It's raining.
Today is one of those chilly, wet, grey days that make you long for a nice cuddle in bed under a warm blanket, with a significant other. You know what I mean - weather for leather!
Yeah baby!
Needless to say, I am at work. The air conditioner is really cold today because of the external temperature, so we are shivering at our desks because
The Server must enjoy cool temperatures. Who cares about the humanoids in the office. You all know what I mean by
The Server. Heck if you work in any good sized office, you too must pay homage, loose blood, sleep and tears, make regular sacrifices and tithes all in the name of The Server. You know, just so The Server will allow you to access your machine with a minimum of frustration and crying. Ours is a black Dell, probably just a bit bigger than an average CPU, and cost our boss more than we do. I shouldn't complain since The Server is the only reason our office is air-conditioned now. I guess that means I'm indebted to The Server, right? I'd better say "yes" in case it decides to go
click-whirrr and erase this blog post. Can you tell I'm rambling? It's because I'm cold.
Tuesday was our Thanksgiving Day, the 22nd anniversary of the U.S. intervention. I don't like the fact that it is called "Thanksgiving"... did we run out of alternative commemorative names and just borrow one from the U.S.? What about Democracy Day (stop rolling allyuh eye!) or Freedom Day (ah go roll mine instead). I didn't write an indepth spiel about the day, its significance, etc etc, but I see that didn't stop
Rickey Singh from doing so.
My thoughts on the intervention can be summed up as such: Our experiment with communism had failed terribly. The nation was in a state of massive crisis. The invasion was (relatively) swift and painless... well relatively so... it could have been much worse. The island was restored to a semblance of normality and life rolled on. I'm not going to get into a great debate about U.S./Caribbean policy in 1983, or any of that. Let me just tellyou what all those regional "thinkers" don't tell you when they're sitting somewhere far removed from the issue at hand. Grenada, following the events of October 19th 1983, was not in a position to take care of it's own political problems. There was no viable alternative government or potential leader that wasn't already in prison for being a dissenter. Heck! The population was under a shoot-to-kill curfew! And contrary to some hard-liners, I have never considered Bernard Coard to be a viable political player - frankly he just would not have been able to muster the support of the people. ::deep breath:: Anyway, I said I wouldn't go there, so I won't. (But I already did, didn't I? I'm still rambling. It's cold.)
Talk to you soon chickies. Keep warm today.
Posted by YingYang at 11:12 AM
Remember
Today marks the 22nd anniversary of the 1983 uprising in which Maurice Bishop, his companion and fellow minister Jacqueline Creft, members of his government and innocent civilians were killed. The events of that fateful day would have profound social and political ramifications that resound in Grenada even today.
Maurice Bishop was the leader of the People’s Revolutionary Government (1979-1983). Whether you share his politics or not, one unmistakable fact remains – he was one of the most charismatic West Indian political personalities
ever. He was much beloved by the Grenadian population, and his untimely death at a relatively young age has only added to his status as a people’s hero.
Just last night I caught a piece of Malcom X on TV. Bishop was quite a disciple of Malcolm, and I am always struck by the similarities in their speaking style and personal magnetism. Like Malcolm, Bishop had the power to move crowds to tears, or to anger, when necessary. Women flocked to him, men admired him, the elderly adored him. Their rhetoric was similar as well:
"The new society must not only speak of Democracy, but must practise it in all its aspects. We must stress the policy of "Self-Reliance" and "Self-Sufficiency" undertaken co-operatively, and reject the easy approaches offered by aid and foreign assistance. We will have to recognise that our most important resource is our people." - Maurice Bishop. You can read more about
Bishop here.
In the latter years of the Revolution (or the Revo as it is still called), Bishop and his political partner Bernard Coard began to drift apart ideologically. As one writer would put it
"One current of Grenadian socialism was egalitarian, democratic, and Jamesian; the other was hierarchical, statist, command-oriented, placing power above the masses.."I remember that day even now. I was 12, and my grandmother kept us home from school that day, almost as if she had a premonition that something terrible would happen. At about 1pm we could hear the sounds of gunfire coming from the city, and the sounds of car horns blaring, people running out of town. I remember my grandmother being terrified for the safety of my uncle who working in the heart of St George’s; thankfully he showed up unhurt and full of news later on that afternoon.
