Perspectives on the Grenada Revolution, 1979-1983

Book excerpt: The 1979 Grenada Revolution, orchestrated by the New Jewel Movement, culminated four-and-a-half years later in the execution of Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and the US-led military invasion which threw Grenada onto the international political stage. Though much has been written on the Revolution and its untimely and violent demise, the overwhelming majority of the authors have been non-Grenadian. All the contributors to this volume, except one, are Grenadian. In this regard, it is unique, and captures the voices of persons who were active participants, children, teenagers, young adults, and some yet unborn in the 1979 to 1983 period, illustrative of the continued influence of the Revolution on Grenadians. The essays examine the legality of the Revolution, the historical connections between it and the 1795 Fédon’s Rebellion, the nation’s collective memory of the Revolution by its second generation, the conflict between religion and the Revolution, the empowerment of women by the revolutionary process, and the role of poetry and art in raising salient and often difficult and painful aspects of the Revolution. This collection of essays captures the Revolution from a Grenadian perspective.