The Grenada government announced Tuesday preparations to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the death of Maurice Bishop, the country’s first left-wing prime minister, who was assassinated on October 19, 1983, following a palace coup planned by his deputy, Bernard Coard.
Dr Wendy Crawford, chair of the 50th Independence celebration Committee, stated during a press conference that the activity will be part of the island’s 50th celebration of political independence, which will begin on October 19 this year.
“Because independence is such a momentous occasion for us, a period when we are given an opportunity to recount our history, what better time could we want for when the nation will be attentive to not only our independence celebration…And October 19th is a story that everyone has told, written about, spoken about, and all of that came from outside sources.
“So in the essence of independence and self determination, we think this is a very good opportunity to tell our stories ourselves,” she said, adding, “there is no better fitting than…when the entire nation is attentive to that period, October 19-25 that it should signify for us that level of independence and self determination [so] here is our story.”
Last October, the government announced plans to make October 19 a public holiday to remember the 1983 killings of Bishop and several members of his cabinet, which led to the demise of the left-wing People’s Revolutionary Government (PRG).
Several civilians died in Fort Rupert, which was renamed Fort George, in addition to Bishop and his cabinet colleagues who were killed in the palace coup staged by his deputy, Bernard Coard.
As a result of the October 19 deaths, the United States invaded Grenada on October 25, ushering in the island’s return to democracy. Since then, October 25 has been designated as a national holiday known as Thanksgiving Day.
The 1983 Martyrs Foundation, a non-governmental organization, traditionally commemorates October 19 with a memorial service and wreath laying ceremony.
Prime Minister Dickon Mitchell, who was present at the press conference, justified the decision to launch the 40th celebration on the same day as the country’s independence, stating the 19th is “merely the start of the activities to commemorate the 50th anniversary.”
“I use the word commemorate because I believe that too often people mistake a public holiday for a festive or celebratory event.” In fact, and this is the point I want to make here, our perspective on declaring the 19th of October a public holiday is to recognize the gloomy, terrible character of what happened and to dwell on it and understand why it happened.”
Mitchell stressed the importance of Grenadians learning the lesson and ensuring that it does not happen again.
“I am making this profound point because I discussed the issue of violence in our society and how we resolve our conflicts and disputes, including political disputes, which is why our values of democracy, freedom, the right to vote, and so on are important.”
“If we walk away from that, it means that when you are unhappy with the government or have internal feuding, you will resolve it exactly the way it was resolved on October 19th,” he threatened.
“And so it is important for us to mark that occasion in a solemn, reflective, and perhaps even emotional manner, so that we understand that when we say, for example, that we are a democratic society, that we value democracy, that we value freedom of speech…that those things actually mean something, because the opposite of it would have happened in a very tragic manner on the 19th of October.”
Mitchell, who took office after the June 2022 general election, stated that the 50th anniversary celebrations “includes part of that history, which effectively is 40 years old this year.”
“When we celebrate our 50th anniversary of independence, we must recognize that there are significant dates within a calendar year, such as the 7th of February, the 19th of October, the 25th of October, and the 13th of March, that mean something to us as a people.”
Mitchell stated that in recent years, those dates have been post-independence “and thus it is important for us not to run away from that reality, not bury it, so that we can learn the proper lesson and teach the next generation of Grenadians what has happened over the last 50 years, including tragically, the events of October 19.”
