WORLD Political overview as Grenada looks at elections BRIDGETOWN, Barbados — dead is as quiet as you can get’’. With that continuing admiration among Grenadians for the late Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, that obser- vation by a character in Graham Greene’s novel about Duvalier’s Haiti, ‘The Comedians”, may be proven false as political parties in Grenada start making their t moves in preparation for general elections slated to come off before year’s end. ‘“*They apy that to be Bishop, who before he was executed last October by ~ an ultra leftist faction in the ruling New Jewel Movement (NJM) party, was Prime Minister during the four and a half year reform experiment which even its most diehard enemies admit had the widespread support of most of the islanders in the mountainous southern Caribbean nation state of 110,000 people. The nine-member Interim Government chaired by Nicolas Braithwaite, will have its work cut out for it during the next few months to try and reduce the in- fluence of the NJM and the short-lived People’s Revolu- tionary Government (PRG). Some people argue it is a hopeless task. If the party decides to field candidates, the chances of former PRG ministers Kenrick Radix, George Louison, Lynden Ramdnanny and others getting elected to what- ever type of Parliament is decided upon by the au- thorities are good. Enumeration is expected-to start on March 1 in the island’s 15 constituencies. Speculation is in the air whether the NJM will be allowed to participate. However, there appears to be no legal basis for Braithwaite to justify the exclusion of the Movement which was formed in 1973 through the merger of Bishop’s Movement for the Assemblies of the People (MAP) and the Joint Endeavour for Welfare, Education and Liberation (J ewel) organizations. The interim regime has up to now outlawed any overt political activity such as public meetings. It is therefore difficult to ascertain the level of mobilization of the party whose organizational structure has undoubtedly been damaged by the coup, the invasion and subsequent witch hunting by the administration and its U.S. and other advisors. One thing however is clear: the NJM will have no part of former Deputy Prime Minister Bernard Coard, his wife Phyllis and the young hothead People’s Revolution- ary Army officers which NJM spokesmen Louison and From the Caribbean Norman Faria others have said were directly responsible for Bishop and his colleagues’ deaths. “‘There is no way that Coard and his gang of murderers . can be politically active in Grenada again. Indeed, I doubt they will be able to safely walk the streets,’’ said a Grenadian civil servant who came to Barbados following the October events. Coming up against the NJM will be former Prime Minister Sir Eric Gairy’s Grenada United Labor Party (GULP). Gairy has already announced from New York, where he fled following the March 1979 insurrection, that he will not be running for office. He nevertheless hinted that he would not be anidle bystander during the election campaign. Gairy, a 62 year old former trade union leader who rose to prominence during a 1950s upsurge of anti-colo- nialist and anti-plantocratic sentiments of the island’s poor farmers, estate and other workers, headed the government from 1967 until he was overthrown. During his exile, Gairy was charged in absentia by the PRG with murder, misuse of government funds and other crimes during his rule. With the introduction and widespread acceptance of the PRG’s reforms such as free medical and dental care, the GULP will undoubtedly try to play up its populist traditions to fit in with the new mood of politics in the island. Against the background of the national shock caused by Bishop’s death the GULP is also expected to resurrect its pro-U.S. conservatism and hail the U.S. invading troops as liberators. The other potential political force during Gairy’s day was the conservative Grenada National Party (GNP) led by former Premier Herbert Blaize. It has been inactive even during pre-Revolution days and is not expected to be a serious political force during the upcoming elec- tions. VOTE 23 ue N KYM GOD M A URICE BISHOP S-E St. Georges The authorities will have their work cut out trying to re- duce the influence of the New Jewel Movement. Photo: Maurice Bishop’s 1976 election poster. The principal opposition.to the NJM may turn out to be the Grenada Democratic Movement (GDM), a right wing group headed by UWI law lecturer Dr. Francis Alexis. The GDM’s grassroots support within the island is probably negligible at this stage, having been an exile group formed after the triumph of the Revolution. It is possible