Your Excellency Sir Paul Scoon, governor general of Grenada;

Comrades of the Central Committee of the [New Jewel Movement] party and members of the People’s Revolutionary Government;

Esteemed guests;

Beloved sisters and brothers;

Comrades all of free Grenada;

In the name, comrades, in the name of our free people, in the name of our revolution I welcome all of our guests to free Grenada on this occasion of the second anniversary of our glorious and popular people’s revolution.

We are very happy today, comrades, to have so many guests from all different parts of the world, to share this occasion once again with us.

We are particularly happy today to have with us again as we have always had on critical occasions very high, very distinguished representatives from the government and people of revolutionary Cuba.

We are also happy today, comrades, to have with us representatives from another country with which we have developed very close, very fraternal ties over the past two years—the government and people of Nicaragua.

Comrades, today, too, we have with us some people coming from countries several hundred miles away, people who have had to travel in one or two cases for days before they could reach our country, some of these people who have sent high–ranking ministers to be here with us on this occasion of our second anniversary.

I ask you therefore to welcome to our country a minister from the government and people of the Republic of Iraq, a country with which we have been developing very, very close and fraternal ties.

We also have with us ministers from fraternal governments, ministers from friendly governments right here in the region; we have with us a man who has been here on several occasions, a comrade whom the people of Grenada have gotten to know very well.

We are very happy today also to welcome to Grenada as an official representative of his government, Comrade George Odlum, of St. Lucia.

And from the government and people  of Guyana, has come a minister, a man who is now the minister of national development; I ask you, too, to give a hearty welcome to Comrade Robert Corbin.

And finally from the region, from a country that we have been expressing consistent and firm support for, that we have been demonstrating our total solidarity over the years with their struggle I ask you to welcome, comrades, the member of Parliament and the deputy speaker of the House of Parliament, I ask you to welcome the comrade , Comrade Castillo from the government and people of Belize.

But most of all sisters and brothers, comrades, most of all today in the fact of attempts to set back our process from time to time, in the face of attempts to step up the propaganda, to step up the destabilisation today, we are particularly happy for us to see before us so many people of free Grenada assembled in their thousands in this park.

The members of our armed forces, the members of our people in uniform, coming from the People’s Revolutionary Army, coming from the militia, coming from the Police Service, coming from the Revolutionary Cadets, coming from the Grenada Prison Service, coming from the women in uniform, today it is very happy day to see so many of our members of our revolutionary armed forces assembled here with the people of free Grenada.

As we meet today for the second anniversary, we do so at a time of great crisis in the world, a time of deep international industrial crisis particularly in the Western world, we do so at a time, comrades, when millions of people in the industrialized Western world are roaming the streets looking for work, when all official figures have estimated that perhaps over 14 million people are out of work, a time when people are making comparisons with the periods of the 1920s and 1930s—the period of the great depressions.

A time in the world, sisters and brothers, when we are seeing daily runaway inflation, a time in the world when we are seeing a worsening of the balance of trade for developing countries, a time in the world when there is daily deterioration of the conditions of the rural poor of the poorest countries of the world, a time in fact when in some countries illiteracy is actually on the increase, when malnutrition and hunger are actually on the increase, when disease is actually on the increase, a time when it has been estimated that soon there is perhaps going to be over 500 million people who every night are going to bed hungry, with nothing to put into their stomach.

A time when the United Nations has estimated that this great crisis in food production will get even worse unless resources are set aside now to begin to deal with this critical problem, a time, sisters and brothers, when there is a serious worldwide environmental decay, when industrial pollution is affecting the air, is affecting the water, is affecting the land, all because some in the pursuit of dollars are doing this indiscriminately without any regard for the health and welfare of the poor people of the world.

This period that we are witnessing, comrades, is so bad that in August last year [1980] a special General Assembly of the United Nations was convened and at this special General Assembly, which was virtually sabotaged by some of the developed market economy countries, the conclusion was reached that there is going to be, there is going to continue to be, hard resistance to the interest of the countries of the developing world, the countries of the so–called Third World.

The conclusion is also reached that the developing countries should not expect any justice or any serious cooperation from the major industrialized Western countries around the world.

