I'm from Lethem, I'm an Afro Amerindian mix. Lethem is an Amerindian majority town where many of them are dual citizens of Guyana and Brazil. There are some of the older generations who dont speak any English only the language of their tribe. Almost all of the younger generations speak both English and Portuguese but not their native languages. Aside from the recent Venezuelan migrants no one speak Spanish. I would argue that Lethem and the surrounding areas are more connected to Brazil than Venezuela because many of them have relatives over there.
Lethem is miles away from the Venezuelan border unlike region one essequibo that's why you find a lot of people in the bordering area with Venezuela in region 1 speak Spanish vice-versa.
What an incredibly intimate look at the interior! You’ve gotta be the only person on RUclips going to these super remote places - loving this series so far!
So many inaccuracies. There was no African political party. What are you trying to achieve?You are attempting to distort and change Guyana's History. Anyway, you are not the first to try that. Do you really understand and know the characteristics of a dictator??.
You have certainly captured the essence of that period of time of my beloved country. Thank you for making it, and I look forward to the next episode...
This is what travel is about. Truly understanding a country. I found your channel last year when i was doing research on sri lanka before going there. Just awesome content. Keep travelling and researching. I have no words for the quality of your movies. Insane
And they are fully supporting the dictatorship now. The theft of oil monies, sugarcane workers mention, land theft, what about the killings of many activists. They are supporting the politicians pocketing the revenues and not allows the citizens to benefit so America can get what they want.
This series is so exceptionally good, man. The history mixed with your own footage format is ingenious, and your footage and narration is just incredibly well done. You seem to have an incredible talent for finding remote places and interesting folks who live there, and putting it to film in the most interesting way possible. And you don't ham it up, you just let the subject speak for itself. I am looking forward to going through your whole backlog.
This "documentary" is what you get when you allow a relatively uninformed outsider to tell your story. Regarding the claim that there was no infrastructure; the British left a functional railway system that ran from Rossignol to Georgetown on the East Coast, and from Vreed-en-hoop to Parika on the West Coast. I know because I rode those trains many times. The Burnham government decided to scrap the railway around 1971 and replaced it with cheap Tata buses imported from India. The buses all fell apart within about 6 months but by that time the railway lines were being ripped up and the locomotives given to several African countries. If my memory is correct some steam engines went to Zambia where they might still be in operation. Then the 1973 Arab oil embargo occurred and Guyana did not have the foreign exchange to import food or fuel; the government was forced into taking loans from agencies like the IMF and World Bank, and countries like Trinidad. This is a major fact that's never mentioned in this "documentary."
You brought up some valid point. Even though I was born way after the time you speak of, his details are quiet inaccurate. He may have put it over so eloquently and to be persuasive but Alex did not get the facts.
@suddie1215 you mean the railway was sold, and the money went into a dictator pocket. The current Guyana Govt needs to publish all documents pertaining to the railways, leaving Guyana.
@StevenBiko1 A black sleuth dog that never stops barking ,that is the effect one gets when one drinks Congo pump tree leaves for tea ,and eating black pudding sadly no brain development to have a meaningful discussion or mabie one of those that the Guyana Govt pay to raise as a child because of single mother help from social services ministries.
I really enjoyed watching this video! The mixture between telling Guayanas history and showing yourself actually getting to know the country in person is just perfect! Now i'm subscribed, keep up the good work!
You ignorant people ought to learned your history. If you haven’t by now you still have the slavery mentality. There are hundreds of documentations on how America and England put Burnham in power and banned all food products, yet his home had all these things. Burnham told the Guyanese people he would do anything even sell his soul to be in power. I was maybe six years went the bombs were falling. I can still hear the bombs falling up to present. Not a nice sight for a little child.
I love your videos my man! The mix of travel and history on your channel add depth you don’t get often. Keep it up. Looking forward to seeing what you make!
5 месяцев назад+17
love the video production and visuals of Guyana and its beauty. Your respect of the people and their cultures is wonderful and heartwarming especially from tourists. Additionally, the story of LFS Burnham while a small glimpse of the dictator is refreshing to be publicised. Many denies the atrocities and hardly anyone ever mentions it (likely most wanna forget it while others were 'fortunate' and/or propagandised), but I have heard so many stories from my grandparents and elders. The Ballot Box Martyrs is one of the many stories in the fight for a free Guyana.
Under Burnham many must never forget the Wismar massacre that took place in the 1960s. I was living in Guyana as a young child when that happened. I met many Guyanese over the years and some believe that's in the past but it should not be forgotten because it happened two times again in modern times. Guyana is a beautiful country and I think the Government in power is doing an excellent job
So glad to see a new upload in this series! I enjoyed the first two Guianas videos so much and loved learning even more through this video. I hope that the boom in views your first video saw can carry over to this one as you and these videos absolutely deserve the viewership
Thanks guys, trying to get out videos as fast as I can while also writing and researching upcoming projects. There will be much more regular uploads starting in around October I think
@@AlexRothman it’s honestly no rush man! we sincerely appreciate it! the quality over quantity approach is so worth it! i enjoy watching your videos so much, after i found your first video on guyana i went back and watched so many of your videos including your entire series on sri lanka! thank so much man, keep up the great work! we’ll be here whenever the uploads come regardless!
@@AlexRothmandefinitely appreciate your thoroughness! These videos are so important especially for our future generations. A lot of our people don’t know the history of Guyana especially those who live abroad. Please take your time getting these videos out - Quality over quantity. Sending love and appreciation from NY!
I just watched these three Guyana videos back to back. They are incredible! Our work in television news and have done so for over 25 years, and this is some of the best reporting I’ve ever seen. I can hardly wait for the next one.
Now this is entertainment, I'm all for it! Exploring the country and showing people places not commonly known, amamzing job you've earned yourself a sub
Guyana is an incredible country .i am so glad i was borned in the best country in the world with so many adventures. I may be a canadian but guyana will always hold a special place in my heart.
