LETTER TO THE EDITOR

We are in nobody’s backyard

Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Dear Sir:

Well I am in now way sorry for Mr. Lloyd Noel as he continues his dissemination of weekly diatribe to the world on the state of Grenadian affairs as he see it. Probably seeing at least one response to my writing and nearly none to his own has made Mr. Noel a bit fidgety and therefore he searches with his attack for supporters by asking people directly to write in and show their support of his diatribe nonsense. 

Well my name is Damien Smith Mr. Noel and that’s the name that I was blessed with at birth that you claim is not my own. Had I decided to use a moniker to respond to your writings then I would have been a coward. Had I tried in anyway to disguise my identity then I would have been a coward. But all that that latest round of diatribe has shown is that you don’t like criticism very much and that you crave attention and acclamation for what you try to force down the throats of the international community as the truth based on your ‘years of experience as a legal luminary’. Reminds me of the phrase ‘an educated donkey’ if you ask me.

The ideas you claim are being used by government I scarcely believe are being gleaned from your column. If something is the right way to do stuff then it would be done and you wouldn’t be the only person who thinks of it I can assure you. The two or three times that you have said something about the way things should be done they were already in the process of being done in that way therefore you only gain kudos’ for thinking of something after the fact.

But on to other things this week. You seen to have a problem with Communists and Mainland China now in 2005. This was not the same back in 1975 I can assure the many readers of this site. In fact you were the ‘communist front man’ of the PRG back in the early heydays of 1979 when one could shoot a youth and get off by saying the gun went off ‘accidentally’. At that time you had absolutely no problems with communists that is until you became a victim of communists and by extension the ‘socialist experiment’. You didn’t know what you were doing then and you don’t know what you are doing now. You were no statesman then and you certainly aren’t now. Negotiations and statesmanship seem to be you weak point hence your misunderstanding of the Grenada Mainland China visit.

It is my information that the Prime Minister of Grenada informed the Taiwanese ambassador of his intended trip to China. This in my view was not necessary since we are not Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique on Taiwan but and independent country with our own rights and privileges. In fact if the mainland Chinese use aid as a means for us to jettison our relationship with Taiwan then I say leave their aid where it is. But if our sovereignty is for sale as you seem to indicate by saying that they have been so graciously friendly to our island then ho! w come their Ministry of Foreign Affairs could put out a release after 15 years of cordial relations where they still can’t spell the name of Grenada but call us ‘Granada’? 

The mighty United States maintains ties with both countries and I truly believe it is the intention of the Grenada Government to do the same though not on a diplomatic level. Each year the most favored trading partner of the worlds communist most formidable foe is Communist Mainland China and not Democratic China on Taiwan. Vanuatu’s Prime Minister was removed by with a vote of no confidence by his own party by forging closer links with Taiwan and making ties with Mainland China a decision which the new cabinet has revoked. Even in Taiwan it has been the tough going for the present administration as the Kuomintang (KMT) has won significant mileage in recent legislative elections on the basis of closer ties with Mainland China. If it is good for the United States, Vanuatu and even Taiwan then why is it not good for Grenada. Huh Mr. Noel?

If Taiwan truly has the interest of the people of Grenada at heart they would continue to support us in all the same ways they have before and even more so in light of our present plight. If Taiwan is truly our friend they would acknowledge our right to associate with whom ever whenever we please without having to answer to any third party. The prostitutes and shameless are not those who would defy any nation that thinks it can pay for friendship but those who believe that we should take money for what may feel like love but is in fact more like rape. In case Mr. Noel forgets and I am sure h! e was among those praising those words: 

“Sisters and brothers, what can a few $5,000 do? Our hospitals are without medicines, sheets, pillowcases, and proper equipment. Our schools are falling down. Most of our rural villages are in urgent need of water, electricity, health clinics, and decent housing. Half of the people in our country who are able to and would like to work are unable to find jobs. Four out of every five women are forced to stay at home or scrunt for a meagre existence. $5,000 cannot build a house or a health clinic.

We feel forced to ask whether the paltry sum of a few $5,000 is all that the wealthiest country in the world can offer to a poor but proud people who are fighting for democracy, dignity, and self respect based on real and independent economic development.

Let us contrast this with the immediate response of our Caribbean brothers. We will take two examples: Guyana and Jamaica, countries thousands of times poorer than the United States of America; countries indeed, like ourselves, which are poor, over exploited, and struggling to develop. These two countries have given us technical assistance and cheaper goods and are actively considering our request for arms and military training. This assistance has included a shipment of rice which arrived two days ago, a six man team of economic and other experts from Guyana presently in our country, and the imminent arrival of Mr. Roy Jones, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Jamaica and Professor George Eaton, a leading authority on public service structures.

And, notwithstanding these concrete and much appreciated acts of assistance and solidarity, they have never once attempted to instruct us to the manner in which we should conduct our own internal affairs or as to which countries we should choose to develop relations with.”

In other words Mr. Noel:

“We are not in anybody's backyard, and we are definitely not for sale. Anybody who thinks they can bully us or threaten us clearly has no understanding, idea, or clue as to what material we are made of. They clearly have no idea of the tremendous struggles which our people have fought over the past seven years. Though small and poor, we are proud and determined. We would sooner give up our lives before we compromise, sell out, or betray our sovereignty, our independence, our integrity, our manhood, and the right of our people to national self determination and social progress.”

Maurice Bishop was as right in those days as Dr. Keith Mitchell is now. 

Damien Smith
Grand Anse 
St. George
Grenada

  Back...

  Most popular articles: viewed, printed and e-mailed

  Printable version