This crisis has become so bad that probably before the end of this year a special General Assembly of the Organisation of American States [OAS] is going to be held to examine areas and to structure forms of cooperation for development in energy, in food production, in small island development in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The present crisis in the world, sisters and brothers, is so bad that the richest country in the world has taken the decision to close down even hospitals, to close down even schools, to cut back on food stamps that benefit the poor people, to cut back on medical assistance for the poor people, to cut back on subsidies to help the poorest farmers to stay in production, to cut back on students’ loans and grants that will assist the poorer students for receiving university education, to cut back in fact on eighty–three poor people’s programs, including programs that will benefit handicapped children.

This crisis is so bad that this country has decided to allow factories to close, to allow their people to roam the streets in their millions, daily being added to by thousands more looking for jobs that are not available.

Comrades, this economic crisis that these countries are facing has had a severe effect on our own country and economy.

Because our country and other countries like ours that are linked to these larger countries in a structural way, our economies are dependent on their economy, then their economies run into trouble, ours also feel the effects of that trouble.

When they sneeze we in the Third World catch the cold, when they run into problems we are the ones who feel it even more than their own people do.

If it is so tough and difficult and hard for even the richest countries in the world, then imagine the difficulties that the smallest and poorest of countries must have to undergo.

And, comrades, we have to ask ourselves the question, that if it is so difficult for these countries that how is progress going to be possible for the poor and small countries of the world?

We believe in Grenada what it is possible, even in the face of these difficulties, for progress nonetheless to be made, that it is possible for our country to continue to move forward even in the face of these difficulties.

We believe that there are ways of achieving these objective.

First and foremost, we believe in the need for honesty with the people, we believe it is important to always too the people the truth, to always give the people the facts even when they are hard facts, to never lull the people into a false sense of security, to never deceive the people, to never made them believe that by some miracle suddenly things are going to improve without greater efforts and greater sacrifice and greater production on our part; to be honest with the people, tell the people the facts, get the people to know the real truth of the situation.

The second formula that we believe could be important is the need to adopt our conscious policy to put people at the center, put the people at the focus, of all of the activities of the government, the state, and the revolution.

To always aim to involved the people, to always aim to get the people to participate, to always aim to mobilize the people, to always seek to deepen the unity of the people because a people that is mobilized is a people that is ready to face the future.

The third formula is that we see it as essential that in a situation as difficult as this one that we take an approach to economic development and we take an approach to building our country that stresses the basic need of our people—an approach that looks inward to the problems of our country and not an approach that looks outward to the need of other people’s countries that are already richer than our own.

We say it is possible that even with limited resources, even with limited capital formation, even with a limited population, it is possible nonetheless to go forward and to bring benefits to the people if these approaches are adopted.

Because while some people are closing hospitals, we are building new hospitals, we have already built a new eye hospital that now means that our people can receive attention to their eyes right here in our own country, no longer having to go abroad.

While some are cutting back on hospital care, we are expanding these facilities for our people; we have built a new maternity clinic; we have built for the first time in the history of our country a new intensive care unit; we have added to the casualty department facilities; we have added to the X–ray facilities; we have built a new operating theater in the hospital; we have moved our country from one dental clinic before the revolution to seven dental clinics today after the revolution.

While others are cutting back on medical care and assistance for the poor in their countries, we have moved instead to double the number of doctors who are available to add to the quantity and quality of health care in our country.

We have moved to triple the number of dentists in our country, after 350 years, free medical attention for all of our people in all public health institutions.

While others are choosing to close schools, we are looking to build new schools, and in fact over the past year we have opened a new secondary school names after one of the martyrs of our revolution—the Bernadette Bailey Secondary School.

And if this sounds like a small achievement, sisters and brothers, I want to remind you that after 350 years of British colonialism and twenty–nine [29] years of Gairyism only one single secondary school was ever built in our country out of public funds—one secondary school after 379 years; but in the first year of the revolution already a second secondary school has been built for the people of our country.

While others, sisters and brothers, are cutting subsidies and cutting grants to their students, we are looking to expand on these facilities for our people.

We are now providing in our primary schools a free milk and a subsidized meal system for all of the children in the primary schools who are in need of this attention; we have moved to the point where we have nearly doubled the number of scholarships from primary to secondary schools so that the children of our country, more of them, are aided to receive a secondary education free of cost; we have moved to the stage where, coming out of the last year of Gairy, only three people got university scholarships to study abroad, in the first year of the revolution 109 Grenadian students left to go away to study at universities abroad.

