Harry Targ
The United States marines and small contingents of
military personnel from neighboring countries on October 25, 1983 launched a
military invasion of the tiny Caribbean island of Grenada (121 miles long, 10
miles wide, population 110,000). The Reagan Administration falsely claimed that
the invasion was motivated to save 600 American medical students from a
possible Iran-style hostage taking and to restore freedom and democracy to the
island.
The invasion by the Reagan administration was a
fully-orchestrated media- censored operation without regard for international
law, morality, and the safety of the citizens of Grenada. It occurred at a time when foreign policy
elites were concerned that the public was afflicted with the so-called “Vietnam
Syndrome.” This “syndrome” referred to the propensity of Americans to oppose
further military interventions overseas (much like the clear opposition to U.S.
military action against Syria today).
In addition, the Grenada operation, called
“Operation Urgent Fury,” occurred two days after a horrific bombing killed 241
U.S. military personnel in a barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. President Reagan,
despite much criticism, had sent U.S. troops to quell the Lebanese civil war
and give support to the Israeli army which had invaded its northern neighbor. The
Sunday New York Times headline of
October 23, 1983 listing preliminary estimates of casualties in bold type declared
“Beirut Death Toll at 161 Americans; French Casualties Rise in Bombings; Reagan
Insists Marines Will Remain.”
Throughout its history, Grenada was victimized by
foreign invaders. The island was originally occupied by the Ciboney Indians and
then by the Arawaks. Later Carib Indians established control of the island.
Over the centuries islanders were subjected to European invasion--Spain in
1592, the British in 1608, and the French in the 1650s. Grenada was declared a
British colony in 1783, and was not “granted” independence until February 7,
1974.
Central to the history of the Caribbean states, the
industrial revolution, and the rise of capitalism out of feudalism was the
slave trade. The French, who had massacred the Carib Indians, and later the
British, brought African slaves to Grenada.
By 1763 Grenada had 82 sugar estates. Slave laborers produced sugar,
cotton, and tobacco which was transported to Europe for processing, and then
for sale on the European continent, Asia, and Africa. Slavery, which brought
9.5 million kidnapped Africans to the Western Hemisphere, was a system of
forced labor that generated profits for European imperial powers.
During the twentieth century, 20 years before formal
independence, Grenadian politics was dominated by a charismatic and corrupt
politician, Eric Gairy. He collaborated with the small class of domestic elites
as well as foreigners to push back against workers and peasants who opposed
economic exploitation and British colonialism in general. After independence in
1974, Gairy continued to rule the island with an iron hand. Health care,
education, and public services worsened during the Gairy years after
independence while personal corruption was rampant.
As independence approached, a political party, known
as the New Jewel Movement emerged. Led by Maurice Bishop, a charismatic figure,
the party called for policies that would focus on the enormous problems workers
and peasants faced. The New Jewel Movement seized power in a bloodless coup in
1979, five years after independence. Maurice Bishop then began to plant the
seeds of a modern mixed economy, including state and private sectors and a
newly created cooperative sector.
The public sector revitalized the 30 state farms
that were stagnant during Gairy’s rule. The government opened agro-processing
plants, created a state fishing and fish-processing industry, built a public
component in the vital tourist industry, and established public banking
institutions to provide loans for small farmers, owners of small businesses, and
fishermen. The public sector thus served as a stimulus to the private sector. In
addition, the cooperative sector, in farm inputs and marketing, was designed to
appeal to the community spirit characteristic of Grenadian culture.
In other actions, the government instituted a
literacy campaign, popular education particularly in mathematics, and English
and Grenadian history. Teacher retraining programs upgraded the largely
unskilled corps of teachers. Education from primary grades to college became
free. Also in 1980, the Grenadian government instituted a program of free
medical and dental care. Health care delivery systems were decentralized
prioritizing programs of preventive medicine and nationwide sanitation
campaigns to combat communicable diseases.
In the political process, the New Jewel Movement
created local bodies for popular participation in politics. Parish Councils
were further decentralized into smaller “Zonal Council” meetings. The National
Women’s Organization and the National Youth Organization were created to
articulate political interests parallel to existing organizations for labor and
farmers. Particular programs were instituted to redress the historic
inequalities between men and women. The Grenadian government placed significant
numbers of women in key decision-making positions and hoped to expand political
representation of women in policy-making positions.
The U.S. government during both Carter and Reagan
administrations opposed the Bishop government because some of the technical
assistance it received came from Cuba and the Soviet Union. Cuban work on the expansion
of the country’s major airport to facilitate tourism was particularly
controversial even though the largest share of its financing came from the
British.
In October, 1981, the U.S. government held massive
military maneuvers in the Caribbean simulating an invasion of a small enemy
country holding Americans hostage. In addition, the United States opposed
International Monetary Fund and World Bank aid to Grenada and organized Eastern
Caribbean island-states to oppose the dangers that Grenadian democracy and
economic change represented.
Unfortunately, two weeks before the Reagan invasion
of Grenada, a faction of the New Jewel Movement ousted Maurice Bishop from
power .In the midst of a heated battle within the leadership, Bishop and
several of his colleagues were tragically killed. By most accounts at the time,
the factional dispute was self-destructive and the outcome was contrary to the
wishes of the masses of the Grenadian people who applauded the new economic
policies and participatory democracy the government had put in place since 1979.
Bishop, himself, was a revered leader among his people who also had close ties
with members of the Congressional Black Caucus in the United States Congress.
Despite the foolhardy policies of the anti-Bishop
faction of New Jewel, there was every reason to believe that, despite the
factional disputes, the policies that New Jewel had initiated would have
continued. But the Reagan administration used the domestic turmoil in Grenada
as an excuse to invade the island, depose the New Jewel party from power,
abolish all the economic and political changes carried out between 1979 and
1983, arrest Cuban airport construction workers, and put in place a
neo-colonial government that would reverse the policy trends toward grassroots
democracy and human need fulfillment that had been gaining popularity, not only
in Grenada but around the Caribbean and Central America. In the months
following the invasion, the United States expunged every vestige of progressive
institutions and policies installed by Maurice Bishop’s New Jewel Movement.
The marine invasion of tiny Grenada constituted a
guaranteed military victory and over the years would lead to a decline in Americans’
reluctance to send more troops overseas. And the invasion of Grenada took the
tragedy of 241 marines killed by a terrorist attack in Beirut, Lebanon off the
front pages.
Thirty years ago the United States joined the
Spanish, French, and British as the latest colonial power to determine the
destiny of the Grenadian people. At the same time, and despite remaining
skepticism, the Grenada invasion put the United States back on the path toward
military interventionism around the world.
