Talk:New Jewel Movement

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[edit] Stupid Commies!...

Low level of education in Marxist-Leninist politics? What exactly does that mean? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.118.195.198 (talk) 20:06, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

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"The leaders of several other Caribbean nations, and the U.S. government, were very concerned over the Marxist direction in which Bishop was leading Grenada, yet could not doubt Bishop's considerable popular support; hence they could not work openly to undermine or remove him without appearing to be anti-democratic."

I deleted the second part of this text marked in italics. Since Bishop was installed in a coup his government cannot be considered to be democratically installed.

[edit] neutrality changes

I've done a rewrite of the article to make it neutral. Some comments:

- I left out the exact circumstances of Bishop's death at the fort. We now know exactly what happened based on the trial and the various confessions individuals have made. But I think its still too politically complicated to state what happened in a neutral way. I've decided to leave a summary here for informational purposes.

Bishop became unpopular within the party ruling the country. We will never know exactly why or what the conflict was. But it was not over political policy. Bishop could not be easily removed because he was too popular with the people of Grenada. This lead to a dangerous situation in the government. They tried to negotiate a solution but paranoia on both sides got out of hand and Coard had Bishop arrested. Bishop's followers then whipped up the people into demonstrations. Eventually they intimidated the guards on Bishop into running away. Bishop then decided to take back the government. He went to the army headquarters and was able to take it over without firing a shot. The rest of the party then paniced and ordered the army to re-take the base by force. Party loyalists were gathered together and sent to re-take the headquarters. They arrived at the base and the two sides opened fire on each other. Bishop's followers were killed and he was captured. The eight leaders were put up against a wall. Coard and the other members of the central committee ordered him killed but none of the officers at the fort would take responsibility to do it. They eventually found a private who organized the actual execution. Afterward, the political/military leadership covered themselves by forcing one of the army officers to sign a confession that he and he alone was responsible for the execution of Bishop.

- I've left out the detail that members of the NJM received military training by Cuban advisors in Guyana. I dont doubt that it happened but the evidence doesn't meet a high standard of proof.

- I have not included material from an NJM point of view that was their justification for the 1979 revolution. The problem is that if the NJM case against the government is included (violence/etc), its also necessary to include the government's case against the NJM. The violence in the 1970s was never one-sided. And given that the NJM suspended the constitition and never held an election after coming to power, its difficult to take seriously their complaints about the fairness of an election (1976) that they did well in but didn't win.

- The article could use more information on the NJM during the period 1973-79. If I can find more, I'll add it.

70.234.202.3 16:40, 8 September 2007 (UTC)