Maurice Bishop 1944-1983

"Caribbean left-wing movements began to contact and support each other. In Grenada on 10 May 1970, Bishop led a demonstration of favorable approval for the black-power uprising in Trinidad, including support for ‘Grenadian brothers’ on that neighboring island. He was inspired by the Black Power Movement and Black dignity.

During 1970, a gathering called the 'Rat Island Black Power Conference' was held off St. Lucia. At the Rat Island conference, Bishop met the late George Odlum of St. Lucia, Rosie Douglas of Dominica, and other West Indian intellectuals. Out of the ‘Rat Island Conference’ came the group known as ‘Forum,’ closely aligned with the National Action Front (NAF) in Grenada.

Regional intellectuals from St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenada took on consolidation in a Caribbean association of political groups called ‘Forum.’ ‘Forum,’ active in Grenada in June-July 1970 had a newspaper of the same name. Forum primarily protested the policies of Eric Matthew Gairy and discussed issues of black nationalism. In Grenada, ‘Forum’ joined with ‘Cribou’ in 1971 to uphold International Solidarity Day, sponsored by the ‘Pan-African Secretariat’ in Guyana, and a ‘National Conference on the Rights of Black People’, a group protesting racism in Great Britain." - Ann Elizabeth Wilder - The Grenada Revolution Online