Vol. 81/No. 40      October 30, 2017

 

Maurice Bishop: ‘No one has the right to tell us what to do’

 
In 1979 a popular revolution in the Caribbean island of Grenada overthrew the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Eric Gairy, bringing a workers and farmers government to power. Maurice Bishop was the central leader of the New Jewel Movement that led the revolution, and became the nation’s prime minister. They used the government to deepen the mobilization, organization, education and class consciousness of the Grenadian people.

Below is an excerpt from Bishop’s “In Nobody’s Backyard,” an address broadcast nationally over Radio Free Grenada on April 13, 1979, one month after seizing power. It is reprinted in Maurice Bishop Speaks, the Grenada Revolution and Its Overthrow 1979-83.

On Oct. 19, 1983, a Stalinist-inspired coup led by Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard murdered Bishop and overthrew the revolution. This betrayal opened the door to a U.S. military invasion, which installed a pro-U.S. regime. Copyright © 1983 by Pathfinder Press. Reprinted by permission.

BY MAURICE BISHOP
At the end of our discussion on Tuesday, the [U.S.] ambassador handed me a typed statement of his instructions from his government, to be given to us. The relevant section of that statement reads, and I quote: “Although my government recognizes your concerns over allegations of a possible countercoup, it also believes that it would not be in Grenada’s best interest to seek assistance from a country such as Cuba to forestall such an attack. We would view with displeasure any tendency on the part of Grenada to develop closer ties with Cuba.”

It is well established internationally that all independent countries have a full, free, and unhampered right to conduct their own internal affairs. We do not therefore recognize any right of the United States of America to instruct us on who we may develop relations with and who we may not.

From day one of the revolution we have always striven to have and develop the closest and friendliest relations with the United States, as well as with Canada, Britain, and all our Caribbean neighbors — English, French, Dutch, and Spanish speaking, and we intend to continue to strive for these relations. But no one must misunderstand our friendliness as an excuse for rudeness and meddling in our affairs, and no one, no matter how mighty and powerful they are, will be permitted to dictate to the government and people of Grenada who we can have friendly relations with and what kind of relations we must have with other countries. We haven’t gone through twenty-eight years of fighting Gairyism, and especially the last six years of terror, to gain our freedom, only to throw it away and become a slave or lackey to any other country, no matter how big and powerful.

Every day we fought Gairy we put our lives on the line. On the day of the revolution we started out with almost no arms, and in so doing we again put our lives on the line.

We have demonstrated beyond any doubt that we were prepared to die to win our freedom. We are even more prepared to die to maintain that freedom now that we have tasted it.

We feel that people of Grenada have the right to know precisely what steps we have taken in our attempts to establish relations at various levels with the United States, and the response which we have so far received.

From the second day of our revolution, during our first meeting with American government representatives in Grenada, we were at pains to emphasize the deplorable and ravished state in which the Gairy dictatorship had left our economy and our country. We pointed out then that massive assistance, technical and financial, would be required in order to begin the process of rebuilding the economy. …

And we reject entirely the argument of the American ambassador that we would only be entitled to call upon the Cubans to come to our assistance after mercenaries have landed and commenced the attack. Quite frankly, and with the greatest respect, a more ridiculous argument can hardly be imagined. It is like asking a man to wait until his house is burning down before he leaves to buy a fire extinguisher. No, we intend if possible to provide ourselves with the fire extinguisher before the fire starts! And if the government of Cuba is willing to offer us assistance, we would be more than happy to receive it.

Sisters and brothers, what we led was an independent process. Our revolution was definitely a popular revolution, not a coup d’etat, and was and is in no way a minority movement. We intend to continue along an independent and nonaligned path. We have stayed in the Commonwealth, we have stayed in the Organization of American States and in CARICOM [Caribbean Community]; despite pressures we have stayed in the Eastern Caribbean Common Market and in the expanded West Indies Associated States Organization. We have applied to join the Nonaligned Movement. We will be applying to join the International Labor Organization — the ILO.

We are a small country, we are a poor country, with a population of largely African descent, we are a part of the exploited Third World, and we definitely have a stake in seeking the creation of a new international economic order which would assist in ensuring economic justice for the oppressed and exploited peoples of the world, and in ensuring that the resources of the sea are used for the benefit of all the people of the world and not for a tiny minority of profiteers. Our aim, therefore, is to join all organizations and work with all countries that will help us to become more independent and more in control of our own resources. In this regard, nobody who understands present-day realities can seriously challenge our right to develop working relations with a variety of countries.

Grenada is a sovereign and independent country, although a tiny speck on the world map, and we expect all countries to strictly respect our independence just as we will respect theirs. No country has the right to tell us what to do or how to run our country or who to be friendly with. We certainly would not attempt to tell any other country what to do. We are not in anybody’s backyard, and we are definitely not for sale. Anybody who thinks they can bully us or threaten us clearly has no understanding, idea, or clue as to what material we are made of. They clearly have no idea of the tremendous struggles which our people have fought over the past seven years. Though small and poor, we are proud and determined. We would sooner give up our lives before we compromise, sell out, or betray our sovereignty, our independence, our integrity, our manhood, and the right of our people to national self-determination and social progress.

Long live the revolution!

Long live free Grenada!  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home