We have moved to the stage where several months from now, sisters and brothers, secondary education in our country will be entirely free of cost for all of the children of free Grenada.

While some are looking to cut out the assistance to the poor in their country through cutting back on welfare programs, we are aiming to increase that kind of assistance for our people.

We are aiming to keep down the cost of living; that is why we have been able over the past year to keep the price of sugar at sixty–eight cents per pound, while it is selling in neighbouring non–sugar–producing islands at $1.22 and upwards a pound, because we are concerned that the masses have their sugar and have it at the cheapest possible cost that they can afford to get it.

We in free Grenada, comrades, have been moving to increase the assistance we can provide to the farmers of our country through additional fertilizer, through more plants, through more seeds, through greater and better extension services, through the establishment of a common machinery pool.

We have looked at the problem of the poorest of the workers in our country and recognise that for these workers one of the biggest problems has been the rising cost of materials to repair their houses, and therefore we have established a housing repair program for the poorest workers in our country, under which they have over ten years to repay the loan.

They pay back only two–thirds of the total amount, they pay no interest at all, and they only pay the sum of $5 a month back towards the cost of the materials they have received to repair their houses.

The approach of the government has been to try to get the maximum results out of a minimum expenditure of dollars.

We always start off from the premise that money will not be available and, looking from that starting point, we move to the situation of seeing in what ways we can mobilize our people, in what ways we can involve them to help to cut back on waste, to help to cutback on corruption, to help to cut back on inefficiency, to help to increase production through their own voluntary contribution.

That is one reason why Commander of the Revolution General Austin, the head of the People’s Revolutionary Army, has given a directive to the comrades in the PRG that this year the army must feed itself, that this year the army must grow its own food, must develop its own pork, must develop its own poultry, so that the people of our country through their taxes will not have to meet this burden.

This is also why, comrades,  the way in which the revolution approaches this primary question of defending this country is not just to rely on those comrades who are in the professional army, who are in the professional section of the armed forces, but instead to seek to build a part–time army based on the people who work voluntarily, who work without cost, who work because of their sense of patriotism, because of their consciousness, because of their understanding that the revolution is theirs and they must defend their own revolution.

The approach of the revolution is also to make a conscious attempt to transform the economy that we have inherited, to seek to break our dependence on outside forces, to lay the basis for planned and progressive development.

For this reason dreams and mysticism and lack of information and lack of statistics are replaced now by a Ministry of Planning that functions as a ministry of serious and committed technocrats who understand the importance of building that mechanism in order to achieve the necessary economic transformation.

That is also why, sisters and brothers, we have decided and have laid great stress on the need for us to ensure that the productive sector in our country begins to pay for itself in a serious way; that was the reason for declaring 1980 the Year of Education and Production, that is the reason for declaring this year, 1981, the Year of Agriculture and Agro–Industries.

That is why in agriculture we have spent so much time and are making sure that more seeds, that more plants, that more fertilizer, that more extension services, that new crops, that agricultural equipment, that new markets are sought after, so that the farmers in our country will be able to receive a better price for what they are producing.

That is also why in the areas of agro–industry we have moved to establish the coffee processing plant out in Telescope, have moved to establish the agro–industrial plant down in True Blue, that now produces juices, that now produces different condiments.

That is also why a new Ministry of Fisheries and Agro–Industry under Comrade Kenrick Radix has been created so as to ensure that even more time and more attention is given to pushing production in this year 1981.

That is also why, sisters and brothers, in the area of tourism the Hotel Training School has been established; additional plans have been created in the state sector; more tours from abroad have been organised to bring more and more guests to Grenada.

More promotion is being undertaken and discussions are going ahead full speed to see about the immediate construction of new hotels to add to the size of our existing plant.

That is also why in the area of fisheries, we have now moved to establish the first fish and fish products processing plant in True Blue; that is why for the first time in our country today it is now possible to eat entirely locally produced and locally salted salt–fish.

That is why we have been moving to get hold of more fishing boats and better fishing boats and to train our fishermen in more modern techniques of catching the fish, and thereafter in processing what they have caught; all of this is aimed at ensuring that the productive sector in fact develops.

