By Kennedy Earle Clarke — 24 February 2022
“When a working-class people are improperly educated politically as to the struggles waged on their behalf, they are prone to adopt the lifestyle of their oppressors, unaware of the battles waged to improve their standard of living. These advances lull them into false impressions, giving them the belief that they have arrived socially and economically, thus blinding them to the continuing oppression of their less fortunate brothers and sisters.”
Dear reader, the People’s Action Movement (PAM), which was formed in 1965, contested the 1966 General Elections and lost all seats. In 1967, the same PAM along with some misguided Anguillan citizens and USA mercenaries, launched an armed attack upon St. Kitts with the sole intention of overthrowing the 1966 lawfully elected Labour Government led by Comrade Robert Llewellyn Bradshaw, which had won all seven seats. Fortunately for us the Black working class, Divine intervention interceded on our behalf — the boat carrying the Anguillans and USA mercenaries mistook St. Eustatius (Statia) for St. Kitts, and by the time they discovered their error and corrected it, dawn was already signalling its presence and many of those waiting had already left.
Despite the late arrival, the few PAM supporters who remained decided to execute the plan. The fact that the organizer of the dance held at the Factory Social Centre remained calm and serene when armed masked men suddenly appeared — while everyone else was panicking — testifies to full involvement in the plot. Most damning was the conduct of the Defence Force Commander: the armoury was locked the night before a State of Emergency was declared, the keys taken home, leaving the soldiers at the mercy of their attackers. When the Defence Force rang Police Headquarters for help, the Police High Command advised them that “every tub sits on its own bottom.” The Police were warned not to defend themselves. The Commissioner of Police was fully aware that a State of Emergency existed in the country. The education continues next week, God willing!