You have your info incorrect. Guyana was under sanctions from 1970 to 1992 by the us government, for its role and contributions to the African liberation struggles against apartheid. This is what is responsible for its economic woes and hardships during the PNC administration. Guyana was under colonial dictatorship for more than four hundred years, where its indigenous peoples and Africans were enslaved for more than 400 years. During slavery some of the world's worst atrocities were committed against the enslaved. Slavery ended in the eighteen hundreds and was followed by indentured servitude, which ended in the late eighteen hundreds. Free Africans were barred from buying fertile and prime lands but were sold over priced barren waste land and drainage reserve land, which was deliberately flooded at crop time to destabilize the free Africans, and to force them off the lands. While the indentured servants were given free arable lands for farming and for housing. Guyana didn't experience any development from the end of indentured servitude to Guyana's independence. However, after independence, the new government built over a hundred thousand houses all over Guyana. Free school from nursery to university. Free text books from nursery to university. Free school meals. Free or subsidized transportation for school children. Free school uniform for school children. Hundreds of millions of dollars in loans for farming and home ownership. And the list of achievements goes on and on. Now what the colonizers did wasn't a dictatorship? But the rapid development we achieved is a dictatorship? Make that make sense
Thanks so much ! I read a book years ago called 'Journey to Nowhere' by Shiva Naipaul about the Jonestown catastrophe. A lot of the book dealt with the Forbes Burnham dictatorship and got me really interested in the subject. But finding further info about it was extremely difficult. Even with the internet there wasn't much to go on so this video was a real feast ! It's about time the Burnhamite nastiness has come to light.
Forbes Burnham of Guyana was not the only Caribbean leader to sport the Nationalist / Marxist-Leninist hat in the Caricom region during the latter half of 20th century. Different hybrid versions of this political ideology was adopted with various degree of influence across the Caribbean. In Grenada under Maurice Bishop, Dominica under Patrick John, Antigua under Lester Bird, Trinidad & Tobago under Dr. Eric Williams, Jamaica under Michael Manley, St. Vincent and the Grenadines under Milton Cato and of course Haiti under father and son Francois and Jean-claude Duvalier who cleverly straddled the Democrat-Communist fence to America's chagrin.
I'm really enjoying these videos with the great combination of history and travelogue. Have to say, seeing Adam with a smart phone in his hand was interesting. We would love to know about how connected every day Guyanans are with the outside world.
@@AlexRothman Thanks Alex. I was surprised at Adam and his smart phone due to how remote You indicated the people on the interior were. Having service to support a smart phone surprised me a bit given that description. Thanks for the follow up. Looking forward to the next video in the series. Thank you!
They aren't tribes living with no outside contact lol. It's just that due to poor roads and distance they are a bit disconnected from resources but they all have phones, access to Internet, they get supplies from Brazil or when they go into a city, etc.
Hi, I just travelled this stretch of road this summer. Great memories! Spent 29 hours from Lethem to Georgetown. Got stuck in the car for the night, and at the ferry dock the next day, I remember some other passengers telling me it would take another 12 hours to reach the capital. Got there at midnight, which wasn't the most pleasant experience. Hopefully, the road conditions is set to improve massively in the coming years. Apparently, it will only take 6 hours to cross the country when the new road is done. A huge improvement for the country, but I will never forget the dirt road adventure that this journey was.
The rupununi uprising was a blood bath my Grandfather was in charge of the police station at the time Five police officers - this included the constables James McKenzie, William Norton, Michael Kendall, Sergeant James Anderson and Inspector Whittington Braithwaite - along with two civilians, Victor Hernandez and Thomas James, were killed
Guyana was basically the reverse of Uganda. When will people learn about mutual respect co-operation? I'm sure the US & India will their claws into Guyana to extract its share of the cheap oil. I hope the leaders of Guyana can begin with housing the poor, building up hospitals around the country, educating its people in engineering, construction, health sciences, farming, etc. to establish a self-sufficient, vibrant state. As I've seen the first construction projects are to house the American subcontractors & staff of Oil companies with luxurious seaside apartments & private schools etc for their civilian needs. So round 1 lost. Good luck, as inequality & family squabbles will increase as the petrodollars flow in.
How can you compare Guyana and Uganda two completly different situations. Guyana is made up of people that were imported in while Uganda has it's native population, You are Tamil are you Indian? then let's look at India who have caste systems and people like black African descendants Siddis in India and Sri Lanka who are basically not even apart of Indian and Sri Lankan society they are completely outcasted look in the mirror before accusing Uganda of anything. It's India that's ranked the most racist country not Uganda
Wow. As a Jamaican watching this hearing him talk about bitta cassava and sweet cassava. It shows how similar we are while being so different. Thank you for sharing.
I live in South America, but never new almost anything about Guyana, though I remember the news of the mass suicide when I was a child. Only thing I would like to clarify, Essequibo is not the third largest river in South America, not even close. It is perhaps number twenty. Good work Alex, enjoyed the video, looking forward to see more of your content. Greetings from Uruguay!
@4:30 Cooperative Republic meant that the 6 races would now be “one” ❤ They were to cooperate and live as “one people ” No race would be superior. ❤ One People ❤ One Nation ❤ One Destiny ❤
Between the Sri Lanka series and this one, you seem to be following the works of John Gimlette, who I see referenced in the notes. Is he a particular inspiration, and do you plan to cover Paraguay and Madagascar someday as he did in his writings?
Well observed! Paraguay and Madagascar are very much projects I hope to do in the future. I'm not consciously following him but there we definitely have an interest in the same kind of places: countries with interesting but somewhat obscure histories
I think this was so enjoyable to watch and thank you for continuing the education about Guyana 🇬🇾. I also though think that it is important to recognise that those of us who were not around will not know why people such as Burnham really behaved in the way that they did.