Further we believe too, comrades, that progress can continue to be made notwithstanding the difficulties in a situation where we continue to struggle as a people for the new international economic order, continue to struggle for better prices for what we produce, continue to look for new markets for what we produce, continue to struggle to have science and technology transferred to the poorer developing countries around the world.

We believe too that in order to keep that progress moving that it can be done through developing closer relations among countries that are themselves developing—to continue to develop what is called South to South cooperation to ensure that we talk to each other and look to find ways of helping each others.

That is why one of the most important aspects of our relationship with revolutionary Cuba is the area of economic cooperation and assistance.

That is why, as part of this dialogue between developing countries, revolutionary Cuba has been able to come to our assistance, to help us to construct an international airport, to lend us their doctors, to lend us their internationalist workers, to lend us their fishermen, to help us with universities scholarships.

Revolutionary Cuban can undertake that kind of assignment because they understand themselves from their own history the meaning of true internationalism.

That is one of the things that reaction understands about the relationship between Grenada and Cuba—they understand that this relationship means that the economic development of our country will be pushed even further.

And they understand, too, that that means that this will help us to break our dependence on their market and their economies, and that is why they are also so concerned to break those links and bonds of friendship between our two countries.

But today again we say what we have always said—that the solidarity, the friendship, the depth of feelings, the unity, the cooperation, the anti–imperialist militancy that keeps us together can never, ever be broken: these bonds between free Grenada and revolutionary Cuba.

As part of this South to South cooperation, comrades, we have also developed very great working relations with another country in this region—the country of Venezuela—and with that country we have in fact been able to develop some good bilateral programs that have sought to advance the cause of friendship between our two countries.

We have also been able to develop that kind of relation with the government and people of Nicaragua.

That might sound like a strange statement, that Nicaragua—a country like our own, a country at this stage in a period of national reconstruction—it might sound strange that areas of cooperation on the economic front are possible.

But I must tell you, comrades, that we in free Grenada, as a contribution to the cause of the Nicaraguan literacy campaign, sent two [2] of our very own Grenadian teachers on an internationalist assignment to help the people of Nicaragua to learn to read and to write.

Even more importantly, but again showing what is possible between developing countries themselves even when they are also just struggling and starting off, I must tell you that only last week the government of Nicaragua sent us a gift that has been of tremendous importance—a gift that has meant that the militia comrades on duty today are able to have new uniforms, which came as a gift from the Sandinistas and the junta of Nicaragua.

In that area too, of South to South cooperation and dialogue, we have developed excellent working relations and excellent cooperation with the governments and people of several countries in the Middle East.

From the government of Iraq, we have received tremendous financial assistance both by way of gifts and soft loans, and our government and people place on record our appreciation of this internationalist support.

Similarly, we have received tremendous assistance from the government and people of Algeria, and I ask the representative of that government to convey our fraternal appreciation.

Such assistance has also come from the government and people of Libya and the government and people of Syria.

In Africa likewise, among developing countries on that continent, we have received significant assistance from the governments of Tanzania and Kenya, and that again is an example of what can be done if we try to help each other.

Comrades, if we are going to continue to move forward, if we are going to try to continue to make more progress in the face of these difficulties, the truth of the matter is, we are going to have to work a thousand times harder in the future.

The truth of the matter is, things are going to get more difficult, not less difficult.

The truth of the matter is, we are going to find that the present dangerous period that we are living in is going to act as a fetter and a hindrance and an obstacle, trying to hold back our possibility for peaceful and progressive development.

Today we live in a time of tremendous danger to world peace.

The economic crisis we are seeing reminds us very much of the economic crisis of the thirties, in the period of the Great Depression, which was followed very quickly by World War II.

This new economic crisis, this new period of international tension and instability, this new round of arms build–up, this new round of psychological preparation and propaganda for war, is extremely dangerous tot he survival of our country, the survival of peace in the region and peace in the world.

One estimate has it that the present amount that is being spent on arms expenditure in the world is U.S.$450 billion.

U.S.$450 billion is equal to EC$1200 billion.

I am not saying, comrades, EC$1200 thousand, nor am I saying EC$1200 million, I am saying EC$1200 billion being spent on building arms, on supplying arms.

If you can just think, sisters and brothers, of what EC$1200 billion can do for the hungry of the world, for illiterates of the world, for those in the world who cannot get jobs, for those in the world who are homeless; if you can think of EC$1200 billion imagine what that can do overnight to solve these problems.

