As we celebrate this thirty-fifth Anniversary of our nation’s Independence – that was granted to us on the 7th February, 1974 – it would be useful to look back at the times in 1973 and early 1974, if only to assess the difference between then and now. And for those of us who were around in those times, and actually took part in what was happening in those stormy days Island-wide, the memories must still be lingering in our mind’s eye somewhere. Grenada , Carriacou and Petite Martinique had been in Associated Statehood with England from 1967, and that arrangement also included those Islands that formed the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) – and strange enough, although seven of those States are now fully Independent the name still obtains. And what is more, two of the Institutions from way back then – Our Court System and our Eastern Caribbean Currency and Central Bank (E..C.C.B.) – are up-standing and functioning as useful as ever before. The Associated Statehood Constitution of 1967, had provided that the Government of the day could apply to England for full Independence, but there was no provision for any reference to the people for their “yea or nay” in a referendum on the specific issue. The GULP of the late Eric Gairy won the General Elections in 1972, very comfortably, in defeating the late Herbert Blaize GNP, and Eric Gairy almost immediately thereafter applied to the United Kingdom for full independence. The GNP and one or two groups protested that there should be a referendum, but Gairy argued that he had mentioned the point in his party’s manifesto and in the Campaign for the General Election – and he won comfortably. That argument was accepted by the British people at a conference in England , so the race was on but it was very far from over. Many people, here in Grenada and overseas, felt that the British Rulers were more than happy to get rid of Gairy – who had given them endless trouble, when he first made his appearance on the political scene on his return from ARUBA in 1950/51 – in the stormy days of “Sky Red”. But although the British Parliament had set the train in motion – to bring about Grenada ’s Independence as the first of the OECS group – the protests in Grenada intensified even more. The Business community and the Trade Unions were concerned – not about Independence as such, but about Gairy breaking the ties with England and being able to do his own thing, with no outside body to come to the people’s rescue. The youths were also on the boil, because many of them had been the victims of brutality from Gairy’s “Green Beasts” in Uniform (Soldiers) and his Mongoose gang doing their own Thing Island wide. At about that period, mid-1972 and early 1973 – Maurice Bishop and others who would later on down the road play a leading role in the vanguard NJM group – they returned to Grenada from England, and joined forces with the St. David’s “Jewel” group then headed by the late Unison Whiteman and others, to form the New Jewel Movement (NJM). The struggle in Grenada and the Political Climate that resulted therefrom, took on a quite dramatic turn after the coming on stream of the NJM – and I think it is fair to say, that the aftermath and the after effects, subsequent to May 1973, have lived on to stimulate us as a people after march 13th 1979, to torment and plunge us into mourning as a nation after October, 1983 – and to continue to divide us and assign us to various Compartments in the political arena, since after the Trial of the Richmond Hill Seventeen, and more recently the re-sentencing of the last (13) thirteen in June, 2007, for the killings of those on Fort Rupert in 1983. The year 1973 was, in my opinion, more historic than the 7th February, 1974, when we obtained Independence from the United Kingdom . Bloody Sunday on the 18th November, 1973, when the NJM six were beaten by Belmar’s thugs at Bhola’s junction in Grenville – and imprisoned in the Police Station Cell bleeding with no access to a medical doctor – was the traumatic beginning of our dark and dismal political history. The coming together of the Business Community, Trade unions, Farmers, youths, and even the Catholic Church through its Bishop – to form the Committee of 22 Organizations protesting Police brutality and demonstrating on the streets of St. George’s for weeks, with business places closed and the Island without Electricity – was the kind of Solidarity not seen since our so-called Independence . The killing of Rupert Bishop at Otway House on the Carenage, on Monday 21st January, 1974, which ended the weeks of demonstrations and ushered in the Independence Flag hoisting in total darkness at Fort George – added to the drama of the Duffus Commission of Enquiry, which took place in St. George’s for about two months and roundly condemned the Gairy regime for its human rights atrocities and wrong-doing in Government. Since then there has been far greater mis-management in government affairs, much deeper abuse of ministerial responsibility, and in-depth deceit and dishonesty in mis-using the people’s funds and resources – and all we have had in response thus far, is talk and more ole talk. Even when we were still a colony under the British rule, and Gairy, as the Chief Minister in the Legislative Council at the time, took the decision to purchase a Baby Piano for Government House – without the authority of the financial controller to spend $3,500.00 (E.C. dollar) – he was suspended from the council and from taking any part in government for some years. Since Independence and in the recent past when one party won the Elections on three consecutive occasions – hundreds of millions of dollars have been squandered, gone into individual foreign Bank Accounts, and pocketed by crooks and con-men in collaboration with the very Government ministers who were elected to protect and safeguard the people’s patrimony. What price the so-called Independence ? So we have gone through thirty-five years come the seventh February – but what have those years brought us as a people? True enough, we have our own National Anthem, our own National Flag – and we often times even boasting of our national Dish of “Oil Down” – and we have representation on various world bodies from the United Nations downwards. We also have officials in various countries with which we have bi-lateral relationship – but these are all financial drains on our scarce resources, and now that our present day nationals CANNOT even visit the traditional friendly countries, without very-hard-to-obtain-visas, the presence of our officials in their capitals have diminished in importance – while the cost have increased considerably. I appreciate that the whole world scenario have changed across the globe, and the situations and happenings that obtained in1973/74 are merely memories of the distant past. It is also very obvious that the days of free handouts from the outside world are gone, and because of its own commitments in the regional grouping of the European Union (EU) – our past mother country in England CANNOT continue to be as generous and accommodating as in the colonial days of old. But that is the costs of growing up, as it were, and moving on. It must mean, therefore, that as a free and Independent people, after thirty-five long years of trials and errors, we should have had systems in place to help us chart a new path-way to peace, prosperity, and progress. It is all very well to spend all the time and some scarce resources, planning and organizing celebrations and ceremonies in recognition of the mile-stone of that thirty-five years. But when the day has come and gone, besides the Independence Calypsoes that are catchy enough to have us humming them in the weeks and months ahead – what else is there to show for all those years, and is the difference between now and then to our advantage, or to our detriment? The answers to those questions are clearly a matter for each and every one of us, as we go about the comparison of the two periods – so far as we remember the earlier one. But whatever conclusion is arrived at, it is in our own self interest to be very frank and candid about how we assess the two periods, and the kind of response we then attribute to any decision we come to. We have, as a people, to become more involved in the affairs and happenings of the people’s business. And that does not mean we all have to be out there wearing any special colour scheme, or canvassing for this or that political party at election time. We can do that too – if we feel so inclined. But more importantly, having done all that, and by so doing helping the party you support to win state power – you cannot stop there, and just accept anything and everything the winners hand out to you and say nothing. That is not loyalty, but the abandonment of your duty to ensure promises are kept. We have gotten to the state we are in, because as a people we have failed to hold our leaders to the standards we expect from them – based on the promises they made when seeking our votes. Thirty-five years are way beyond more than enough, to have come of age and behave and perform responsibly. Whatever the differences may have been, between then and now, we owe it to our children, grand children, and those yet un-born – to take the bold and responsible steps, to so shape the current and up-coming periods, that five years from now the difference would be positive, much more promising, and hugely beneficial to one and all. By Lloyd Noel INSIDE GRENADA NEWS