The West on Trial

Book excerpt: Part autobiography, part anti-colonial history, originally published in 1966 Cheddi Jagan's The West on Trial: My Fight for Guyana's Freedom chronicles Dutch, French, and British rivalry for social, political, and economic control of Guyana, as well as the fight for self-determination and independence from colonial rule. Chronicled in these illuminating pages is life on the sugar plantations; the painful experience of caste hierarchy and racism; the devastation of World War; peace, colonialism, and the struggle for independence from imperialism. Subtly and concisely, Jagan outlines the corporate and economic interests involved in attempting to perpetuate colonial subjugation in British Guiana. Larger in scope than Jagan's Forbidden Freedom (also available from International Publishers), The West on Trial provides important historical context that enables readers to grasp the pivotal post-World War II period of anti-colonial, national liberation movements and the role of British and U.S. imperialism throughout the 1950s and 1960s in destabilizing democratically elected popular governments. For students of decolonization, the Cold War, and the struggle for independence, Cheddi Jagan's The West on Trial: My Fight for Guyana's Freedom is required reading.