Caribbean Cold War: The Revolution eats itself

[Gary Oswald]

Discuss this article here

 

[Charles EP M.]

"Committee for the Protection of Private Property", what a name

 

[Gary Oswald]

"Committee for the Protection of Private Property", what a name

Honestly say what you like about the morals of dictator backed death squads but "the Volunteers for the Protections of Private Property", "the Night Ambush Squad" and "the Mongoose Gang" are three just amazing names.

"The Night Ambush Squad" is probably my favourite, just for the very, does what it says on the tin nature of it.

 

[Charles EP M.]

It's the full spectrum from a group that uses creepy euphamisms to the We Kill People Team.

 

[Thande]

Honestly say what you like about the morals of dictator backed death squads but "the Volunteers for the Protections of Private Property", "the Night Ambush Squad" and "the Mongoose Gang" are three just amazing names.

"The Night Ambush Squad" is probably my favourite, just for the very, does what it says on the tin nature of it.

Speaking of melodramatic names, the US invasion being called "Operation Urgent Fury" feels like something Tom Clancy would make up.

 

[Coiler]

The invasion of Grenada has surprisingly large significance in purely military terms. Seeing all the flaws, particularly in coordination, of a US military that had been frantically trying to improve post-Vietnam led to further reforms, most notably the Goldwater Nichols Act.

 

[Alex Richards]

I wonder if the most interesting possibility might be one where Bishop gets deposed but manages to survive long enough to, for example, end up being required to agree to hold new elections in return for outside backing to restore him to power.

 

[Gary Oswald]

I wonder if the most interesting possibility might be one where Bishop gets deposed but manages to survive long enough to, for example, end up being required to agree to hold new elections in return for outside backing to restore him to power.

I think Bishop would have a very good chance of winning too, which would be very interesting.

 

[Time Enough]

I think Bishop would have a very good chance of winning too, which would be very interesting.

I do wonder if that was the case if the image of Bishop ends up a bit like Michael Manley instead of what we eventually got.

Additionally an interesting factor would be if the West Indies Federation managed to survive and Eric Gairy manages to slowly gain traction within the Federal West Indies Labour Party and eventually become leader, that could provide an interesting setting for a story, as he tries to impose his style of politics on the whole of West Indies in reaction to Black Liberation and Leftist groups.

 

[Gary Oswald]

I do wonder if that was the case if the image of Bishop ends up a bit like Michael Manley instead of what we eventually got.

Additionally an interesting factor would be if the West Indies Federation managed to survive and Eric Gairy manages to slowly gain traction within the Federal West Indies Labour Party and eventually become leader, that could provide an interesting setting for a story, as he tries to impose his style of politics on the whole of West Indies in reaction to Black Liberation and Leftist groups.

I think undeniably one of the consequences of a Federation is that the resulting West Indies Labour Party would be full of the Big Men authoritarian union leaders who in otl would become pms on their little islands, but here would all be one party with one leader. That was kind of the point of it in many ways to get them into a climate where they had less power because they'll be consumed by the more sophisticated political parties of Jamaica and Trinidad.

But well Jamaica also had huge problems with political violence, and Eric Gairy and Patrick John in particular were utter bastards who'd have solutions to that. You could easily see it backfiring and one of them climb the ladder instead only in a larger country so they can do more damage.

 

[Time Enough]

But well Jamaica also had huge problems with political violence, and Eric Gairy and Patrick John in particular were utter bastards who'd have solutions to that. You could easily see it backfiring and one of them climb the ladder instead only in a larger country so they can do more damage.

It would certainly be a good thriller setting something like, It’s 1980, the old West Indies Federal Labour Party has been overthrown after over twenty years of uninterrupted rule, the Democratic Congress has taken its place with Michael Manley offering reformist Socialism. But there are whispers of a coup about to take place, our hero has to see if it’s true and find out who’s behind it…it’s Eric Gairey/Patrick John/that Jamaican Prime Minister and American Mecernaries.

Or our hero has to help in overthrowing the Gairey/John Goverment etc.

 

[RyanF]

"a Kleptocrat with a UFO fetish" - Gairy went on to serve on Falkirk Council?

I do like as well how much many of the smaller Antilles nations were seen as on the periphery of the Cold War that you get Castro, Gaddafi and Thatcher all on the same page. It's the geopolitical equivalent of Mario karting with Bowser.

 

[Alex Richards]

I think Bishop would have a very good chance of winning too, which would be very interesting.

Which is both why there's a decent chance he'd go for it, and why it might be so interesting.

 

[napoleon IV]

Honestly say what you like about the morals of dictator backed death squads but "the Volunteers for the Protections of Private Property", "the Night Ambush Squad" and "the Mongoose Gang" are three just amazing names.

"The Night Ambush Squad" is probably my favourite, just for the very, does what it says on the tin nature of it.

The Mongoose Gang sounds like the villains of a 30s comic strip. I get that they're a brutal death squad, but I can't read that name without imagining them robbing a bank and saying "And you tell 'em coppers the Mongoose Gang was here, capeesh!"

 

[Gary Oswald]

The Mongoose Gang sounds like the villains of a 30s comic strip. I get that they're a brutal death squad, but I can't read that name without imagining them robbing a bank and saying "And you tell 'em coppers the Mongoose Gang was here, capeesh!"

It is very Dick Tracy as a name, yeah.

The name apparently comes from a successful old British colonial attempt to eradicate introduced mongooses on the island, where they hired mongoose gangs to kill them and bring back the tails as a bounty. And then when Gairy started having protestor problems, this was a metaphor he reached for.

 

[Lilitou]

"The last resisting native leader, Kairouane, threw himself and his last followers off a cliff to avoid being enslaved in 1654."

I know this is only tangentially related to the rest of the article, but I thought it was quite poignant.

I also just wanted to say that I'm really enjoying this series so far!