BERMUDIANS considering the option of Independence should give some thought to the experience of Grenada ? the most beautiful of the Caribbean islands. It is oval in shape, volcanic in origin, 100 square miles in area, fertile and well wooded, has a population of 100,000, English is the main language and the economy is based on agriculture and tourism.

The man who dominated the political stage during the 1960s and '70s was Eric Matthew Gairy ? a man born in Grenada who worked in the Aruba oilfields but returned to Grenada in the early '50s. He had limited education and came to prominence as a labour union organiser and leader. He persuaded the urban and rural workers that they were being exploited and delighted them with his total disrespect for the Governor and the white establishment.

He organised Grenada's first general strike, which erupted into violence, and several people were killed and thereafter he was arrested and fined on several occasions for offensive behaviour and obscene language. The accompanying publicity caused him to be idolised by the workers who came to look on him as their champion.

Gairy used this union backing to get himself into politics and organised the Grenada United Labour Party (GULP) which won sufficient votes to get him a ministerial seat in 1967. Attaining political power brought out the worst side of Gairy.

He completely forgot or ignored his undertakings to help the workers and his first priority was securing his power base by surrounded himself with "friends" whose loyalty he bought with perquisites such as big salaries and houses and unlimited travel and expense allowances and awards of Government contracts.

He also replaced the civil servants who ran the police and the courts and the finance departments with other "friends". When his policies gave rise to opposition he disarmed and suppressed his opponents by censoring the media and harassing them not only personally but also attacking and vandalising their families and their homes and their businesses. He passed a law making it illegal to use a loud speaker without a licence for the sole reason of preventing political opponents from addressing large gatherings.

Not being satisfied with the efforts of the police he organised a hand picked body of some 300 unemployed persons of bad character ? ex-convicts thugs and ruffians ? which became known as the "Mongoose Gang" who were paid from the public purse to do his will. Brutal beatings and torture became routine in the various police stations and people began mysteriously "disappearing".

There developed a political opposition to GULP called the New Jewel Movement (NJM) under the leadership of a young charismatic London-trained lawyer Maurice Bishop, who had strong Communist leanings.

Gairy determined to crush the NJM. On November 18, 1973, which became known as Bloody Sunday, Bishop and five other NJM leaders were beaten unmercifully and thrown into Grenville prison. A few months later on January 21, 1974 NJM arranged a public demonstration in St. George's which Gairy ordered the Mongoose Gang to break up, which they did, causing riots in which several people were killed including Maurice Bishop's father Rupert.

Meanwhile Gairy set February 7, 1974 for Independence Day which the UK accepted despite growing opposition not only to Gairy but also to Gairy's plans for Independence. Thousands of Grenadians were unimpressed with what Independence had done in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago and wanted a referendum on Independence to be held. They looked on the removal of Britain's residual responsibilities as opening the door to a Gairy tyrannical dictatorship.

When Grenada achieved associated statehood in 1967 the UK ceased to have the last word on the appointment of the Head of State because the UK ceased to be responsible for ensuring good government and they appointed whoever the Premier wanted.

At the time Sir Ian Turbott was Governor. His appointment was soon terminated as a result of differences with Premier Gairy and a distinguished Grenadian medical practitioner, Dame Hilda Bynoe, was appointed to succeed him.

Gairy made political capital out of being the first person responsible for the appointment of a woman to this exalted office but when there were demonstrations against Gairy of unprecedented proportions in January 1974, in which Rupert Bishop was murdered, Dame Hilda not only vacated the position of Governor but left Grenada in fear of her life.

Dame Hilda Bynoe was succeeded by a rich white Grenadian, Sir Leo DeGale, as Governor who represented the Queen at the Independence Day celebrations on February 7, 1974 which turned out to be a miserable affair. The NJM had called a nationwide strike and the so-called ceremonies were a farce.

In September 1979 Sir Leo DeGale decided to migrate to Australia before completing his term of office and Gairy then had his former Cabinet secretary ? a black Grenadian, Sir Paul Scoon, appointed Governor.

In December 1976 an election was held in which GULP won nine seats and NJM six seats which was a creditable result because the opposition party gained 48.5 per cent of the popular vote while GULP controlled the media and were guilty of mass manipulation of voter registration and voting mal practice and vote counting.

With these disadvantages the NJM decided that the brutal and corrupt Gairy ? now Sir Eric Gairy since he, like most Premiers, had awarded himself a knighthood ? government must be ejected.

In July 1977 the annual conference of the Organisation of American States was held in St. George's. The NJM decided to hold a demonstration against Gairy's government which the government made illegal. The NJM went ahead and Gairy ordered his Mongoose Gang to break it up with gunfire and the NJM acquired a second martyr ? 17-year-old Alister Strachn. Gairy traveled frequently usually to the US where he stayed in the best hotels and enjoyed the services of prostitutes. He made Grenada a member of the United Nations and on March 12, 1979 he left Grenada for New York where he was to make an address on the importance of Unidentified Flying Objects.

The next day ? March 13, 1979 ? Maurice Bishop and his opposition colleagues organised an armed assault on the various Gairy strongholds, all of which surrendered and the was accomplished without bloodshed.

Some 60 or more of Gairy's "friends" in high positions were arrested and the Mongoose Gang disbanded. The coup was enormously popular and the whole island came into the streets to celebrate.

Maurice Bishop was undoubtedly the leader of the revolution and was proclaimed the Prime Minister of the new government, which was called the People's Revolutionary Government (PRG). He proclaimed the return of democracy and free elections but this was not the view of his right-hand man Bernard Coard and did not happen.

Although not a prominent public figure, Coard was a strong character who became Deputy Prime Minister and influenced the progress of the PRG more than Bishop. He was a dedicated Marxist and agreed with Castro that the free world's institutions of an elected legislature and an independent judiciary are nothing but a nuisance. The PRG would be run by a clique of the party faithful who would make and enforce laws and run the country.

The PRG military junta ruled Grenada for the ensuing four-and-a-half years during which they did much to repair the disastrous devastation left by Gairy and made some meaningful improvements such as the construction of an airport but it also displayed serious faults and alienated the West by courting Leninism.

Dissatisfaction with Bishop's leadership and the inevitable split arising out of policy and personality conflicts led to violence and many died including the brutal massacre of Bishop and ten of his colleagues on October 19, 1983.

The resulting chaos in Grenada and concern for the safety of foreign nationals and the threat to neighbours resulted in the island being invaded on October 27, 1983 by a coalition of West Indian forces led by the US Marines.

The people of Grenada joyously welcomed the invaders as liberators and it took only a few days for such opposition as there was to be overcome. Foreign nationals were unharmed and the Cuban soldiers and workers were expelled.

Neither Gairy nor Bishop paid any attention to the 1973 Independence Constitution adopted ten years before and the only legally established surviving authority under it was the Head of State Sir Paul Scoon.

The international community rallied around Scoon and he appointed a committee whose purpose it was to arrange elections and organise a government which would operate within the provisions of the 1973 Constitution.

Anyone who thinks these events cannot be repeated here in Bermuda is mistaken. They are already happening.