Andrew Sage

But in some ways, they did rhyme.

I would wrap up, I suppose, with Bundy's sort of critique of Grenada's revolution, which is what I just echoed.

This continued consciousness of a deference to hierarchy.

A genuine revolution depends on people taking direct responsibility.

Not waiting for leaders or stages of development.

Not waiting on guidance.

Being empowered themselves.

That sort of tired Leninist gradualism and bureaucratic control gets regular people no closer to actually having a sense of autonomy and control over their lives.

And as Fundy emphasizes, especially in small Caribbean societies, participatory, local, self-managed systems are entirely feasible.

In closing, Fundy suggested that Grenada's revolution failed because it moved away from this principle of immediate collective self-management and deliberately chose hierarchy.

And from that hierarchy came a sense of eroding trust, came a sense of secrecy, became a sense of secret societies.

And I created a culture of secrecy, opposed transparency that led to its downfall.

As I mentioned, it was gossip, a rumor of somebody trying to kill Bishop that got this ball rolling.

So today I want to appeal directly to Caribbean radicals of all stripes to learn, to earnestly learn from the Canadian Revolution.

I want to appeal not just to Caribbean radicals, but to radicals all across the world, all across our listenership.

It is critical in times when the means of intervention and the means of disruption and division and cooptation are more powerful than ever.

That you engage in the sort of dissipation of leadership.

That you engage in grassroots and dispersed empowerment.

That you maintain an anti-authoritarian ethos that cannot be co-opted by a charismatic power.

That you take an approach to organization that does not lend itself to the vulnerabilities of hierarchy.