it could receive enough funds from those in- terests — some analysts say it has some backing from the CIA — opposed to the NJM and to be able to mount a flashy expensive election campaign to garner a few seats. Of all the parties opposed to the NJM, it has the advan- tage of starting with a clean slate. Much to the pleasure of the present ruling authorities, it also has all the appear- ances of being free of the buffoonery and embarrassing behavior of Gairy. With the damage done to the NJM by the Coard fac- tion, Gairy’s lack of credibility and the GNP’s seemingly inactivity, it is possible that a GULP/GDM coalition will face an NJM caucus in the new Parliament — that is, providing NJM candidiates are allowed to run for office. International Focus Tom Morris Gillespie’s new jogging track His remarks came four months too late. U.S. Secretary of State . George Shultz, visiting Gre- nada Feb. 7, said the comple- tion of the new airport at Point Salinas is necessary for the Is- land’s economy. ‘‘Having looked around a little,’’ Shultz told reporters, ‘‘it is certainly a facility that is needed ...”’ This is the same George Shultz who kept his mouth shut as his boss described the airport construction as a threat to U.S.. security. Now, says he, the U.S. government is Studying the project which re- quires $70-million to complete. The unfiished runway presently serves as a jogging track for U.S. chargé d’affaires Charles Gillespie. Shultz is in Grenada on a five country swing through Latin America and conducted talks with governor-general Scoon and advisory council chairman Braithwaite. He also ‘‘open- ed’’ the new U.S. embassy. Braithwaite, Scoon and the Others installed by U.S. mili- tary power are anguishing over what to do next as the shock of the invasion recedes and the problems of government take over. Unemployment, at 14 per cent under Bishop, now has soared to 33 per cent. Business is at a standstill. Their answer so far has been to train a 500-man police force and issue public calls for the maintenance of U.S. military presence ‘‘for up to three years’’. Seems they lack con- fidence in the Grenadian people voluntarily keeping them in office. The puppets must also be upset over the emergence of Maurice Bishop T-shirts which Grenadians are buying up for $15 a piece. Achallenge to the world’s rich In addressing the question of the world’s poor, progressives have argued that the ultimate solution is redistribution of wealth, a restructuring of soci- ety which includes, as a pre- condition, the removal of the class system which produced poverty and inequality. Singapore’s leaders have another idea. Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and his cronies will back a government cam- paign based on a ‘“‘genetic’”’ theory of poverty. The poor, they reason, are procreating too quickly and the rich are too Rich babies is Singapore’s “solution” to poverty. busy being rich to procreate quickly enough. This, they say, results in too many ‘poor’ babies, while rich women “‘waste their genes’’ by not producing enough. The government program could be shrugged off as wacko were it not for the teeth it in- tends to put into it. A massive ad campaign will be backed by new laws. ‘‘Well-educated’’ mothers will have first priority enrolling their kids in the best schools. “*Poorly educated’’ moms who agree to sterilization after one or two children will get second preference. What happens to the children of a poor mother who refuses sterilization is obvious. The simplicity of Singa- pore’s ‘‘solution’’ to poverty is overwhelming. Had we thought of it before, had the rich procreated with vigor while the poor agreed to steri- lization, we would have only been producing ‘“‘rich’’ babies. ‘The idea sounds better and more enjoyable than Social Credit’s plan to simply print more money. PACIFIC TRIBUNE, FEBRUARY 15, 1984 e 9 Washington’s real message Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt described Ronald Reagan as ‘‘a second rate cowboy president’’ Feb. 8. And as if to graphically prove Jumblatt’s point, Reagan, while horseback rid- | ing in California, ordered a full-scale naval bombardment of Druze villages around Beirut. In an act of vengeance, the cowboy president unleashes the terrible guns of his battle- ships onto the heads of a de- ~ fenseless population. Only two weeks ago Reagan spoke of “the rebirth of America’s pride’ and “‘seizing the op- portunities for peace’’. The New Jersey’s shells, bursting out from her 16-inch guns and travelling with the force of express trains must be drowning out the U.S. presi- dent’s words. Washington’s real message is today resounding in the Middle East.