To give you an example, EC$1200 billion can build 60 million houses in True Blue complete with living room, with veranda, with kitchen, with toilet.

The two–bedroom houses of that kind—with EC$1200 billion we could build 60 million such houses.

And remember the entire population of the CARICOM region is only 5 million people; in other words 60 million houses could e spread to a substantial section of the world.

If you look at those figures another way, if we had EC$1200 billion to spend and if we continued to spend at the rate we are spending in this year’s recurrent budget, using that figure of the 1981 recurrent budget, it would mean we would have enough money for 17,143 years to come.

For 17,143 more years we could have enough money—that is, the amount of money that has to be spent on this area.

And when you consider that war benefits no one, that war is not in the interests of everybody, that war could never help us solve the real burning problems in the world—the problems of hunger, of poverty, of injustice—when you consider today, sisters and brothers, that even food is being used as a tactical weapon, that some people are threatening to hold back on food assistance for developing countries in order to force those countries into submission, it tells you the danger, it tells you the callousness of the present period that we are facing.

And we have observed further that some people have begun once again to talk about dangerous new concepts, to develop dangerous new ideas that will certainly do harm to the peace of the world.

Some people are talking about international terrorism, and one may speak of international terrorism; what they are doing is that they are removing the human rights doctrine, what they are doing is that they are conveniently finding a way of no longer having to attack South Africa or Chile or South Korea.

What they are doing by this concept of internal terrorism is that they are trying to lump together the socialist countries, the non–aligned countries, the national liberation movement, the progressive countries in the Third World, to try to pull all of these countries together to try to attack the freedom fighters against apartheid in Namibia and South Africa, as being international terrorists and in that way to psychologically prepare their people for action to be taken against these freedom fighters.

What they are doing by the use of this label is that they are finding a way of blaming countries like Cuba, like Nicaragua, like Namibia, like Zimbabwe, like Grenada, a way to blame all our countries for their economic difficulties, to argue that those countries that are now trying to build their own countries, to develop their own resources, by their doing so they are holding back the possibility of economic development for them and in that way are causing the problems of unemployment, the problems of cutbacks in social services, and all the other deep problems that their economies face.

It is a very, very dangerous concept, comrades, and that concept is also being linked to another concept.

This concept is the one called linkage, where some countries in the world are saying that if something happens in one part of the world that they are not in favor of, then they have the right to take retaliatory action in a different part of the world.

That is something happens somewhere else and they don’t like it, then they could come down here and, using that as an excuse, attempt to intervene, attempt to attack our countries and other countries like ours.

Some of these people are today saying that the people of Panama do not have the right to their own Panama Canal, are saying that the Panama Canal belongs to them, that the people of Panama sold it to them and therefore they have lost their right to it.

In this way they are even willing to forget treaty obligations which their own country entered into.

Some of these people, looking at the situation in El Salvador, are trying to pretend that in El Salvador it is a case of the vast majority of the people of El Salvador fighting against a tyrannical junta backed up by a military apparatus that is receiving military assistance from other countries abroad.

Some of these people are looking to deny even the possibility of a political situation for the people of El Salvador, are looking to deny the people of El Salvador the right to work out their own problem, the right to work out their own difficulties, the right to reach a result inside of their own country without having to be propped up, without having to be repressed by any external force.

But we have no doubt at all that the people of El Salvador, because their unity is there, because they understand the meaning of struggling for their freedom, we have no doubt and we give our fullest support to that people as we know soon that the people of El Salvador will win an outright victory.

Some of these countries, some of these people, seem to believe that we have no rights whatsoever.

They speak in terms of the fact that our country is next to the oil routes and the oil lanes that carry their oil, they speak in terms of their foreign investments in the region, they speak in terms of the domino theory that where there is one revolution other revolutions will come.

In speaking of these things, they seem to feel that they must expect us to lift up our country and put it in a different location if we must find some way of facilitating their oil routes; like if we must roll over and pretend that the land, that the resources, that the people in this country are not the common property of all of us, the people of Grenada; like if they want us to pretend that we must abandon all our principles, all of our rights, that we must roll over, that we must say that we are sorry, that we must play like an ostrich and cover our heads in the sand and don’t continue to stand up for our rights, don’t continue to problems our sovereignty, don’t continue to proclaim our independence and the rights of our people to build our own resources in our own interest and for our own benefit.

