The Grenada Revolution in the Caribbean Present NEW CARIBBEAN STUDIES Edited by Koﬁ Campbell and Shalini Puri

New Caribbean Studies is a unique series of monographs and essay collections focused on the still burgeoning ﬁeld of Caribbean Studies, a ﬁeld that is contributing to Caribbean self-understanding, global understanding of the region, and the reinven- tion of various disciplines and their methodologies well beyond the Caribbean. The series especially solicits humanities-informed and interdisciplinary scholarship that addresses any of the region’s language traditions.

Koﬁ Campbell is an associate professor of English at Wilfrid Laurier University and coordinator of the English program at its Brantford Campus. He is the author of Literature and Culture in the Black Atlantic: From Pre- to Postcolonial.

Shalini Puri is an associate professor of English at the University of Pittsburgh. Her book The Caribbean Postcolonial: Social Equality, Post-Nationalism, and Cultural Hybridity was the winner of the 2005 Gordon and Sybil Lewis award for the best book on the Caribbean.

Published by Palgrave Macmillan: Humor in the Caribbean Literary Canon By Sam Vásquez

Rhys Matters: New Critical Perspectives Edited by Mary Wilson and Kerry L. Johnson

Between Empires: Martí, Rizal, and the Intercolonial Alliance By Koichi Hagimoto

Desire between Women in Caribbean Literature By Keja L. Valens

The Queer Caribbean Speaks: Interviews with Writers, Artists, and Activists By Koﬁ Omoniyi Sylvanus Campbell

Telling West Indian Lives: Life Narrative and the Reform of Plantation Slavery Cultures 1804–1834 By Sue Thomas

Coloniality of Diasporas: Rethinking Intracolonial Migrations in a Pan-Caribbean Context By Yolanda Martínez-San Miguel

The Grenada Revolution in the Caribbean Present: Operation Urgent Memory By Shalini Puri The Grenada Revolution in the Caribbean Present

Operation Urgent Memory

First published in 2014 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN® in the United States—a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.

Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the World, this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.

Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world.

Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-29854-9 ISBN 978-1-137-06690-9 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137066909 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Puri, Shalini. The Grenada Revolution in the Caribbean present : Operation Urgent Memory / Shalini Puri. pages cm — (New Caribbean studies) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978–0–230–12032–7 (hardback) 1. Grenada—History—1974–1983. 2. Grenada—Civilization. 3. Collective memory—Grenada. I. Title. F2056.8.P87 2014 972.9845—dc23 2014013689

A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.

Design by Integra Software Services

First edition: October 2014

10987654321 for my students and for the weavers of futures joyous and just

Contents

List of Figures ix Acknowledgments xi Preface xv Introduction: The Scales of History 1 Wave 31 Fault-lines 65 Fort 89 Continent 98 Stone 128 Volcano 151 Archipelago 173 Hurricane 206 Prison 225 Sand 251 Straits 255 Notes 279 Works Cited 307 Permissions 329 Index 333 For additional materials, recent developments, and ongoing research, see www.urgentmemory.com List of Figures

1 Abandoned planes at Pearls airport 16 2 Abandoned planes at Pearls airport, overgrown 17 3 Fort George viewed from Fort Frederick 19 4Grafﬁti 20 5 Roadside kiosk: Maurice Bishop in a Pan-Africanist mural 21 6 The Revolution seizes the radio station, March 13, 1979 36 7 Achievements of the Revolution, Grenada stamps 1980 43 8 Budget Day discussions 46 9 Bishop listens to nurses’ concerns 48 10 School bus converted into school in Limes, Grenada 51 11 “Bicycle Man” Glen Gittens on tour with the National Performing Company of Grenada: Berkeley, California 56 12 Revolution billboard mobilizing women 61 13 Art encouraging defense of Revolutionary Grenada 66 14 Preventive detention order signed by Maurice Bishop 80 15 Maurice Bishop and Bernard Coard before Party split 83 16 Bombing of Calivigny during US invasion 98 17 US media policy during invasion 104 18 American anti-war leaﬂet 107 19 Military patches commemorating Urgent Fury 108 20 Surprise! 109 21 Anti-Revolution comic circulated in Grenada by the US 113 22 American servicemen breakfast in front of painting of Caribs’ Leap 117 23 US Military Successfully Bombs a Mental Hospital in Grenada by Sue Coe 119 24 US Isolation Box, Grenada, 1984 by Hans Haacke 121 25 Road sign near memorial to fallen US soldiers, St. George’s University 127 26 Memorial to fallen American servicemen outside Grenada airport, Point Salines 128 x ● List of Figures