Kia ora e hoa, Alex if you are ever in the Wellington region, please come visit or couch surf at our place! We are a Kiwi-Guyanese/Amerindian mixed family who have previously lived in the Rupununi. We've thoroughly enjoyed your videos. So weird but cool to hear your Kiwi accent in the Guyanese context. Kei te pai tō mahi.
@StevenBiko1 I'm not the one who constantly blames bharat jagdeo for all my self-inflicted failures in life and constantly bang I'm my youths heads that he is the cause for them to even stump their toes 🤣. Jagdeo lives in you all. Touche!
Same thing have been done in Sri Lanka by Indian slave labours who were brought by british , portuguese ,dutch and then immediately their slave labours outnumbered the native people in Sri lanka .
Really, under president Linden Forbes Samson Burnham it was a dictatorship. Do you even know what a dictatorship is . For your information we are not AFRO GUYANESE or African descendants. We are aboriginal American Indians.
@mrchris6684 Yes, reason why head is spells with an "A" instead of letter "H, and 32 is a greater number than 33."Have a good day that much for extremely educated.😂😂😂😂
I was young when Burnham was President. My mother is Amerindian and Chinese, man we ate cassava and breadfruit in each which way to can use it. He banned the import of all food items. I hate breadfruit to this day and I am in my 50s. My younger uncles had to shipped out of Guyana because the dead swat would constantly be at my grandmother's house looking for them because they were always having meetings planning to overthrow Burnham. If you were a young man those were some very uncertain times getting picked up and beaten up. People disappeared and were killed.
Amerindians eat cassava on a daily basis in the jungles of Guyana 🇬🇾, with uncleaned ,unseasoned meats currently to this present day. What is your point, that’s your culture, traditions and customs.
Your historical accounts were pretty good wrt the Venezuelan conglict and the Rupunini upriding. Your hinterland trips were very good recordings of how difficult the roads are currently. However the road to Brazil is very soon going to become as economic corridor. Venezuela is stirring up trouble.
This was a great depicted piece of Guyana history. If there are inaccuracies please let the public know by posting your facts. If not just be quiet and enjoy the video
So what's happening in Guyana now what is going on with this administration, the British and Americans did the same to Guyana what they also did to Africa and so many resourceful nations
Because it's filled with inaccuracies, falsehood, and vilification of Burnham re. his support for Africans, many of whom suffered under Burnham's acts of patriotic nationalization.
Greetings to Guyana Georgetown south america amazing amen i was born in Guyana Georgetown i love 💕 u Guyana at the age of 12 year old my geart. Ann took me to linden live and went to school at 19 years old i return again to geroetown the city Guyana be long to Guyana i love 💕 my country my name is mr bernard Forbes Stephens okay 🇬🇾🇯🇲🇬🇳🫂🔥✅😇
Mr. Rothman, thank you for the information you've gleaned on Guyana, however, I caution you greatly to check your sources. I was born in Guyana in 1968 and lived there for 8 years. I can testify that at that time Forbes Burnham achieved what few first world countries have ever acheived as far as I know. The band of middle class in Guyana at that time was the widest band of the population while the wealthy band and poor bands were very small. That isn't a struggling country. It was paradise on earth!!! Furthermore, the reason that was possible is because Forbes Burnham nationalized the bauxite, rice, and sugar industries that were the country's main exports. In doing so , the first world nations who plundered Guyana's resources, and have done so for time immemorial with most of those small countries throughout the world, without compensating the country, could no longer do so, and Guyana prospered as a result. The educational level of attainment across the country, with most attaining university degrees mainly in England and the U.S. exceeded that of the United States. The bully countries, the United States, and England especially, were angry that this little country had the audacity to slap their greedy hands and take back control of what was rightly Guyana's. They threatened Forbes Burnham with their millitary might and having no large millitary to stand up against these threats, he had no choice but to go to Cuba and others to strive to form a protective alliance, and was even driven to draft children into The National Service which is the army. Guyana had open elections and was capitalist up until that point. The first world has never been friends with the developing nations, they are bullies, only interested in raping and plundering and destruction. They do not care, even when they write the big checks, to 'appear' as if they do, it's all a facade. So please when you're reporting about these small countries check the facts with the countries first, and don't sprout the propaganda. The reason why there is any tension today within Guyana's government is because of outside interests, namely first world countries working to influence political outcomes to their own advantage all for the sake of GREED. I mean they just found oil off the coast of Guyana, but who found the oil? I believe it was Exxon Mobile--- so what the heck are they still doing there if they gave up and left that country years ago? MONEY and GREED Alone MaKe This World Go Round. BTW where did you get your information?🤨🤨🤨
Just like Surinam Bouterse would bring freedom and prosperity but instead he got rich and used the military to keep in power. Now a convicted murderer on the run. Unluckily the Hindostan ruler is not much better.
While it's good to mention Burnham was a dictator, Guyanese need to be real and wake up to the fact that ot has been decades and we still survive on things since Burnham days. Honestly the thing about the rupununi uprising is that some sources state that the rebels were somewhat unaware of the plan which is why the rebels were not detained for too long, unlike the leaders. Many information of our country is political which is why this video seems a bit political and lacking in some areas. And as a Guyanese, I am so tired of Georgetown and the rupununi being represented as the only part of Guyana. The rupununi is not the only place with indigenous people. Glad you brought up propaganda though because the African population to this day is still at a disadvantage and so is the indigenous population. The next video better bring up ethnic cleansing, outside influences, inequality in all regions of Guyana, the systematic racism that afro-guyanese face, etc. And the funny thing about the 2020 elections was that it was rigged by both parties😭 this is why I don't trust foreign news sources.