This is a synopsis of the day’s events from
www.thegrenadarevolutiononline.com:
Maurice Bishop, as Prime Minister, began to be criticized for his under-performance and lack of administrative leadership in relation to the crisis of multiple problems facing the country, including the deteriorating state of the economy. The period of criticism and conflict between Maurice Bishop and his supporters, and Bernard Coard and those of what is called the ‘Coard faction’ went back as far as the early 1970s, according to some accounts. No report of strife within the Party was printed in the official People's Revolutionary Government (PRG) newspaper, "The Free West Indian."
Another interesting point is that the Central Committee was a collective body with consensus or near consensus decision-making. There is a concept that the needs of the collective soon supercede those of its members. The ‘Coard faction’ proposed that ‘joint leadership’ be shared between Bishop and Coard. They felt the marriage of the strengths of the two men would be beneficial for the country. The ‘joint leadership’ decision was unanimous. The decision was,
according to some, a formalization of the responsibilities previously borne by Bishop and Coard. The consensus decision by this collective became the overriding factor which many concluded took precedence over Bishop's decision change. Bishop had other ideas. The duties and responsibilities would leave, according to Bishop's final feeling on the matter, Maurice Bishop only as a show piece, a front, a ceremonial functionary without real power. Bishop said needed time to think about how joint leadership would work itself out day-to-day.
When Bishop refused to accept the idea of ‘joint leadership’ as workable, and rumors and alleged threats seemed to throw the situation into a psychiatric state, the Prime Minister was placed under house arrest. The house arrest occurred the evening of 12 October 1983 by unanimous decision of the remaining Central Committee members. There were frantic efforts to resolve the situation. Mediators Michael Als and Rupert Roopnarine were called in. Michael
Als' press statement Crisis in the NJM gives an overview of the situation.
Many Grenadians were alarmed by what was termed 'Bishop's house arrest.' They demonstrated and marched to Bishop's house to release him on 19 October, 1983. He was freed by a very large crowd with some reports at 4-5,000 people. Many supporters were waiting for a speech from Maurice Bishop in Market Square. For an uncertain reason, Bishop and a large group went to Fort Rupert, the headquarters of the People's Revolutionary Army. The soldiers there were persuaded to disarm. The weapons were handed out from the armory to Bishop's supporters.
A PRA assault unit in three BTR-60 armored personnel carriers headed on to Fort Rupert. An unidentified person, either on the Fort or off the Fort fired the first gunshot. There is controversy over who fired first. Many civilians died, either by bullet or by trying to get off the
Fort. In the melee, people sought to escape from Fort Rupert by jumping off from its heights. Because of the elevated placement of Fort Rupert, citizens all over St. George's stood on their balconies and viewed bodies falling to the ground. The photo below captures some of the horror.
Whatever opinion you have about what caused the internal power struggle within the Government of Grenada, here was a situation of the deepest national tragedy. The hard consequences of that conflict resulted in the deaths of the following eight people who were lined up facing a courtyard wall in Fort Rupert on 19 October 1983, in the following order from left to right:
- Keith ‘Pumphead’ Hayling from the Marketing & Import Board
- Evelyn ‘Brat’ Bullen, a pro-Bishop business supporter
- Foreign Minister Unison Whiteman
- Prime Minister Maurice Bishop
- Minister of Education Jacqueline Creft (pregnant at the time)
- Evelyn Maitland of Maitland's Garage
- Minister of Housing, Norris Bain
- Fitzroy Bain, President of the Agricultural and General Workers Union
This is the wall that they were lined up against and executed.
The total civilian casualties from that day have never been accurately assessed. What had become apparent is that there were definitely some young people who were never seen again, whose families have NEVER reported them missing, for reasons I don’t know.
American visitor: Why did Grenadians, who are friendly, courteous,gentle, fun
loving and proud people, end up jailing and shooting each other?