27 Grenadian stamp saluting Ronald Reagan, 1996 130 28 Soviet stamp commemorating Maurice Bishop, 1984 131 29 Pro-US grafﬁti maintained since 1983, Tempe, Grenada 133 30 Highway named for Maurice Bishop in 1994 133 31 Memorial to Keith Lucas at Amber Belair Hill, Grenada 134 32 Memorial to fallen American soldiers at St. George’s University 135 33 Stained glass window commemorating Urgent Fury at Wood Memorial Chapel, Fort Bragg 137 34 Plaque on wall at Fort George in memory of those killed at the site 139 35 Bust of Maurice Bishop in Upper Cemetery; Fort George in the background 141 36 Grenada airport renamed after Maurice Bishop in 2009 142 37 The Revolution in Grenada by Canute Caliste, 1995 162 38 Caribs’ Leap 163 39 The fall from Fort George ramparts 164 40 Exhibit of boots Hudson Austin wore when storming Gairy’s barracks 166 41 The Boot by Eric Johnn 167 42 Cuban workers rehearse for Carnival dances near airport site 178 43 Bust of Maurice Bishop by Alberto Lescay, Casa del Caribe, Cuba 189 44 Ancestors in Conference by Kolongi Brathwaite 198 45 Grenada after Hurricane Ivan 206 46 Who Holds the String by Susan Mains, 2005 214 47 Ruins of a Methodist church in Constantine, St. George 216 48 Radio station at Morne Rouge, 1957 217 49 Rubble of radio station at Morne Rouge after US invasion, 1983 219 50 Grenada Broadcasting Network after Hurricane Ivan, 2004 220 51 School children playing basketball at Fort George at site of 1983 killings 276 Acknowledgments

This book began in 1998 when I traveled to Grenada for a conference. Intensive work on it began in 2007. In that time, I have been continually moved by the generosity with which people have shared their memory and knowledge of the Grenada Revolution with me. Fly Sylvester was one of the first people I met in 2007; he was an extraordinary and exuberant guide. I spent many days at the Grenada Broadcasting Network. I am grateful to the entire staff there for allowing me access to their video and audio archives and for guiding me through them. Special thanks are due to GBN music librarian Sherla Charles. Lillian Sylvester, director of the National Library, was enormously helpful. Thanks to the librarians of Marryshow House for permission to use the archives there. I benefitted deeply from long conversations with Elwyn McQuilkin (Black Wizard) and Lloyd Panchoo (Mr. X) about calypso and politics. Oonya Kempadoo unfailingly helped me see things afresh. Meg Conlon, Erik Johnson, Susan Mains, and Suelin Low Chew Tung welcomed me into a warm and knowledgeable community of the arts. Ann Peters and Francis Urias Peters shared many hours of conversation, song, and recollection with me; I am grateful for their creative visions, encouragement, and friendship. Many other conversations have contributed to this book in different ways. I thank Andaiye, David Austin, Gail Austin, Oliver Benoit, George Brizan, Tony Bogues, Roger Byer, Porgy Cherebin, Bernard Coard, Merle Collins, Cecilia Green, Joan French, Norman Girvan, Richard Hart, Curtis Jacobs, Elwin James, Javier Labrador, Edgar Lake, Patsy Lewis, Terrence Marryshow, Kamau McBarnette, Brian Meeks, Gloria Payne-Banfield, Claudette Pitt, Rhoda Reddock, Jerry Romain, Rupert Roopnaraine, Jacob Ross, Chris Stroude, Pablo Sylvester, Caldwell Taylor, John “Chalky” Ventour, Dessima Williams, Judy Williams, and many other interlocutors who remain unnamed. They entrusted me with their recollections and insights. I hope I will not disappoint them. xii ● Acknowledgments