Burham did not ban the wheat 🌾 It Was the US and even when he secured a wheat deal with India 🇮🇳 the money still had to pass through the US financial system to make it to India 🇮🇳 and that too was eventually block (if u did know now ya know )
@@Sid-gu5qkwhat do mean culturally??? Africa has 54 different countries & over 3000 different ethnicities with different cultures, there's isn't one African culture
@@samanth. Are you also trying to say that Guyanese are culturally African? That's what my comment was about, notwithstanding the semantics of which part of Africa their ancestors came from.
Im not sure that this video covers the importance of social class in Guyana. After slavery the Afro-Guyanese were well versed (and increasingly so post Emancipation) in most of the cultural values of the British - language, Christianity, Western education and manners. This meant they took powerful positions in the capital and urban centres - teachers, public servants, managerial posts, lawyers, etc. At one point Georgetown was essentially owned by middle and upper class Afro Guyanese - while the rural areas were the heartlands of the well to do agricultural Indians. Many Creole (Mixed) and Afro-Guyanese thus believed, as they were the major group brought in after whites historically to build the national economy - that they were the natural 'inheritors' of Guyana after the British. They couldnt understand how - purely due to population advantage - the Indians could usurp that power from them when they had been around for less time and not adapated to the 'cultural standards' that, at that time, defined what made you 'respectable' and part of elite Guyanese society. This is perhaps the greatest mental and social divide in Guyana. Most of Guyana's old dominant Creole and Afro-Guyanese bourgeoisie left the country during the 1970s. Essentially leaving behind the working class Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese 'new money', who were largely Hindu and of rural Guyanese extraction. It was a huge cultural shift for the nation. However the old bourgeoisie still considers that their kind has the best 'tools' to run Guyana and that part of the reason it struggled so long during - and with the various leaders LONG after Burnham - is that the 'right' social class opted to leave the country due to degraded standards...
I'm from Lethem, I'm an Afro Amerindian mix. Lethem is an Amerindian majority town where many of them are dual citizens of Guyana and Brazil. There are some of the older generations who dont speak any English only the language of their tribe. Almost all of the younger generations speak both English and Portuguese but not their native languages. Aside from the recent Venezuelan migrants no one speak Spanish. I would argue that Lethem and the surrounding areas are more connected to Brazil than Venezuela because many of them have relatives over there.
Lethem is miles away from the Venezuelan border unlike region one essequibo that's why you find a lot of people in the bordering area with Venezuela in region 1 speak Spanish vice-versa.
Just like BERBICE where many Guyana speak creole Afrikaans ..
@@john-hk5pu it’s sad this is due to our weak corrupt politicians who don’t promote our true culture country wide ..
@@Draintheswamp888yes. But the people can continue trading. Ignore the government,. They all garbage without sense
@@Draintheswamp888 Ithaca Village for sure, Rosignol.
What an incredibly intimate look at the interior! You’ve gotta be the only person on RUclips going to these super remote places - loving this series so far!
no there a lot it has become a genre
@@glynphelps9027 oh interesting, have you come across any other good ones you’d recommend?
Hope he enlightened you about malaria 🦟
I hope he gets it in the worst way, no return. 😂@@yatradeocoomar5166
So many inaccuracies. There was no African political party. What are you trying to achieve?You are attempting to distort and change Guyana's History. Anyway, you are not the first to try that. Do you really understand and know the characteristics of a dictator??.
You have certainly captured the essence of that period of time of my beloved country. Thank you for making it, and I look forward to the next episode...
Glad you enjoyed it!
@@AlexRothmanthe secret is to be apolytical. The moment it is good guys vs bad guys, it becomes boring. People have good and bad at the same time
This is what travel is about. Truly understanding a country. I found your channel last year when i was doing research on sri lanka before going there. Just awesome content. Keep travelling and researching. I have no words for the quality of your movies. Insane
Thank you so much 🙂
I agree this is what traveling is for
Your opening statement “the world wasn’t watching” is highly inaccurate. The USA/CIA fully supported the dictatorship in Guyanese.
And they are fully supporting the dictatorship now. The theft of oil monies, sugarcane workers mention, land theft, what about the killings of many activists. They are supporting the politicians pocketing the revenues and not allows the citizens to benefit so America can get what they want.
So what do u have to say about the current dictatorship that taking place in Guyana under the current regime???
I think he meant the world media.
@@Gods_Worship_Sanctuarythe usa support it too
@Gods_Worship_Sanctuary There is no dictatorship going on in Guyana.
As a Guyanese who lived and still live in Guyana,I must say this video is fill with inaccuracies😮...
IT'S THE TRUTH ,I KNOW FOR A FACT.
@@CamilleRodrigues-q5b I didn't ask a question...smh
What's more important is that people are having the discussion. Go from there.
Like?
The irony is that for the last 30 years Guyana has been run by the PPP which is a corrupt indian nationalist party!
This series is so exceptionally good, man. The history mixed with your own footage format is ingenious, and your footage and narration is just incredibly well done. You seem to have an incredible talent for finding remote places and interesting folks who live there, and putting it to film in the most interesting way possible. And you don't ham it up, you just let the subject speak for itself. I am looking forward to going through your whole backlog.
This is bull
@@youngboyyneverbrokeagain Alright, then let's hear your articulate, persuasive rebuttal.
I like the history + travel combo. Nice work
This "documentary" is what you get when you allow a relatively uninformed outsider to tell your story. Regarding the claim that there was no infrastructure; the British left a functional railway system that ran from Rossignol to Georgetown on the East Coast, and from Vreed-en-hoop to Parika on the West Coast. I know because I rode those trains many times. The Burnham government decided to scrap the railway around 1971 and replaced it with cheap Tata buses imported from India. The buses all fell apart within about 6 months but by that time the railway lines were being ripped up and the locomotives given to several African countries. If my memory is correct some steam engines went to Zambia where they might still be in operation. Then the 1973 Arab oil embargo occurred and Guyana did not have the foreign exchange to import food or fuel; the government was forced into taking loans from agencies like the IMF and World Bank, and countries like Trinidad. This is a major fact that's never mentioned in this "documentary."
