Last night the OWTU was honoured to have been asked by Bruce Paddington to co-host the showing of his film - Forward Ever, Backward Never. A good number of people attended the showing and the audience included OWTU officers, a number of young people who were not born 30 years ago when Maurice Bishop and the other martyrs of St. Georges were assassinated on October 19th, 1983, several members of the teaching and artistic community in south Trinidad, and a number of older activists - Merle Hodge, Eintou Springer, Bennet Berkeley - who were closely connected to the Grenadian Revolution and the leadership that was killed. The film is an excellent documentary and is a must see so that todays generation gets an appreciation of the achievements, challenges and ultimately the terrible end of that revolution. I was glad to be able to share the connection between the OWTU (and our then political organisation - the Committee for Labour Solidarity) and the Grenadian revolution. Just two such facts: The OWTU hosted a reception for Maurice on July 8th, 1983, who was then visiting Trinidad for the Caricom heads of government summit. That reception was held in the very Hall at Paramount Building where the film show took place last night. And then, following an invitation from then OWTU President General, George Weekes, to Maurice Bishop to address the Unions 44th Annual Conference of Delegates, Maurice replied advising that due to other commitments he would not be able to attend and that Vincent Noel, one of the leaders in the PRG would be their representative. That Conference of Delegates was scheduled for October 22nd, 1983. Our Feature Speaker, Vincent Noel, was assassinated with Maurice and comrades on October 19th, just three days before he was to speak to us. Thanks, Bruce for an excellent film to educate and inform us of our history and thanks to all who attended! It rekindled many memories for some of us and reminded us of the lessons from the Grenadian revolution. Let us pay our respects to some of the finest of our Caribbean leaders - Maurice Bishop, Jackie Creft, Unison Whiteman, Vincent Noel, Norris Bain, Fitzroy Bain and all the others who were assassinated by firing squad on October 19th and the many Grenadians who were killed when to the horror of Maurice the soldiers turned their guns on the masses.
Posted on: Sun, 27 Oct 2013 22:50:51 +0000
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