Eusi Kwayana at 100

Eusi Kwayana turned 100 on April 4 of this year. This is a historic milestone for an individual who has played a historic role in the development of Guyana’s politics. Kwayana was a member of the original People’s Progressive Party, before the party split due to the departure of Forbes Burnham. Burnham would later form the People’s National Congress, of which Kwayana was once a member. Kwayana would also go on to become one of the founding members of the Working People’s Alliance. Kwayana also wrote the lyrics for the party song for all three political parties.

Apart from his role in Guyanese politics, Kwayana has been actively involved in the larger Pan-African struggle. As a member of Burnham’s government, Kwayana was tasked with traveling to Africa to meet with the various independence movements which the government of Guyana was providing support to. The African Society for Cultural Relations with Independent Africa (ASCRIA), of which Kwayana was a co-founder, established connections with African American activists as part of ASCRIA’s effort to support the struggle against racial oppression in America. Kwayana also worked alongside his wife Tchaiko Kwayana to organize delegates for the Sixth Pan-African Congress in Tanzania.

Apart from Kwayana’s role as a political activist — and he has been clear on the fact that he sees himself as a political activist, not a politician — Kwayana was also an educator who founded County High School. One of Kwayana’s former students described him as follows: “He was a patient teacher, never one to shout at you. He taught in love and you learned. He was the first person that made me believe that I was going to fulfill my dreams of becoming a writer.”

It is also important to understand the politics which shaped Kwayana. Kwayana himself has spoken about the impact that Garveyism had on his work as an activist. He was a child when Garvey visited British Guiana in 1937. Kwayana recalled that in his adult years, many of the individuals that he came to work with were self-professed Garveyites. The global anti-colonial movements of the 1950s and 1960s were another obvious influence, as Kwayana himself became a leading figure in Guyana’s own anti-colonial movement.

Eusi Kwayana’s legacy has been a varied one. It also offers a model for what a lifetime of commitment and dedication to struggling for freedom looks like. In an email exchange, Eusi Kwayana told me: “Please hold yourself to the highest standards.” Doing so has been easy given that I have examples like Eusi Kwayana who represent what holding one’s self to the highest standards looks like.