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Nadia Bishop's commendable maturity
Monday, January 07, 2008
We will never forget the tragic events in Grenada in 1983 when Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and a number of his leading Cabinet and New Jewel Movement colleagues were brutally slain by 'comrades' of his government and party.
The ensuing trial, incarceration and events surrounding this sordid affair, arguably one of the saddest moments in Caribbean political history, still lingers on the 'Isle of Spice'.
Grenadians have not fully recovered from the American invasion on October 25 which followed Mr Bishop's October 10 murder. The blame game continues to this day.
Now it appears that there is hope on the horizon and there may yet be some resolution to this frightening and unwelcomed chapter in regional history.
It was, to say the least, extremely encouraging that the daughter of Mr Bishop, Ms Nadia Bishop, in what must be considered one of the grandest of gestures, visited in prison the remaining 10 Grenadians who were convicted for her father's murder. Among those whom she visited was the former deputy prime minister and close confidante of her father, Mr Bernard Coard.
Ms Bishop, who is now a lawyer in North America, went further by calling on her compatriots to end the nightmare which has engulfed them and, by extension, the country at large by joining with her in "forgiveness and reconciliation" for the convicted killers of her father and the others who died on the altar of political expediency and the machinations of megalomaniacs in Grenada.
Reconciliation, as far as we are concerned, is not made by simply shaking hands and speaking some fine words. It certainly does not involve forgetting the past and marching on regardless. Reconciliation means much more than that. It is strenuous and difficult. But it is also necessary. In fact, it is crucial if societies that are split apart by politics are to regenerate and become places where human dignity is respected.
It is our belief also that there can never be reconciliation until those who are victimised come together and talk. The dead cannot be replaced, we know that. Ms Bishop was wronged and robbed of life with her father, yet she demonstrates the courage and maturity to sit with his killers and then ask others to forgive. She clearly has done so without any conditionalities and must be commended for this gesture, even more so that the anguished pleas from her grandmother for help to locate Maurice Bishop's remains, so that his family can give him a decent burial, have been ignored for so long by those with the capacity to assist.
We believe that the entire Bishop family, along with the families of those so coldly cut down and, of course, the people of Grenada, deserve to be finally free from this terrible ordeal.
Maurice Bishop and others beside him struggled for meaningful change in his time for the people of Grenada. He did not, nor did the others, deserve to die in the manner in which they did. Yet, as fate would have it, we now see another Bishop leading the way in helping Grenadians to move forward and to rid themselves of this unnecessary appendage of their national life.
We hope that the call by Ms Bishop for forgiveness and reconciliation will be heeded, and that finally there will be closure for all concerned.
Your father would have been exceedingly proud of you, Nadia Bishop.
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Clap her!
Monday, January 07, 2008
We will never forget the tragic events in Grenada in 1983 when Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and a number of his leading Cabinet and New Jewel Movement colleagues were brutally slain by 'comrades' of his government and party.
The ensuing trial, incarceration and events surrounding this sordid affair, arguably one of the saddest moments in Caribbean political history, still lingers on the 'Isle of Spice'.
Grenadians have not fully recovered from the American invasion on October 25 which followed Mr Bishop's October 10 murder. The blame game continues to this day.
Now it appears that there is hope on the horizon and there may yet be some resolution to this frightening and unwelcomed chapter in regional history.
It was, to say the least, extremely encouraging that the daughter of Mr Bishop, Ms Nadia Bishop, in what must be considered one of the grandest of gestures, visited in prison the remaining 10 Grenadians who were convicted for her father's murder. Among those whom she visited was the former deputy prime minister and close confidante of her father, Mr Bernard Coard.
Ms Bishop, who is now a lawyer in North America, went further by calling on her compatriots to end the nightmare which has engulfed them and, by extension, the country at large by joining with her in "forgiveness and reconciliation" for the convicted killers of her father and the others who died on the altar of political expediency and the machinations of megalomaniacs in Grenada.
Reconciliation, as far as we are concerned, is not made by simply shaking hands and speaking some fine words. It certainly does not involve forgetting the past and marching on regardless. Reconciliation means much more than that. It is strenuous and difficult. But it is also necessary. In fact, it is crucial if societies that are split apart by politics are to regenerate and become places where human dignity is respected.
It is our belief also that there can never be reconciliation until those who are victimised come together and talk. The dead cannot be replaced, we know that. Ms Bishop was wronged and robbed of life with her father, yet she demonstrates the courage and maturity to sit with his killers and then ask others to forgive. She clearly has done so without any conditionalities and must be commended for this gesture, even more so that the anguished pleas from her grandmother for help to locate Maurice Bishop's remains, so that his family can give him a decent burial, have been ignored for so long by those with the capacity to assist.
We believe that the entire Bishop family, along with the families of those so coldly cut down and, of course, the people of Grenada, deserve to be finally free from this terrible ordeal.
Maurice Bishop and others beside him struggled for meaningful change in his time for the people of Grenada. He did not, nor did the others, deserve to die in the manner in which they did. Yet, as fate would have it, we now see another Bishop leading the way in helping Grenadians to move forward and to rid themselves of this unnecessary appendage of their national life.
We hope that the call by Ms Bishop for forgiveness and reconciliation will be heeded, and that finally there will be closure for all concerned.
Your father would have been exceedingly proud of you, Nadia Bishop.
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Clap her!