You brought up some valid point. Even though I was born way after the time you speak of, his details are quiet inaccurate. He may have put it over so eloquently and to be persuasive but Alex did not get the facts.
@suddie1215 you mean the railway was sold, and the money went into a dictator pocket. The current Guyana Govt needs to publish all documents pertaining to the railways, leaving Guyana.
@@hafizkhan4031. The monies went to Hamas
@StevenBiko1 A black sleuth dog that never stops barking ,that is the effect one gets when one drinks Congo pump tree leaves for tea ,and eating black pudding sadly no brain development to have a meaningful discussion or mabie one of those that the Guyana Govt pay to raise as a child because of single mother help from social services ministries.
@StevenBiko1 black sleuth dog that never stops barking ,brain dead" Aead" that thinks that 32 is greater than 33.
Great stuff brother. Keep 'em coming.
Feed the algorithm everybody!
This report is a blasted lie. BURNHAM WAS THE BEST LEADER.
I really enjoyed watching this video! The mixture between telling Guayanas history and showing yourself actually getting to know the country in person is just perfect! Now i'm subscribed, keep up the good work!
You ignorant people ought to learned your history. If you haven’t by now you still have the slavery mentality. There are hundreds of documentations on how America and England put Burnham in power and banned all food products, yet his home had all these things. Burnham told the Guyanese people he would do anything even sell his soul to be in power. I was maybe six years went the bombs were falling. I can still hear the bombs falling up to present. Not a nice sight for a little child.
I love your videos my man! The mix of travel and history on your channel add depth you don’t get often. Keep it up. Looking forward to seeing what you make!
love the video production and visuals of Guyana and its beauty. Your respect of the people and their cultures is wonderful and heartwarming especially from tourists. Additionally, the story of LFS Burnham while a small glimpse of the dictator is refreshing to be publicised. Many denies the atrocities and hardly anyone ever mentions it (likely most wanna forget it while others were 'fortunate' and/or propagandised), but I have heard so many stories from my grandparents and elders. The Ballot Box Martyrs is one of the many stories in the fight for a free Guyana.
Under Burnham many must never forget the Wismar massacre that took place in the 1960s. I was living in Guyana as a young child when that happened. I met many Guyanese over the years and some believe that's in the past but it should not be forgotten because it happened two times again in modern times. Guyana is a beautiful country and I think the Government in power is doing an excellent job
So glad to see a new upload in this series! I enjoyed the first two Guianas videos so much and loved learning even more through this video. I hope that the boom in views your first video saw can carry over to this one as you and these videos absolutely deserve the viewership
Thank you so much for your comment and for watching!
Currently binging your series on my country, and man, I've gotta say the journalism is amazing.
Always amazing, unique and interesting content. Please keep it up!
Really interesting mix of historical and documentary footage. Great stuff!
bro i await your uploads like a dope fiend 😭 i check like weekly, its been 2 months i’m so excited
Haha, I came to the comments to say the exact same thing !
I'm glad this channel is finally starting to blow up. The production value is unreal.
Thanks guys, trying to get out videos as fast as I can while also writing and researching upcoming projects. There will be much more regular uploads starting in around October I think
@@AlexRothman it’s honestly no rush man! we sincerely appreciate it! the quality over quantity approach is so worth it! i enjoy watching your videos so much, after i found your first video on guyana i went back and watched so many of your videos including your entire series on sri lanka! thank so much man, keep up the great work! we’ll be here whenever the uploads come regardless!
@@AlexRothmandefinitely appreciate your thoroughness! These videos are so important especially for our future generations. A lot of our people don’t know the history of Guyana especially those who live abroad. Please take your time getting these videos out - Quality over quantity. Sending love and appreciation from NY!
I just watched these three Guyana videos back to back. They are incredible! Our work in television news and have done so for over 25 years, and this is some of the best reporting I’ve ever seen. I can hardly wait for the next one.
Thank you, you’re very kind! Next one coming soon
So good man, love the format, absolutely fascinating. Always looking forward to the next one!
I agree the format it great. He did a good job.
Now this is entertainment, I'm all for it! Exploring the country and showing people places not commonly known, amamzing job you've earned yourself a sub
Mr. Alex you’re the best, we’ll miss you in school
Guyana is an incredible country .i am so glad i was borned in the best country in the world with so many adventures. I may be a canadian but guyana will always hold a special place in my heart.
So, most Hindu Guyanese abandoned the land..I guess no patriotism there
Why did you leave to g o to a place so cold? Also to pay half of everything you earn to the crazy’s running the place?
Beautiful cinematography, thank you very much for your RUclips content I really like your approach to the content!
You have your info incorrect. Guyana was under sanctions from 1970 to 1992 by the us government, for its role and contributions to the African liberation struggles against apartheid. This is what is responsible for its economic woes and hardships during the PNC administration. Guyana was under colonial dictatorship for more than four hundred years, where its indigenous peoples and Africans were enslaved for more than 400 years. During slavery some of the world's worst atrocities were committed against the enslaved. Slavery ended in the eighteen hundreds and was followed by indentured servitude, which ended in the late eighteen hundreds. Free Africans were barred from buying fertile and prime lands but were sold over priced barren waste land and drainage reserve land, which was deliberately flooded at crop time to destabilize the free Africans, and to force them off the lands. While the indentured servants were given free arable lands for farming and for housing. Guyana didn't experience any development from the end of indentured servitude to Guyana's independence. However, after independence, the new government built over a hundred thousand houses all over Guyana. Free school from nursery to university. Free text books from nursery to university. Free school meals. Free or subsidized transportation for school children. Free school uniform for school children. Hundreds of millions of dollars in loans for farming and home ownership. And the list of achievements goes on and on. Now what the colonizers did wasn't a dictatorship? But the rapid development we achieved is a dictatorship? Make that make sense
Thanks so much ! I read a book years ago called 'Journey to Nowhere' by Shiva Naipaul about the Jonestown catastrophe. A lot of the book dealt with the Forbes Burnham dictatorship and got me really interested in the subject. But finding further info about it was extremely difficult. Even with the internet there wasn't much to go on so this video was a real feast ! It's about time the Burnhamite nastiness has come to light.