They seem to expect that these things are part of what they demand.

We cannot and we do not, and we will never be able to accept these imperatives and these demands.

We feel that the only way forward for our people and our country is for us to continue with the mobilization of our people, for us to deepen even further the people’s grassroots democracy and their grassroots democratic organisations where on a daily basis, when in a relevant way, where in a concrete way the people through their community work brigades, through their community education councils, through their Centre for Popular Education [CPE] groups, through their mass organisations, their National Youth Organisation [NYO], their National Women’s Organisation [NWO], their Pioneers Organisations, their Airport Development Committees [ADC], through the growing and deepening of the trade union movement, through the further involvement of our people in participating in learning about the economy, in helping themselves to run the country, in applying the no–secret rule, where the people in any particular state enterprise are entitled to know all the facts, are entitled to know all the problems, are entitled to know all of the projections, are entitled to know whenever difficulties arise, are entitled at the end of the year to have a share in the profits that come out from the enterprise.

We feel strongly that our people must know, our people must do, our people must be involved, our people must definitely have a large part in continuing to build our revolution and push it forward.

We feel also, comrades, an urgent need to deepen further the political consciousness of our people, to get them to understand even more the realities of the world, the realities of the economy, the realities of the danger of the times we are now living in.

We feel the need to get our people to be involved more and more in productive activity, to ensure that our slogan for the year, the Year of Agriculture and Agro–Industries, is successful, to ensure that the productive capacity of the country continues to go forward even more and at an even faster rate.

In going forward for the future too, we certainly will continue to promote the cause of peace, we certainly will continue to promote the cause of disarmament, of détente, of the resumption of the SALT II talks, we will continue to fight to get the Caribbean Sea recognised in practice as a Zone of Peace, we will continue to push for that concept in all international and regional organisation in which we have a voice.

We will continue to urge that no nuclear weapons should be introduced in our region, that all aggressive military manoeuvers should be ended in our region, that all foreign military basis should be dismantled in our region when the people of the county do not want them, that colonialism in our region should be brought to an end.

We will continue to urge that machinery should be set up to deal with all forms of aggressions, to deal with the threats of assassinations, to deal with the threats of mercenary invasions, to deal with the threats of propaganda and other forms of interventions, to deal with the varying forms of diplomatic and economic aggression, which is waged against small countries like our own.

We will certainly continue to struggle to see an end to the aerial spy flights that have been almost nightly going across our country, an end to the military manoeuvers of an aggressive character aimed against our country, in nearby territories, an end to economy piracy that has been taking place through some large fishing trawlers that have been coming and pulling all our fish resources out of our seas.

We will continue, comrades, to struggle for peaceful coexistence, for noninterference in each other’s internal affairs, for the fight to legal equality, for the right to mutual respect, for sovereignty, for our right to build our own process in our own way, for our right to have ideological pluralism, for our right to develop economic cooperation with all the countries in the world that we choose to develop such relations with, for our right to strengthen our links with social democracy worldwide, to strengthen our links with friendly countries in Western Europe, in Africa, in Asia, in Latin America, in North America, and particularly of course with our friends from Canada.

We will struggle for this right. We will struggle to get this message across and understood: that our country has no reason to want to be enemies with anybody; that our country has no reason to want hostility with any country; that what we want is not enemies; that how we see ourselves is as a small country, but a small country that understands our rights and is willing to struggle for our rights, and is willing to defend our rights to have those rights, that is how we see ourselves.

There is absolutely no reason at all for us to want to have any hostile relations with our powerful neighbour to the north; there are more Grenadians living in that country than perhaps the entire population of Grenada; there are more of their tourists who come to our country every year than the whole population of Grenada.

In terms of trade, in terms of economic cooperation, obviously we must prefer to have good relations.

Obviously, we must prefer to be able to live in conditions of complete security and a feeling of no tension and no instability.

But what has to be clearly understood—and this, clearly, is where the problem is—is that on no account and under any circumstances are we going to accept that anyone must tell us that we must trade our principles, that we must sell our beliefs, that we must change our objectives, that we must no longer try to build our own country in our own way and free from all forms of pressure and domination from outside.

We could never accept these statements from anyone.