John Angus Martin, director of the Grenada National Museum, is a veritable encyclopedia of information. I have turned to him innumer- able times for information and help. He has taught me much about the generosity, patience, and persistence necessary for archival work. Ann Wilder, whose website thegrenadarevolutiononline is an invaluable schol- arly resource, has been a prompt and spirited interlocutor over the years. I thank her for her formidable knowledge and for her intolerance of academic jargon. Memory of the Grenada Revolution is deeply served by John Angus Martin’s and Ann Wilder’s skill and dedication as archivists, their insistence on precision, their understanding of vernacular memory, and their commitment to recording different points of view. Dawn Adams, David Austin, Michael Dash, Kajri Jain, Didacus Jules, Colin MacCabe, Philip Nanton, Kirk Savage, Deborah Thomas, and members of the Caribbean Reading Group at the University of Pittsburgh commented on parts of the manuscript and strengthened it. Thanks to Peter Hulme, Lara Putnam, and Gayle Rogers for expert, detailed, and generative commentary on the entire manuscript. For insightful criticism and generous readings of my manuscript, for exchanges about Caribbean art and politics, and for the inspiring example of their prac- tice, I am grateful beyond words to Andaiye, Merle Collins, and Rupert Roopnaraine. At the University of Pittsburgh, the English Department, Center for Latin American Studies, and the Caribbean Reading Group have been places of community and stimulation. Thanks to my students in various graduate and undergraduate courses. I worked out many of the ideas in this book in conversation with them. Participants in the 2009 conference at Pitt entitled “Remembering the Future: The Legacies of Caribbean Radical Politics” helped me deepen the regional scope of this work. Reid Andrews, Dave Bartholomae, Don Bialostosky, David Brumble, Thora Brylowe, John Frechione, Kathleen deWalt, Neepa Majumdar, Gerry Martin, Mariolina Salvatori, Phil Smith, Slu Smith, and Peter Trachtenberg have been interested and supportive interlocutors. Troy Boone, Nancy Glazener, John Twyning, and Jim Seitz read my work in progress and provided helpful criticism in festive contexts. Troy Boone entertained scraps of chapter-notes and sparks of ideas, understood their incipient excitement, and helped me develop them. Nancy Glazener, reader extraordinaire, shared the ups and downs of the work on and off the page, advised me at critical crossroads, and trusted in the project when I most needed it. Reference Librarian Robin Kear helped me ﬁnd threads and untan- gle knots. The staff of the English Department and the Center for Latin American Studies provided daily support; special thanks to Denise Thomas and Joe Kluchorosky. Amanda Boyle, Nichole Faina, Emma Acknowledgments ● xiii

