Maurice Bishop

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Maurice Bishop in Niederkaina, Bautzen district (1982)

Maurice Rupert Bishop (born May 29, 1944 in Aruba , Netherlands Antilles , † October 19, 1983 in Fort Rupert, Grenada ) was a Grenadian politician of the socialist New Jewel Movement . From 1979 to 1983 he was Prime Minister Grenada.

Life

Maurice Bishop was born in Aruba to Grenadian parents and moved to Grenada with his family at the age of six. He studied law in England, where he absorbed the political ideas of the 1968 movement , the Black Power movement and the Trinidadian Marxist C. LR James , before returning to Grenada in 1969.

He began to build workers' councils on Grenada on the Soviet model, founded a socialist party, the New Jewel Movement (NJM, Jewel stands for Joint Endeavor for Welfare, Education and Liberation - "United efforts for welfare, education and liberation") and organized the Population in unions. He enjoyed broad approval in Grenada, as the population was dissatisfied with the corrupt and arbitrary rule of Sir Eric Gairy and his Mongoose Gang , a "thugs".

Term of office as prime minister

After Gairy had previously falsified elections with a high degree of probability, Maurice Bishop gained power on March 13, 1979 as part of an almost bloodless coup supported by the majority of the population and became Prime Minister of Grenada. Some grassroots elements were introduced, but even under Bishop no free elections of competing parties were allowed. The human rights situation improved under Bishop.

In his policy, Bishop primarily focused on social reforms such as the introduction of a free health system and the building of new schools. The economy should be based on a public, a private and a cooperative pillar, for which the formation of cooperatives was encouraged. As the largest infrastructure project, the construction of the international airport Point Salines was started, also to promote tourism.

Bishop (middle, next to Hermann Axen ) visits representatives of the SED in East Berlin with a delegation (1982)

He maintained good relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba , which supported Grenada with development aid, including the construction of the airport. Before that, Bishop's attempt to build good relations with the United States had failed. Relations with the United States deteriorated further when Ronald Reagan became President of the United States in 1981 . The US government imposed an extensive boycott on Grenada and induced international credit institutions to withhold Grenada loans.

To improve US relations, Bishop went on a diplomatic trip to the United States. A meeting in the White House was refused by the US government and there were only talks with the security advisor and the deputy foreign secretary.

In June 1982 Bishop visited the German Democratic Republic with his Foreign Minister Unison Whiteman and other delegation members .

Fall and execution

On October 14, 1983, Bishop was overthrown and placed under house arrest by opponents from his own party, led by Bernard Coard and Hudson Austin . After he was temporarily freed by his supporters on October 19, 1983, his rivals in the leadership of the New Jewel Movement had him executed by shooting on the same day in Fort Rupert, the military headquarters. On October 25, 1983, the United States began an invasion code-named Operation Urgent Fury , in the course of which the government was ousted.

A successor organization to the New Jewel Movement , the Maurice Bishop Patriotic Movement , existed until 2002, but hardly played a role in Grenada's political life.

Honors

The Point Salines Airport , was begun in under Maurice Bishop's leadership and its suitability as a possible military airfield by the US government a reason for the US invasion of Grenada provided, named Maurice Bishop.

See also

Fonts

  • Forward ever! Three years of the Grenadian Revolution. Speeches of Maurice Bishop . Sydney 1982.
  • Selected speeches, 1979-1981 . Havana, 1982.
  • Maurice Bishop Speaks. The Grenada Revolution and Its Overthrow, 1979-83 . New York 1983, ISBN 0-87348-612-9
  • In nobody's backyard. Maurice Bishop's speeches, 1979–1983: a memorial volume, edited by Chris Searle . London 1984.

literature

  • Bruce Marcus, Michael Taber: Maurice Bishop speaks. The Grenada Revolution and its overthrow, 1979-83 . New York 1983, ISBN 0-87348-611-0 .
  • Steve Clark: The Second Assassination of Maurice Bishop . In: New International. A magazine of Marxist politics and theory , No. 6. New York 1987, ISBN 0-87348-641-2 .

Web links

Commons : Maurice Bishop  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Thomas M. Leonard: Encyclopedia of the Developing World. Psychology Press, 2005, p. 180.
    Eric VB Britter: Grenada. In: Encyclopedia Britannica . October 9, 2018, accessed October 19, 2018 .
  2. ↑ Gert Eisenbürger: Destruction of Hope: The Broken Story of the Revolution in Grenada. In: Karibik / ila October 26 , 2003, archived from the original on January 5, 2004 ; accessed on October 19, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Ann Elizabeth Wilder: The Tragedy of October 19, 1983. In: The Grenada Revolution. December 25, 2017, accessed October 19, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Bishop, Maurice
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bishop, Maurice Rupert (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Grenadian politician, Prime Minister of Grenada
DATE OF BIRTH May 29, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Aruba
DATE OF DEATH October 19, 1983
Place of death Fort Rupert, Grenada