And therefore, the kind of relations that are possible—the relations that we certainly hope to see built, that we believe we have not built, with the nine member countries of the European Economic Community [EEC], with our friend to the north, the Canadians, with other members of the world community, the Middle East countries, African countries, Latin American countries, Caribbean countries—we see no reason why, if such relations can be built with our country, coming from all different perspectives and positions, there should be any great problem in being able to in fact develop working relations with other countries that right now continue to treat us in a hostile way.

As we close today, sisters and brothers, comrades, I want to leave the message to those here, and to those abroad who doubt our motives, who will suspect that we have plans against them, that we do not want any quarrels with any country in the region.

We do not want any quarrel with any bigger countries that have developed their own system, once we are allowed to develop our own process in our country, we do not have any plans or intentions of interfering in other people’s countries and their affairs; all we want is the right to live in peace.

The right to develop our resources, the right to build our economy, the right to have a productive life for our people.

The right to develop relations with those with whom we want such relations.

The right to be free of tension, of fear of instability, of mercenary aggression, of terrorist activities.

To our friends with us here today, we want to say that we appreciate your past support and solidarity, that we appreciate the friendship organisations you have formed; we ask you to form even more friendship organisations and to expand your membership even further in those that now exist in American, Canada, and England.

We appreciate the past material support you have given to the revolution.

We ask you to continue that support.

We ask our people who are living abroad and our friends who are living abroad that they can make a contribution to our economic development through, for example, saving some of their money in our National Commercial Bank.

Through getting involved in purchasing our International Airport Bonds and other concrete and practical ways like that.

To be of further assistance to our revolutionary process, we ask you to continue to beat back the adverse and negative propaganda when you hear it.

We ask you to help us to achieve one of our slogans, the slogan that says “Come and see for yourself.”

Do not let others tell you about free Grenada.

Come see it for yourself.

When you get back home, encourage your friends, encourage your families, to come see for themselves, to see our people, to see what we are trying to do with our country.

We ask you to be vigilant abroad, to help us expose any attempts, and to organise protests against any attempts at economic sabotage of our revolution, at destabilisation, at attempts at bringing isolation and blockage, at attempts at intervention in different forms.

To those countries that have supported us, and are supporting us still, we certainly value very highly the cooperation and the and of friendship you have extended.

We believe that progress is indivisible, we believe that humanity is one and the same, we believe we all have a duty to help each other, to develop our countries, to ensure that in this way all of the world’s people will be able to have the fullest and happiest life possible.

To the people of free Grenada, we say again we are proud of you, the people of our country.

We are proud of your unity, we are proud of your discipline, we are proud of your courage of your deep commitment, of your character, of your strength.

We are proud of your beauty, of your warmth, of your dignity, of your determination to go forward.

We say to the people of free and revolutionary Grenada what we have always said:

An organised, conscious, united, and vigilant people can never be defeated.

Long live the people of free Grenada!

Long live the ties of world peace!

Long live the friendship between Grenada and Cuba, Grenada and Nicaragua!

Long live the struggle of the people of El Salvador, the struggle of the people of Namibia and South Africa!

Long live the struggle of our brothers and sisters in Zimbabwe!

Long live the struggle of the Palestinian people!

Long live the struggle of our Caribbean sisters and brothers of St. Lucia, of Suriname, of Belize, of Guyana!

Long live the struggle of our sisters and brothers in Angola, in Mozambique, in Ethiopia, in Zambia!

Long live the struggle of our sisters and brothers in Asia, in Western Europe, in the Middle East, in the socialist world, in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, in Bulgaria, in Hungary, in the German Democratic Republic, in Vietnam, in Poland, in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea!

Long live the progressive people of the world!

Long live our brothers and sisters sharing blood ties with us in the United States, in Canada, in England!

Long live democratic and progressive forces in those countries!

Long live the Grenada Friendship Solidarity Committee!

Long live the women in the Caribbean struggling for their freedom!

Long live the National Conference of Black Lawyers!

Long live the World Federation of Democratic Youth and other progressive youths!

Long live the armed forces of our country!

Long live the workers of our country!

Long live the farmers of our country!

Long live the youths of our country!

Long live the women of our country!

Long live the fighting people of free Grenada!

Long live the Grenada Revolution!

Forward ever, backward never!

Forward ever, backward never!

Forward ever, backward never!

Forward ever, backward never!

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