Forbes Burnham of Guyana was not the only Caribbean leader to sport the Nationalist / Marxist-Leninist hat in the Caricom region during the latter half of 20th century. Different hybrid versions of this political ideology was adopted with various degree of influence across the Caribbean. In Grenada under Maurice Bishop, Dominica under Patrick John, Antigua under Lester Bird, Trinidad & Tobago under Dr. Eric Williams, Jamaica under Michael Manley, St. Vincent and the Grenadines under Milton Cato and of course Haiti under father and son Francois and Jean-claude Duvalier who cleverly straddled the Democrat-Communist fence to America's chagrin.
I'm really enjoying these videos with the great combination of history and travelogue. Have to say, seeing Adam with a smart phone in his hand was interesting. We would love to know about how connected every day Guyanans are with the outside world.
I think pretty connected, like almost everywhere smart phone penetration is thorough
@@AlexRothman Thanks Alex. I was surprised at Adam and his smart phone due to how remote You indicated the people on the interior were. Having service to support a smart phone surprised me a bit given that description. Thanks for the follow up. Looking forward to the next video in the series. Thank you!
They aren't tribes living with no outside contact lol. It's just that due to poor roads and distance they are a bit disconnected from resources but they all have phones, access to Internet, they get supplies from Brazil or when they go into a city, etc.
This video is worth the wait ❤thank you
Hi, I just travelled this stretch of road this summer. Great memories! Spent 29 hours from Lethem to Georgetown. Got stuck in the car for the night, and at the ferry dock the next day, I remember some other passengers telling me it would take another 12 hours to reach the capital. Got there at midnight, which wasn't the most pleasant experience. Hopefully, the road conditions is set to improve massively in the coming years. Apparently, it will only take 6 hours to cross the country when the new road is done. A huge improvement for the country, but I will never forget the dirt road adventure that this journey was.
Amazing job with your videos, looking forward to seeing more!
Interesting perspective from one who contributed. Thanks for your views!
The rupununi uprising was a blood bath my Grandfather was in charge of the police station at the time Five police officers - this included the constables James McKenzie, William Norton, Michael Kendall, Sergeant James Anderson and Inspector Whittington Braithwaite - along with two civilians, Victor Hernandez and Thomas James, were killed
May they rest in peace and not be forgotten
Guyana was basically the reverse of Uganda. When will people learn about mutual respect co-operation? I'm sure the US & India will their claws into Guyana to extract its share of the cheap oil.
I hope the leaders of Guyana can begin with housing the poor, building up hospitals around the country, educating its people in engineering, construction, health sciences, farming, etc. to establish a self-sufficient, vibrant state.
As I've seen the first construction projects are to house the American subcontractors & staff of Oil companies with luxurious seaside apartments & private schools etc for their civilian needs. So round 1 lost. Good luck, as inequality & family squabbles will increase as the petrodollars flow in.
Uganda’s decision to expel Indians was the best
How can you compare Guyana and Uganda two completly different situations. Guyana is made up of people that were imported in while Uganda has it's native population, You are Tamil are you Indian? then let's look at India who have caste systems and people like black African descendants Siddis in India and Sri Lanka who are basically not even apart of Indian and Sri Lankan society they are completely outcasted look in the mirror before accusing Uganda of anything. It's India that's ranked the most racist country not Uganda
This is better than any TV show. I am so impressed with your challenges and motivation to make a good history report.
Just Brilliant.
Very interesting . Colonial Britain was the cause of much political and social discord worldwide . The arrogance of it all .
There's 65 countries that used to be part of the British Empire. There's a reason that 48 have a holiday celebrating them leaving.
@@ClockworkOuroborousONG!
Goddamn.❤ You mix history and travel so good even drugs can't compete with your content❤
Wow. As a Jamaican watching this hearing him talk about bitta cassava and sweet cassava. It shows how similar we are while being so different. Thank you for sharing.
Great video. Traveling through the interior seems like traveling back in time to much simpler times.
awesome
your channel should have more subscribers...
Thank you so much 😀
A truly outstanding documentary all round; fascinating. Good onya Alex!
I live in South America, but never new almost anything about Guyana, though I remember the news of the mass suicide when I was a child. Only thing I would like to clarify, Essequibo is not the third largest river in South America, not even close. It is perhaps number twenty. Good work Alex, enjoyed the video, looking forward to see more of your content. Greetings from Uruguay!
Hi I just found your video and subbed, thank you for sharing this video
Unbiased, and highly informative. All that combined with a pleasent narrative.
@4:30 Cooperative Republic meant that the 6 races would now be “one” ❤ They were to cooperate and live as “one people ” No race would be superior.
❤ One People ❤ One Nation ❤ One Destiny ❤
Professionally done! You deserve bigger views
loved your sri lankan series. had indo Guyanese friends in canada in the 70's
Your format is very interesting! Keep doing this!
Thanks for the quality content on an area I know little about. Looking forward to the next videos.
Alex your channel is underrated
As a Guyanese New Zealander, these videos are so fascinating! Please keep it up!
Thanks a lot for the comment! Guyana has an incredibly interesting story that more people should know about
As a Kazakh Fijian I approve this message
@@surfboarding5058 😂😂
Stellar production and story telling Alex.
Exactly, story telling. His story.