Freeman, Samantha Levinson, Dan Malakoff, and Seung-Hwan Shin provided valuable assistance at critical moments. Johanna Murphy was a wizard with images and tech. J. D. Wright’s eagle-eyed fact-checking, meticulous record-keeping, and open engagement with the book were a boon. Caroline Benner Wolff was a marvel of thoroughness, organization, and reliability. I benefitted from her rigorous fact-checking, her sensitiv- ity to composition and to the creative process, and her tolerance for the messiness of the project. J. D. and Caroline: it was a joy to work with you on this book. You know it from the inside out. To Brigitte Shull, my editor at Palgrave: thank you for the perfect balance of efficiency, encouragement, and patience, and for your respon- siveness to the unusual demands of a book such as this. Thanks also to Ryan Jenkins and Rachel Taenzler at Palgrave for seeing the manuscript through its several stages. For helpful exchanges along the way, I am grateful to Sara Abraham, Mark Best, Denys Candy, Debra Castillo, Fiona Cheong, Annalee Davis, Alison Donnell, Lowell Fiet, Paul Foster, Humberto García Muñiz, Antonio Laura, Luisa Moreira, Pedro Noguera, Marta Ortega, María Cristina Rodríguez, Helen Scott, Kathy Sloane, Terry Smith, Barry Jason Stein, Connie Sutton, Dale Tomich, Alissa Trotz, Faye-Anne Wilkinson, and interlocutors at various conferences and events. I am very grateful to have received the University of Pittsburgh’s Hewlett Grant, the Center for Latin American Studies Faculty Research Grant, and the Women’s Studies Faculty Research Grant, which enabled me to carry out the fieldwork that became so fundamental to the design and conceptualization of this book. I could not have written (or imagined) the book I wanted to write without that material support. I was also the appreciative recipient of the Richard D. and Mary Jane Edwards Endowed Publication Fund, which defrayed the costs of permissions and images. I am grateful to the many people and presses who allowed me to feature their work at no charge and to others who helped me secure elusive permissions. There are, however, several important texts— both visual and print—that I was unable to include because of intransigent interpretations of copyright law and fair use, or because of highly restric- tive conditions placed on permissions. It is not clear to me that writers or artists gained from such restrictions, but it is clear to me that scholarship lost. It was an unexpected source of frustration and sadness that in such instances memory of the Grenada Revolution became a casualty of competing legal departments. My family has anchored me. Arjun, Amrita, and Abhay Puri, present from the beginning, have been invariably supportive. My husband Carlos Cañuelas and my daughter Leela Cañuelas-Puri shared my journeys, literally and metaphorically. We got to know Grenada together. They xiv ● Acknowledgments accompanied me while I took countless photographs; they waited with me in many places for the right light; and they returned there with me for yet more photos. They have lived with the intensity of this project for several years, advised me on many aspects of it, and shared in the fun and the fallout. I thank my family for its loving presence and for tolerating my occasional absences. All books benefit from dialogue and from critical reading, but this one even more than others I have worked on feels like a collaborative effort. If the word “generosity” recurs through these acknowledgments, it is because that has been my overwhelming experience. The richness and pleasure of exchange, often across significant differences of belief, training, and experience, infuse every page of this book. To all who have shared in and furthered this work and its hopes, thank you. Any insensitivities or errors that remain are mine. Preface

The ﬁrst and only socialist-oriented revolution to come to power in the Anglophone Caribbean, the Grenada Revolution (1979–1983), made rapid gains in areas such as mass political participation; employment and conditions of work; housing, health, education, and the arts. The New Jewel Movement came to power through an almost bloodless coup on March 13, 1979. Widely popular, although justly criticized for its suppression of political dissent, the Revolution ended in October 1983, after a split developed in the leadership of the vanguardist Party. A majority of the Party voted for joint leadership by Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Bernard Coard. On October 12, 1983, Maurice Bishop was placed under house arrest for failing to abide by the majority vote of the Party. On October 19, a crowd of civilian supporters freed him. Bishop led them to Fort Rupert, the military headquarters, where he had access to the armory. Two army personnel were shot by unknown assailants. There followed a struggle for control of the Fort. Bishop and seven of his closest comrades were disarmed and then shot dead by members of the People’s Revolutionary Army. Others were killed or wounded in crossﬁre or escaping the Fort. A Revolutionary Mil- itary Council took over and placed the island under curfew. On October 25, the United States, supported by right-wing governments in the Caribbean, launched “Operation Urgent Fury.” The invasion ended any remaining chance of a regrouping of surviving popular revolutionary forces. The bodies of the slain leaders that had been taken to Calivigny on October 19 were moved by US armed forces personnel to an undisclosed location. They have not been recovered or given proper burial. Those convicted of plotting to kill or of killing Maurice Bishop and his comrades came to be known as the Grenada 17. Marked by numerous violations of due process, their trial, sentencing, and appeals stretched from 1984 through 2007. The Grenada Truth and Recon- ciliation Commission began gathering information in 2001 and completed its report in 2006. The last of the Grenada 17 were released from prison in 2009. The pages that follow will focus on the unsettled truths and restless memories about which accounts like the one above tell us nothing.