The revolution dun arready!
The revolution dun' aready!
The man told me that when he finished high school in 1987, he got a scholarship to go Cuba but his mother didn't send him.
He said his mother told him that the revolution dun' already.
He became a police officer though he wanted to do agronomy. He told me that he understood his mother's views, but he felt that he could have gone and studied. He was home on 19 October, 1983, listening to Radio Antilles (since they did not trust the local Radio stations.. which is what we used to do as well in Guyana, listen to Radio Antilles). He was relieved after the Americans came and restored 'peace and order' to the place. He remembers the Bishop years as the best years for Grenada - his mother and grandmother were able to make money . He said that it was good that the Americans came and things were restored to normalcy.
The security guard, at 5am talking said that all the things they said about Gairy were not true. His parents were farm workers and they all thought Gairy was a good man. All his neighbours were Gairyites he said.He said that dem in de revolution learn about Cuban revolution and that is why they make things up to justify their actions. He said that during the Bishop years, people around him did not talk much.
The man said, that he does not like revolutionary governments since elections and so on must be held. Only a few of his friends were in the militia. He remembers being escorted out of his house by the US and Caribbean soldiers when they were looking for 'Cubans' in hiding. He was home with his family the day Bishop was killed.
The taxi driver said he remembers the Bishop years as good, a lot of Grenadians went to study, he said probably the most Grenadian doctors came from that time. He remembered the night of the invasion.. helicopters dropping people and pamphlets. It was crazy. He also remembered the curfew after Bishop was killed and how it was terrible, people disappeared.. instead of telling people to go home, people were detained without family knowing. "Dem communists terrible eh" . He remembered moving out the night with his baby daughter so that the 'Cubans' and others could be found. He glad now that they have elections and things are normal.
One of the members of the Revolution, now a regional academic and civil servant at a panel in the CSA said this week was traumatic for him as he is now talking in Grenada about that time. There were meetings between the Grenada 17 and their former comrades. Another man said he cried when he listened to the panel.. he was involved in the Ministry of Finance during the Bishop years. It is interesting how many of those involved in the revolutionary years are now academics and scholars.
The young Bajan man said that he studied the revolution as part of Political Science, but that most of his generation did not know much or read about it. Someone at a panel said they should teach it as part of CXC history, the young man and I agreed that it would be complex writing that text book. The young Jamaican History student I shared my room with was not interested much in the Grenadian revolution either.
In a film we hear stories.. one woman has the bullet scar on her, another woman still has two bullets in her from that day, and another soldier says he still keeps wondering thirty years later whether he should have given the 17 year old student Gemma Belmar the chair to sit on to be safe - she was shot from the chair.
According to the young Bajan, he says he thinks most young people feel that it happen, that it was in the past and it has no relevance to their lives now. The revolution dun arready.
The man told me that when he finished high school in 1987, he got a scholarship to go Cuba but his mother didn't send him.
He said his mother told him that the revolution dun' already.
He became a police officer though he wanted to do agronomy. He told me that he understood his mother's views, but he felt that he could have gone and studied. He was home on 19 October, 1983, listening to Radio Antilles (since they did not trust the local Radio stations.. which is what we used to do as well in Guyana, listen to Radio Antilles). He was relieved after the Americans came and restored 'peace and order' to the place. He remembers the Bishop years as the best years for Grenada - his mother and grandmother were able to make money . He said that it was good that the Americans came and things were restored to normalcy.
The security guard, at 5am talking said that all the things they said about Gairy were not true. His parents were farm workers and they all thought Gairy was a good man. All his neighbours were Gairyites he said.He said that dem in de revolution learn about Cuban revolution and that is why they make things up to justify their actions. He said that during the Bishop years, people around him did not talk much.
The man said, that he does not like revolutionary governments since elections and so on must be held. Only a few of his friends were in the militia. He remembers being escorted out of his house by the US and Caribbean soldiers when they were looking for 'Cubans' in hiding. He was home with his family the day Bishop was killed.
The taxi driver said he remembers the Bishop years as good, a lot of Grenadians went to study, he said probably the most Grenadian doctors came from that time. He remembered the night of the invasion.. helicopters dropping people and pamphlets. It was crazy. He also remembered the curfew after Bishop was killed and how it was terrible, people disappeared.. instead of telling people to go home, people were detained without family knowing. "Dem communists terrible eh" . He remembered moving out the night with his baby daughter so that the 'Cubans' and others could be found. He glad now that they have elections and things are normal.
One of the members of the Revolution, now a regional academic and civil servant at a panel in the CSA said this week was traumatic for him as he is now talking in Grenada about that time. There were meetings between the Grenada 17 and their former comrades. Another man said he cried when he listened to the panel.. he was involved in the Ministry of Finance during the Bishop years. It is interesting how many of those involved in the revolutionary years are now academics and scholars.
The young Bajan man said that he studied the revolution as part of Political Science, but that most of his generation did not know much or read about it. Someone at a panel said they should teach it as part of CXC history, the young man and I agreed that it would be complex writing that text book. The young Jamaican History student I shared my room with was not interested much in the Grenadian revolution either.
In a film we hear stories.. one woman has the bullet scar on her, another woman still has two bullets in her from that day, and another soldier says he still keeps wondering thirty years later whether he should have given the 17 year old student Gemma Belmar the chair to sit on to be safe - she was shot from the chair.
According to the young Bajan, he says he thinks most young people feel that it happen, that it was in the past and it has no relevance to their lives now. The revolution dun arready.
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