Guyana SPEAKS: White Debt: The Demerara Uprising and Britain's Legacy of Slavery (Reparations)

A Guyana SPEAKS/Commonwealth Foundation Event which marked the 200th Anniversary of the Demerara Uprising. It took place on Wed, 20 Sep 2023 18:00 - 21:00 BST at the Commonwealth Secretariat, Marlborough House Pall Mall London SW1Y 5HX. The recording of the event was kindly produced by photographer/videographer, Richard Denny (aka Afro Lens). Many thanks too to Karen Alexander for assisting us with audience questions.
The opening welcome was offered by Dr Juanita Cox of Guyana SPEAKS, Anna Gallagher, the Director-General of the Commonwealth Foundation, and His Excellency Dr Rajendra Singh, High Commissioner of Guyana to the UK. His Excellency has asked us to note that Guyana became a Republic in 1970; a correction of his accidental comment in the video that Guyana became a Republic in 1976.
The event was organised moderated by Juanita Cox. She gained her PhD in 2013 from the Department of African Studies and Anthropology, University of Birmingham, and is a winner of the prestigious RE Bradbury Memorial Prize. She is currently the leading authority on the life and work of the Guyanese novelist, Edgar Mittelholzer (1909-1965) and is editor of the compendium, Creole Chips and Other Writing (2018). Together with Rod Westmaas, Juanita co-founded the ground-breaking series Guyana SPEAKS in 2017, an education and networking forum, which has become a key monthly event in the calendar of the London-based Guyanese diaspora. She is currently working at the Institute of Historical Research on a three-year AHRC-funded oral history project, “The Windrush Scandal in a Transnational and Commonwealth Context” and is a trustee on the board of the Oral History Society.
The SPEAKERS
THOMAS HARDING
When Thomas Harding discovered that his family had profited from slavery, he set out to interrogate the choices of his ancestors and Britain's role in this terrible history. His investigation took him to Demerara (now Guyana), the site of an uprising by enslaved people in 1823, the largest in the British Empire and a key trigger in the abolition of slavery. Charting the dramatic build-up to this landmark event through the eyes of four people - an enslaved man, a missionary, a colonist, and a slaveholder - Harding lays bare the true impact of years of unimaginable cruelty and incredible courage and asks how those who benefitted from slavery can take responsibility for the White Debt.
CHARLIE GLADSTONE
Educated at University of Oxford, Charlie spent eight years working in music (Head of A & R at Warner/Chappell Music) before moving to Scotland to farm and create the homewares retailer Pedlars. Subsequently he has created and still runs restaurants, holiday businesses, an events business, and is a farmer, retailer, Christmas tree grower and property manager. He lectures and mentors on Gentle Leadership and has written and published two books (Random House, 2012 and Do Book Co. 2021). He is a father of six and grandfather of three. He is one of the founder members of the group Heirs of Slavery.
ULELE BURNHAM
Ulele Burnham’s practice spans the law relating to mental capacity and mental health, equality and human rights law. She is a member and former Chair of the Executive Committee of the Discrimination Law Association (Chair 2004-2006), a member of the Advisory Board of the AHRC Research Centre for Law Gender and Sexuality and was for 5 years (2002-2006) an occasional tutor in Labour Law at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She is regularly invited to provide specialist training in respect of both equality and human rights law and mental capacity/mental health law. She has for the past four years delivered training on the Equality Act 2010 at the annual Justice/Sweet & Maxwell Human Rights Law Conference and has done a raft of training sessions on a variety of aspects of Court of Protection practice for local authorities and solicitors in private practice.
MICHELLE YAA ASANTEWA
Dr Michelle Yaa Asantewa is an award-winner author, cultural educational consultant and spiritual mentor. She is the co-founder of Way Wive Wordz Publishing, Editing and Tuition Services, which specializes in creative expression and personal development. She has authored several books and recently edited the anthology, In Search Of Mami Wata, featuring African water spirits, highlighting her environmental interests as well as spiritual practice. As an independent scholar, Dr Asantewa delivers courses and workshops in creative writing, literature, African History and culture.
To learn more about Guyana SPEAKS events go to Facebook, contact them via email at [e-mail] or twitter @JCWestmaas.

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