Bro finally! I’ve been waiting for this part 🐐
Between the Sri Lanka series and this one, you seem to be following the works of John Gimlette, who I see referenced in the notes. Is he a particular inspiration, and do you plan to cover Paraguay and Madagascar someday as he did in his writings?
Well observed! Paraguay and Madagascar are very much projects I hope to do in the future. I'm not consciously following him but there we definitely have an interest in the same kind of places: countries with interesting but somewhat obscure histories
I think this was so enjoyable to watch and thank you for continuing the education about Guyana 🇬🇾.
I also though think that it is important to recognise that those of us who were not around will not know why people such as Burnham really behaved in the way that they did.
Kia ora e hoa, Alex if you are ever in the Wellington region, please come visit or couch surf at our place! We are a Kiwi-Guyanese/Amerindian mixed family who have previously lived in the Rupununi. We've thoroughly enjoyed your videos. So weird but cool to hear your Kiwi accent in the Guyanese context. Kei te pai tō mahi.
Wow there can’t be too many of you in the world! That’s really cool. Have you met many other Guyanese in NZ?
Need a boyfriend?
@@ラーメンのボス you are not masculine enough for that task.
This account should have +500k followers
Commenting to support, great content!
Much appreciated!
What logic did he use to come up with the title of the video? How was Guyana an African dictatorship?
Under Burnham.
@@dopamine3255. dope fiend
@@dopamine3255 The Brilliant LFS Burnham lives in you and your kinds empty heads and thoughts forever. 😂😂😂😂
@StevenBiko1 I'm not the one who constantly blames bharat jagdeo for all my self-inflicted failures in life and constantly bang I'm my youths heads that he is the cause for them to even stump their toes 🤣.
Jagdeo lives in you all.
Touche!
It was like an African dictatorship and ran like one which is true.
Incredible video. So glad I found your channel.
Same thing have been done in Sri Lanka by Indian slave labours who were brought by british , portuguese ,dutch and then immediately their slave labours outnumbered the native people in Sri lanka .
Really, under president Linden Forbes Samson Burnham it was a dictatorship. Do you even know what a dictatorship is . For your information we are not AFRO GUYANESE or African descendants. We are aboriginal American Indians.
Love your documentary on the political history of Guyana curing the Burnham Era and I admire the accuracy of your account 👌
You need to get an education. Propaganda is truth for your pea brain
raymondrodrigues pea brain 😂
Thank you for sharing this. ♥
Majority of Guyanese blacks are extremely educated
@mrchris6684 Yes, reason why head is spells with an "A" instead of letter "H, and 32 is a greater number than 33."Have a good day that much for extremely educated.😂😂😂😂
Yes too extreme, you can't bare it.
@@hafizkhan4031. Untouchables are historically illiterates
Not true but you can spread your fake neqs
@@daniyalbbd5281 another illiterate untouchable
Great stuff keep it going...you have gained a new follower today!!
Bravo! Nice videos, well explained....
Thank you for sharing this story. As a Guyanese I really appreciate it..
Great video Mr Alex!
Awesome Video my friend!
I was young when Burnham was President. My mother is Amerindian and Chinese, man we ate cassava and breadfruit in each which way to can use it. He banned the import of all food items. I hate breadfruit to this day and I am in my 50s. My younger uncles had to shipped out of Guyana because the dead swat would constantly be at my grandmother's house looking for them because they were always having meetings planning to overthrow Burnham. If you were a young man those were some very uncertain times getting picked up and beaten up. People disappeared and were killed.
Amerindians eat cassava on a daily basis in the jungles of Guyana 🇬🇾, with uncleaned ,unseasoned meats currently to this present day. What is your point, that’s your culture, traditions and customs.
Your historical accounts were pretty good wrt the Venezuelan conglict and the Rupunini upriding.
Your hinterland trips were very good recordings of how difficult the roads are currently.
However the road to Brazil is very soon going to become as economic corridor.
Venezuela is stirring up trouble.
Great content man keep it up
Many Guyanese with money left Guyana only the poor remains.
Great series of videos! Congratulations @Alex Rothman. A forgotten region and so fascinating
That football game looked like so much fun. ❤
Great soundtrack, i would llove to know the source!
Guyana needs people to develop the hinterland regions it's is here the country potential lies not in region 4.
This was a great depicted piece of Guyana history. If there are inaccuracies please let the public know by posting your facts. If not just be quiet and enjoy the video
So what's happening in Guyana now what is going on with this administration, the British and Americans did the same to Guyana what they also did to Africa and so many resourceful nations
Burnham said in a speech once” killing I is a waste, another Rasta will take I place” the lyrics from Bob Marley. That is exactly what we are seeing.
Guyanese must tell their own history. There are too many false narratives out there.
This is pretty accurate as a Guyanese I say this.
Loving this series
Great video!! You have really done your research. Do you live in Guyana?
Nope, just traveled there!
I can't believe a video this good only has 25k views. I'm very impressed.
Because it's filled with inaccuracies, falsehood, and vilification of Burnham re. his support for Africans, many of whom suffered under Burnham's acts of patriotic nationalization.
The video is tasteless ,extremely misleading and inaccurate, spoken from the mouth of a fork tongue devil 😈.