Unidentified Grenadian: I don't know. We ask ourselves that question all the time. - from an introductory page of Frederic L. Pryor's book “Revolutionary Grenada”
Despite the best (and often grossly misguided) efforts at delving into the truth about what really happened that day, who was to blame, etc., the events of October 1983 left a brutal, sad and violent scar on the psyches of Grenadians. But as we continue to struggle with the repercussions of one of the darkest moments in our nation's history, the words of Maurice Bishop's rallying cry come to mind -
Forward ever. Backward never.
Posted by YingYang at 1:24 PM
Study yourself Mad Bull
Reports this morning on Tropical Storm Wilma forming in the Caribbean Sea, south of the Caymans, made my thoughts turn to
Mad Bull and family. Hope you all OK, and that Wilma stays south east.
So, speaking of Mad Bull: one of his
recent posts mentioned he was getting sick. Well hear nuh... one of my aunts works with the British Health Services (she's a Matron who teaches nursing or something, something). She called the other day to tell us they were undergoing an intensive emergency training session on the
Asian bird flu and the British Health Ministry is in a total panic about impending pandemic fatalities.
Well, it's not like the West Indies are in a position to stockpile millions of dollars worth of anti-viral drugs, neither do we really have the facilities to deal with potentially deadly diseases like this. However my aunt did share some advice: The flu itself will not kill you (unless its the mutated strain, but that's another story). It's the complications due to bronchitis, pneumonia, etc that will do you in. At the first sign of the flu, start with your lime & honey (& rum), Panadol MultiSympton, plenty of fluids and rest. Boost your immune system with daily Vitamin C and extra multivitamins. As auntie said, if you're in good overall health and you don't weaken your system by pushing yourself if you do get sick, then you're ahead of the game. Good words to heed as we are about to get into the tourist season, always a peak flu time for the Caribbean. Of course, nothing beats the advice of your own physician.
Peace out til later.
Posted by YingYang at 10:24 AM
Wow
I attended my first EVER Parent-Teacher meeting yesterday. I’m a grown-up now y’all!
Posted by Moi at 2:26 PM
Johnson Beharry
For those who may not know,
Private Johnson Beharry is a young Grenadian immigrant to Britain, who joined the Prince of Wales's Royal Regiment, got sent to Iraq, and was recently awarded the Victoria Cross by Queen Liz herself. Private Beharry was awarded the prestigious and very exclusive honour for his bravery in saving members of his platoon twice in an incident in Iraq. Said incident was accompanied by serious injuries which have left him with ongoing medical issues, and sadly seem to have destroyed his marriage too.
Beharry was in Grenada last month, where he was met with a hero's welcome and the expected fanfare. Now it turns out that the young man from a tiny village in the country has now been given a
£1,000,000 advance for his life's story. One million pounds is nearly five million EC dollars!! Farkkk! My mind boggles! Well all jealousy aside, more power to Private Johnson. Damn, boy! If you got to risk your life, your marriage and your mental wellbeing, you might as well get paid.
Of course, the linked article cracks me up. Don't you just love how writers can make the most simple things sound
So!Dramatic!It was perched high on the hills of Diego Piece, near the shanty town of St Mark, and their only shelter from the torrential tropical storms and scorching summer sun was a flimsy corrugated tin roof.
There was no running water. [His father] scraped a living as a farmer and they survived on meagre meals of beans and rice.
Family friend Johnson Richardson, 37, says: "St Mark is the poorest village in Grenada, and the Beharrys' house was one of the worst equipped in the area.
"Johnson spent his childhood hunting wild animals as a hobby. His parents couldn't afford many clothes or even proper shoes for him. That's why he had to walk the three miles to his primary school and back barefoot, wearing just trousers."
The sweet smell of cannabis pervades the island, and some of Beharry's school friends started dabbling in drugs.
:: eyeroll ::
Anyway, congrats and best wishes to Private Beharry, but here's to the hope that soon we won't have to see any more young war heroes. Or young war casualties.
Posted by YingYang at 2:28 PM
Depressed
On Friday my boss advised us (the accountant and I) that it looks like we will be letting go 7 people next week.
Thankfully I am not one of them. But it still sucks.
Then he went on to say that it doesn't look like we will be getting any Christmas bonus/gift/profit sharing/always-welcome-extra-money this year.
That really sucks.
*cloud of broke doom descends on YingYang household*
Posted by YingYang at 12:20 PM
