Maurice Bishop & Chris Searle 1981 Grenada: Education is a Must
Despite the concrete and popular advances being made in Grenada by the People's Revolutionary Government, the British Conservative Government is taking a very cold attitude towards the young nation. Grenada still remains a member of the Commonwealth, and British people are welcome to visit and experience the island's many-sided beauty without any visa regulations. Grenadian labour, like that of the other Caribbean islands, has provided man and woman power for Britain's industries, transport systems and Education and Health services for over thirty years. There are many Grenadians resident in Britain and many of their sons and daughters go to British schools. The social and working links between the two countries have been very close. So why the hostility and frosty attitude from Ms. Thatcher's government?
Ashamedly, Britain is meekly following President Ronald Reagan's dictum that Grenada, alongside Cuba and Nicaragua, is a mere 'temporary obstacle' to the hegemony of the U.S.A. in the Latin American and Caribbean regions - a contemporary application of the old and many times discredited myth of the Monroe Doctrine. The previous U.S. administration, under President Carter, apart from giving sanctuary to the dictator Gairy (as well as the Shah of Iran and the Nicaraguan tyrant Somoza in the same year!) and refusing to extradite him, had increasingly put economic pressure on the People's Revolutionary Government to try to effect changes in Grenada's fraternal links with Cuba and Nicaragua and the solidarity shown to the progressive forces in El Salvador.
The British Tory Government is slavishly following American policy. Very soon after refusing to allow export licences for just two armoured cars that the Grenadian government was seeking to purchase for the People's Revolutionary Army, the British government announced the resumption of extensive arms sales to Pinochet's Chile - the erstwhile fascist ally of Gairy. But even more insidious is the British Government's decision to exclude Grenada from economic assistance to the Windward Islands (Grenada, St. Vincent, St. Lucia and Dominica), following Hurricane Allen of 1980, which badly affected the crucial banana industry. The Foreign Office Minister, Nicholas Ridley, made the British Government's attitude to Grenada clear in February 1981 when he declared 'Grenada is in the process of establishing a kind of society of which the British Government disapproves, irrespective of whether the people of Grenada want it or not.'
In the face of such reactionary attitudes The British-Grenadian Friend- ship Society hopes to mobilize public support for the people of Grenada through campaigns, meetings and publications. The Education Committee is working to support educational advances in Grenada and welcomes enquiries about membership and meetings.