By Gerry Hopkins (hopkinsgerry@gmail.com)
Toronto, March 6, 2009. MARCH 13, 2009 will mark the 30th anniversary since the Grenadian people, led by Maurice Bishop’s New Jewel Movement (NJM), indigenously took the destiny of their country into their own hands and gave birth to the first and only bloodless revolution in the Commonwealth Caribbean.
Celebrations
Grenadians at home, Brooklyn, London, Washington D.C. and elsewhere, are all having their own unique celebrations to mark this unforgettable era in their nation’s history. In Toronto they will participate in their 4th Annual Revo Show and Dance on Saturday, March 14 at Nile Restaurant & Bar, located at 424 College Street at Bathurst. According to the host of this event, Ms. Louise Noel-Ambrose of Eventobe, attendees may look forward to an experience that “pays tribute to the accomplishments of the Grenada Revolution.”
The event will feature some of Toronto’s top DJs and various artistes – Sankofa, Neale Chitan, Peter Phillip, Johnny Morian, Hudson George, D’bi Young, Telescope, Flying Gaybo, Lady Lydz, and Delee. The master of ceremony would be DJ Shears of CHRY 105.5 FM.
Part of the proceeds of this event will go to Ms. Kriss Anne Cousley who will be going to Grenada in April on a teaching internship at the St. Rose Christian Secondary School.
Some Background on The Revo
The Revolution of 1979 came five years after Grenadians obtained independence from England, 21 years after Associated Statehood, and over two decades after Sir Eric Matthew Gairy became leader of the country. Gairy, who was the first Prime Minister of the country, entered the political arena as a popular trade unionist, but after many years in office became increasingly authoritarian and dictatorial, prompting the coup in March 1979.The People’s Revolutionary Government (PRG), as the NJM-led government was called, governed the island-nation without the blessing of the U.S. for only four years, but forever changed the political culture and quality of life of this nation in many ways. As Neil ‘Small Face’ Pascal, the organizer of the Grenada Revo Dance in New York puts it, “Whenever I think of the period of the Revolution and its leader, I see progress in education, culture, and health services. The revolution left me with a sense of purpose, wanting to do more to improve my life and that of my people. For what he did in improving the lives and demanding international respect for all Grenadians and Caribbean people, Maurice Bishop deserves to be called a hero.“The Pillars of the Revo
The legacy of the Revolution in Grenada can be summarized in terms of ten fundamental pillars, as analyzed by Grenada’s former Ambassador to the U.S. and the O.A.S., Dr. Dessima Williams. This analysis is also endorsed by Dr. Kwame Nantambu, a lecturer at the University of the West Indies.
Firstly, the Revolution asserted the right of citizens, to resort to forceful removal of oppressive and disconnected governments when the democratic or other mechanisms in place are compromised and dysfunctional. As Dr. Williams sees it, “we in Grenada knew very well what rigged elections were.” In this vein, the Grenada Revolution can be likened to the American Revolutionary War; the only difference here of course is that the seizure of power in Grenada resulted in no fatalities, whereas the American Revolution left approximately 8000 soldiers and an unknown number of non-combatants dead. Further, after a take-over that only lasted a few days and a revolutionary government of only four years, there were definite steps towards democratic participation and plans for democratic elections in Grenada; whereas it took America uncountable fatalities and much more than four years after both the American War of the Revolution of 1785-1783 and the American Civil War of 1861-1865 to achieve democratic stability. Secondly, according to Dr. Williams, the Grenada Revolution rejected liberal democracy as practiced in the Commonwealth Caribbean, “in particular, the Westminster bi-cameral system, which the PRG rejected as spectator politics.”Thirdly, the Grenada Revolution produced a declaration which contained a preamble followed by ten laws, much like the U.S. Declaration of Independence, which laid down the rationale and path of that new process. As Dr. Williams observes, the U.S. Declaration explained why the Founding Fathers said ‘No’ to King George; and it also pointed out what they were going to do. The answer to the question ‘Why should we the people be free?’ is what they laid down in that still-relevant 1776 political document.
In the case of the Grenada Revolution, the Constitution which was inherited in 1967 was a product of the colonial period. As Dr. Williams points out, this same Constitution, which was later “updated in 1974 at the time of Independence and abrogated by [Sir] Gairy at whim,” is the same one which the PRG suspended, much like the Founding Fathers did in America 200 years earlier.
The other pillars of the Grenada Revolution identified by Dr. Williams, include the Fourth – “Development of Mass Organizations in Lieu of a Multi-Party System.” For example, traditional political parties were replaced by mass organizations like the National Women’s Organization, National Youth Organization, Young Pioneers, Worker’s Parish Councils, and Zonal Councils.
