Grenadas Revolution, TRUTH be told. For so many years, the events most associated with the 1979 Revolution in Grenada, were those that instilled pride in us. It was an almost bloodless coup. There was a seamless transfer of power from Gairys GULP, to the NJM under the leadership of Maurice Bishop. There were great expectations by the masses for a more democratic, transparent and less authoritarian form of governance. During the early days of the Revo many mistakes made, were excused as the new Administration sorted out their direction. So many Grenadians looked at the glass and saw that it was half full. To many, that was enough, since E. M. Gairy was gone, a new day had begun. The first sign that trouble was ahead of us was, the ban placed on all media especially on publication. The West Indian news paper, was immediately ordered closed. No voice of dissent was permitted in any form. In fact, Mr. Jerry Romaine, a well distinguished British-trained Journalist who reported for the BBC in London, was quickly arrested and sent to jail as an example to other to shut up. I must add that no other Political Party was allowed to operate either. To that end, Maurice Bishop began to accuse his rivals of plotting to over throw his government and used the Army, to arrest them, locking them up (sometimes in solitary confinement) for years, without trial, at Richmond Hill Prison. The fate that befell those poor Rastafari was even worse. Hundreds of Dreads as they were sometimes called were rounded up and taken to a place called Hope Vale (somewhere near St Pauls or St Davids) where they were forced to work in the hot sun, abused badly, given roast dasheen and green banana to eat with hardly adequate protein or supplements in their diets. No one tried to escape, there were enough AK 47s on soldiers back to deter you. How many Rastafari were ill-treated there, I dont know but there were hundreds. This gross Human Rights violations went on for years, with Grenadians becoming too afraid to speak. Yes folks, all that took place in Free Grenada during the Revo. I want to ask of you my Grenadian friends, to be objective and put yourself in the place of a mother, brother, sister, father, relative or friend, of someone who had their freedom taken away, without reason and see how it felt. Would you still chant Long Live the Revo? Many of the crimes committed against the Grenadian people during the Revo were never even contemplated by Gairy, In fact, Maurice, Radix and Coard were allowed to operate as they see fit, opposing dictatioship as they called it. So as we get all hyped up and excited about the anniversary of the October events, I beg that you put things into perspective. Maurice Bishop had done a lot of evil against fellow Grenadians, whether we like it or not. Take for example former Prime Minister Tillman Thomas who was a close friend and adviser to Bishop. I can add Attorney at Law LLoyd Noel, another close friend of Bishop. Maybe you might have heard of Leslie Pierre who operated the Buy Rite supermarket in St Georges....all three were supporters and very close personal friends to Bishop. All three were arrested for plotting to over throw the PRG and were sent to jail for years, with no trial ever. I have noticed that some of you with short memories, try to white wash history and paint a rosy picture of the PRG that really insults me. Let us give Bishop his props for the good that he did but do not shove the evil inside the closet. The two persons who put their necks on the line to fight and overthrow Gairy on the morning of March 13th 1979, one was executed in his house in St Pauls by PRA soldiers (Strachan Phillip) and the other was arrested and locked up for years in jail without trial....that was Kennedy Budhlall (KB) from Tivoli. I hope that some of us will wake up to a new reality, an informed one and get over that Revo hype once and for all. We are all Grenadians together! I have to end here but there is more to come.
Posted on: Sat, 18 Oct 2014 22:51:59 +0000
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