In a recent letter to the editor published in Newsday, Kevin Baldeosingh critiques arts activist Dara E Healy’s column, ‘Time to meddle in fowl party,’ which praised writers and activists who supported Maurice Bishop’s New Jewel Movement (NJM) in Grenada. Healy highlighted figures like Merle Hodge, George Lamming, Nancy Morejon, Earl Lovelace, and Eintou Springer for their advocacy of Bishop’s vision of a people-centred ideology. However, Baldeosingh counters this narrative by pointing out the NJM’s authoritarian practices post the 1979 coup, including the suspension of Grenada’s constitution, suppression of media, and imprisonment without trial—actions he argues were never condemned by the intellectuals Healy lauded. Baldeosingh also scrutinizes Healy’s reference to calypsonian Atilla’s protest song ‘No Nationality,’ which criticized land leasing agreements between the British and Americans during World War Two. Notably, Healy omitted Atilla’s full sobriquet, ‘Atilla the Hun,’ a historical figure known for his invasions and destabilization of Roman frontiers. Baldeosingh’s critique underscores the need for a more critical evaluation of intellectual arguments regarding US influence in the Caribbean, questioning the validity of their historical and political perspectives.