The Fifth Pillar – a “Definition [in practice] of A New Democracy.” Democracy must have five critical elements: i) provide material benefits for the people; ii) the citizenry must have the right to elect its leaders; iii) leadership must be accountable; iv) the democracy must be able to defend itself; and v) there must be freedom of expression and religion.The Sixth Pillar of the Revolution was Acknowledgment, Enforcement and Expansion of the Social Contract – each citizen was entitled to subsidized public transportation, free medical care, free dental care, free education, and those at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder paid no income tax. The Seventh Pillar is identified as – “People [are] the Subject, not the Object of the Policymaking Process and People Must be at the Center of the Process;” the Eight Pillar – “Grenadians could” and should “think through their problems and come up with their own solutions;” and the Ninth – the Revolution sought to institute a “Socialist Development Policy,” which led to “the achievement of sustained socio-economic growth and development” and “a level of equity in income distribution.” The proof of the effectiveness of the Ninth Pillar is in the economic indicators of that period. Grenada’s per capita income was $870 in 1982, putting that nation in position number 10 in per capita income in the English speaking Caribbean. Additionally,
Unemployment had dropped from the 1979 figure of 49% to 14%; and the economy had grown by 5.5%; while real wages increased by 3%.Further, according to a World Bank report, money was being “well spent” by the PRG, developing the infrastructure for sustainable growth. Moreover, the World Bank’s August 1982 Annual Economic memorandum announced that “Grenada has been one of the very few countries in the Western Hemisphere that continued to experience per capita growth during 1981.” In fact, the World Bank further concluded that as the PRG’s economic program unfolded it was apparent that the “magic of the market place” was fully functioning in Grenada while offering increased access to free healthcare and educational opportunities.The Tenth and final pillar of the Grenada Revolution, Dr. Williams suggests, was “A Re-positioning of a Small Black Underdeveloped Society in the International Arena.” The PRG was successful in changing the notion that “size and color of [nations and] people, did not prevent them from getting involved in [the] big politics of the super states, by daring to do so,” she further notes.
The late PM Bishop illustrated this pillar by asserting, “We do not want war. We have never wanted war. But equally, we are not prepared to give up our birthright or to allow others – no matter how big and powerful they are – to shape our destiny for us or tell us what we can do, when we can do it and how we must do it.”
Bishop, many pundits and ordinaries have observed, exercised tremendous leadership qualities at the helm of the PRG. “He was inspirational in being able to move largely a whole body of people into a movement that advanced the issues of the day,” says Grenadian Val Adams.
Leaders of Grenada
Most Grenadians tend to agree that the leaders who came before and after Maurice Bishop, have each contributed to Grenada’s development in one way or another – with some having done more than others, of course. Their best efforts can be summarized as follows: Sir Eric Gairy – the trail-blazer who did more good in his initial years than in his later; Hon. Herbert Blaize – a doggedly pioneering consolidator; Hon. George E. Clyne – the rigid administrator; Hon. Ben Jones – the tactful consensus builder; Nicholas Braithwaite – the conservative stabilizer; Hon. George Brizan – the progressive economist; Hon. Dr. Keith Mitchell – an advocate for regional integration; and Hon. Tillman Thomas – the recently elected architect of Grenada’s new democratic-socio-economic revolution.None have been perfect, including Bishop. For despite his charisma, great analytical and oratorical skills, and his visionary principles on true development, he did fall victim to a power-grab within his inner circle of leadership. In fact, many have observed that he could have and should have done more to avoid certain PRG abuses of power in the areas of free speech and due process. However, despite the post mortems, Maurice Bishop stands out as one of Grenada’s finest leaders, based on most objective accounts.
Curtailed Possibilities
Many continue to wonder, where would Grenada be today had Bishop been allowed to continue on as leader for a longer period of time? Several have postulated that since Bishop was still very popular amongst the Grenadian masses in 1983, and since he was evidently in the process of establishing a socialist economy within a democratic system of government, could it be that he was getting ready to have the elections he had promised? Why did he go out of his way to seek an audience with the U.S. State Department before his return to Grenada just before his death in October of 1983? And why did his ‘so-called comrades’ move to assassinate him when they did? Could it be that they were afraid that he might soon call elections in Grenada, and that the lack of popularity of certain leaders would have led to their political demise? And finally, was there a foreign hand at work in the power-grab that led to the PRG’s implosion, which paved the way for the U.S.-led military intervention and the change of government that ensued?No one has all the answers to these questions. But we do have a good sense of what could have been the case in Grenada had Bishop and others survived the attack of October 19, 1983. His vision for Grenada, in his own words, were as follows: “Our Revolution is a people’s revolution, and as such, the cornerstone of our revolution is the development of our people; and hand in hand with this aim, is the establishment of people’s rights – rights that include the right to social and economic justice, the right to work, the right to equal pay for men and women, and the right to democratic participation in the affairs of our nation.”The Grenadian Revolution of 1979 – 30 years after its birth and 26 years after its institutional death – is still alive in the minds of those who experienced that period. And it will always be a cogent source of lessons in what can happen when brilliant minds, competing ideologies, and varied approaches and personalities lose track of their true purpose, disregard compromise, and succumb to pettiness. Was this an avoidable miscarriage of real empowerment, which despite a few instances where government control offended the rights of a few, would otherwise have continued to benefit the citizenry of a developing country en masse? Most of the people interviewed prior to the writing of this piece, answered the above question with a resounding “YES!” The disintegration was certainly avoidable.
Now there is the need for another question. Are Grenada’s future leaders going to take the mistakes of the past to heart and be guided by the dictates of what is best for this resilient nation? Or, would the masses have to endure another upsetting episode of political squabbling before the light of reason is allowed to fully shine the way forward. May those who have seen this light say: Never Backward! Always Forward! Forward Together! Long Live Grenada, Carriacou and Petit Martinique and the concerns of ordinary people who live extraordinary lives everywhere!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Gerry Hopkins is a Grenada-born communications/legal consultant based in New York. He has a BA in Mass Communications and a Juris Doctor (law) degree. The author acknowledges that journalist/wordsmith Calistra Farrier contributed in crafting the introductory sentence to this piece.
The views express are that of the author and not necessary that of Spiceislander.com
