck, cruelly and mercilessly slaughtering the Africans. Kofi (his name Anglicized to Cuffy) was never captured and is the National Hero of Guyana. 

His legacy has been immortalized in bronze with the 1763 Monument located in the Square of the Revolution in Georgetown, Guyana which depicts Kofi with his lieutenants Atta, Akara, Accabre and other Africans who held the county of Berbice as free African people for one year. The monument was unveiled by former Guyanese President Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham on May 23-1976. The monument designed by sculptor Philip Moore is 10.1 meters (33 feet) high and is built on a concrete plinth designed by Albert Rodrigues. The celebration of Guyana’s Republic status includes the Mashramani parade which is similar to Toronto’s Caribana parade. 

The first Mashramani celebration took place in 1970, on Arvida Road, Mackenzie, now Republic Avenue, Linden. The following year, President Forbes Burnham, acknowledging the leadership of the community, wrote: “I congratulate the community of Mackenzie, Wismar and Christianburg not only for having presented one of the most comprehensive programmes for the first anniversary celebrations but also for having provided the title for the celebrations – MASHRAMANI.” Guyanese celebrating Republic Day and Mashramani 2020, acknowledge Kofi and the Berbice Revolution.

Murphy Browne © February 22-2020