Greetings to Guyana Georgetown south america amazing amen i was born in Guyana Georgetown i love 💕 u Guyana at the age of 12 year old my geart. Ann took me to linden live and went to school at 19 years old i return again to geroetown the city Guyana be long to Guyana i love 💕 my country my name is mr bernard Forbes Stephens okay 🇬🇾🇯🇲🇬🇳🫂🔥✅😇
Thany you very much Alex. As always another gem produced. Greetings from Auckland 🇳🇿
Mr. Rothman, thank you for the information you've gleaned on Guyana, however, I caution you greatly to check your sources. I was born in Guyana in 1968 and lived there for 8 years. I can testify that at that time Forbes Burnham achieved what few first world countries have ever acheived as far as I know. The band of middle class in Guyana at that time was the widest band of the population while the wealthy band and poor bands were very small. That isn't a struggling country. It was paradise on earth!!! Furthermore, the reason that was possible is because Forbes Burnham nationalized the bauxite, rice, and sugar industries that were the country's main exports. In doing so , the first world nations who plundered Guyana's resources, and have done so for time immemorial with most of those small countries throughout the world, without compensating the country, could no longer do so, and Guyana prospered as a result. The educational level of attainment across the country, with most attaining university degrees mainly in England and the U.S. exceeded that of the United States. The bully countries, the United States, and England especially, were angry that this little country had the audacity to slap their greedy hands and take back control of what was rightly Guyana's. They threatened Forbes Burnham with their millitary might and having no large millitary to stand up against these threats, he had no choice but to go to Cuba and others to strive to form a protective alliance, and was even driven to draft children into The National Service which is the army. Guyana had open elections and was capitalist up until that point. The first world has never been friends with the developing nations, they are bullies, only interested in raping and plundering and destruction. They do not care, even when they write the big checks, to 'appear' as if they do, it's all a facade. So please when you're reporting about these small countries check the facts with the countries first, and don't sprout the propaganda. The reason why there is any tension today within Guyana's government is because of outside interests, namely first world countries working to influence political outcomes to their own advantage all for the sake of GREED. I mean they just found oil off the coast of Guyana, but who found the oil? I believe it was Exxon Mobile--- so what the heck are they still doing there if they gave up and left that country years ago? MONEY and GREED Alone MaKe This World Go Round. BTW where did you get your information?🤨🤨🤨
Blessings--And it was not Burnham who killed Walter Rodney. Journalism is about truth and deep digging.
Just like Surinam Bouterse would bring freedom and prosperity but instead he got rich and used the military to keep in power. Now a convicted murderer on the run. Unluckily the Hindostan ruler is not much better.
While it's good to mention Burnham was a dictator, Guyanese need to be real and wake up to the fact that ot has been decades and we still survive on things since Burnham days.
Honestly the thing about the rupununi uprising is that some sources state that the rebels were somewhat unaware of the plan which is why the rebels were not detained for too long, unlike the leaders.
Many information of our country is political which is why this video seems a bit political and lacking in some areas.
And as a Guyanese, I am so tired of Georgetown and the rupununi being represented as the only part of Guyana. The rupununi is not the only place with indigenous people.
Glad you brought up propaganda though because the African population to this day is still at a disadvantage and so is the indigenous population.
The next video better bring up ethnic cleansing, outside influences, inequality in all regions of Guyana, the systematic racism that afro-guyanese face, etc.
And the funny thing about the 2020 elections was that it was rigged by both parties😭 this is why I don't trust foreign news sources.
Thank you for countering this propaganda. The colonizers would not stop at spreading lies by“ educating the gullible masses”
I was born in 1968 and remember poverty, corruption, no free speech the ban on import, the ruination of the country. Burnham was a brutal dictator.
Fantastic video! May the traveling Gods continue to watch over you!
This is one of the best documentaries I've seen.
Wish this guy uploads more
Burham did not ban the wheat 🌾 It Was the US and even when he secured a wheat deal with India 🇮🇳 the money still had to pass through the US financial system to make it to India 🇮🇳 and that too was eventually block (if u did know now ya know )
Who are you to tell us we are not the same,we are Africans, doesn't matter where we are globally ❤❤
It seems to me like the dude still mad at Burnham for trying to connect with his African roots.
Genetically, yes, culturally, not as much, no offense, just facts brother.
No, wake up. You are either Black- Guyanese or African ,decide. Ask the Africans' (not from Guyana) if they think Black Guyanese are Africans.
@@Sid-gu5qkwhat do mean culturally??? Africa has 54 different countries & over 3000 different ethnicities with different cultures, there's isn't one African culture
@@samanth. Are you also trying to say that Guyanese are culturally African? That's what my comment was about, notwithstanding the semantics of which part of Africa their ancestors came from.
Great style of story teling
Im not sure that this video covers the importance of social class in Guyana. After slavery the Afro-Guyanese were well versed (and increasingly so post Emancipation) in most of the cultural values of the British - language, Christianity, Western education and manners. This meant they took powerful positions in the capital and urban centres - teachers, public servants, managerial posts, lawyers, etc. At one point Georgetown was essentially owned by middle and upper class Afro Guyanese - while the rural areas were the heartlands of the well to do agricultural Indians. Many Creole (Mixed) and Afro-Guyanese thus believed, as they were the major group brought in after whites historically to build the national economy - that they were the natural 'inheritors' of Guyana after the British. They couldnt understand how - purely due to population advantage - the Indians could usurp that power from them when they had been around for less time and not adapated to the 'cultural standards' that, at that time, defined what made you 'respectable' and part of elite Guyanese society.
This is perhaps the greatest mental and social divide in Guyana.
Most of Guyana's old dominant Creole and Afro-Guyanese bourgeoisie left the country during the 1970s. Essentially leaving behind the working class Afro-Guyanese and Indo-Guyanese 'new money', who were largely Hindu and of rural Guyanese extraction. It was a huge cultural shift for the nation. However the old bourgeoisie still considers that their kind has the best 'tools' to run Guyana and that part of the reason it struggled so long during - and with the various leaders LONG after Burnham - is that the 'right' social class opted to leave the country due to degraded standards...
What a fascinating comment, thanks for sharing!
Fantastic series, keep up the great work!!
Thanks, will do!
So y r they still leaving now
They were not African "slaves." They were enslaved Africans. Big difference!
Always such a fan of the humanity you manage to show in these videos.
Amazing work as always
When was constitution suspended under Burnham?
This presentation is half truth.