“When one with honeyed words, but evil mind persuades the mob, great woes befall the state.” Euripides, Orestes.

Dear reader, a beautiful lady from Nevis visited my home during the Christmas Season and, when she was departing, she informed me that she is a great reading fan of my articles and listens keenly whenever I am on the radio giving my views. On December 30th, I visited the land of my mother’s birth and was satisfied to learn of the many reading fans I have over there. Then, there was this lady who was travelling to England for medical purposes, who met me in Church Street and told me that she was going to purchase some copies to take up to England for some of her friends and family have requested that she travels with them. I must be performing a gigantic task in the education of my people and I promise to continue in the same vein as an unbiased referee presenting the facts and blowing the whistle whenever there is an infringement. It is my fervent hope and New Year’s wish, that more of us as a people could emulate the Eagle by soaring high on wings of Principles and Integrity, instead of emulating the yard fowl which can only fly as high as the limb on which it will perch for the night, and which can only scratch the surface of the earth, totally content with whatever emerges out of the ground.

I wish to pose the question here and now, “Why is it that the Nevis Politicians, in order to hold sway with the Nevis Electorate, always turn to the topic of “SECESSION” and in doing so, build up this VENOMOUS HATRED for St. Kitts people who are their Blood Brothers and Sisters? Why do they perform this TREACHEROUS ACT? Is it Love of Nevisians or manipulation of them? If there is SECESSION, who wins and who loses? If there is a Timothy Harris who wants to achieve the Prime Ministership at any cost and by any means possible, it would be business as usual; but, if it is a leader who has been elected by the people, if it is a leader who possesses the same National Fervor like his Nevisian counterparts, it definitely would not be business as usual, because we will become two separate entities. It would not be St. Kitts-Nevis anymore. It would be an independent St. Kitts and an independent Nevis, each paddling its own canoe. What if St. Kitts sets up its boundaries and deny Nevisian fishermen from selling their fish in St. Kitts? What if Kittitians rise up and say that all Nevisians must obtain a permit to travel to St. Kitts?
What if Kittitians demand that Nevisians do not come to St. Kitts to work? Kittitians also possess NATIONAL PRIDE as well you know! The disastrous thing about this SECESSION BUSINESS is that those, who are calling for Secession are not truly and honestly educating their people about its cause and effects. We only have to look at the dire consequences of the BREXIT MOVEMENT, where the people were not thoroughly educated. The impression given was that too many Europeans were invading England and taking away jobs, but English people were in other European lands working. English made goods had a market in Europe, but, with its exit, it would not be business as usual; England now has the time of its life negotiating with the European Union. The English pound has even been weakened. Granny used to say, “All that glitter is not gold!” “A bird in the hand is better than forty in the bush!” “Monkey is sure of what is in its belly, not what is in its mouth!” “Beware of false prophets!”

The perpetrators of the Brexit Movement should have journeyed to St. Kitts to be educated about some of granny’s words of wisdom, and they would have been spared the writhing agonies they are now experiencing. Our brothers and sisters in Nevis do not have to travel far to learn, for they are just across the road from St. Kitts. I could well remember when I was the Corporal in charge of New Castle Station 1962-1963, how this particular Lawyer who was a Secessionist used to travel over there encouraging those who lived near to the sea-side to sell their land to white people. He was the Lawyer for the white people and still the Lawyer for the locals. Wasn’t this an indication that, if Nevisians were encouraged to sell their land near to the sea that they and their children would not be able to enjoy this natural resource? There was this Nevis Lawyer whose client worked in Tortola and who got injured down there. She returned home and solicited his services. The US Dollar when she employed him was E.C$1.68. When the case was tried the exchange rate skipped to E.C$2.70, yet, the lady was paid in US Currency but at the rate of $1.68. See how much those who bellow Secession love their people?

Who gains and who loses were Nevis to SECEDE from St. Kitts? What amazes me is that most of the leaders who preach SECESSION are those who worked in St. Kitts unmolested, undiscriminated by Kittitians and were a vital part of the Labour Movement down here, yet, when they returned home and entered politics, they began spouting this venomous hatred for everything St. Kitts. Eugene Walwyn was born in Nevis but lived in St. Kitts at a very tender age where he attended school, attended University and opened his law office here before returning to his borning land. Nobody ever showed him a bad face, but yet, when he returned to Nevis and entered politics, he began spouting SECESSION from St. Kitts. Theodore Hobson lived in St. Kitts. He played cricket in St. Kitts, was viciously against Secession, but afterward acquiesced to the Secessionist Movement even writing a letter in the Nevis Observer of June 02, 2006 condemning the NRP for not supporting the CCM in its bid for SECESSION! Mr. Hobson ran four times in Nevis’ elections-1983, 1984, 1987, and 1992 always losing in the exercise. Simeon Daniel, upon returning from England was in young Labour with me; he worked for the Labour Government but, upon returning home and entering politics, became vehemently hateful of St. Kitts and its people who accepted him without reservations, realizing that we are one people. Yet, he was like a viper with his hatred for St. Kitts people?

The first leader of the CCM travelled to St. Kitts regularly to seek the cooperation of the younger elements in the Labour Party to help him to form his political party. The discussions were held upstairs Mrs. Stanley’s (a born Nevisian and strong Labour supporter) shop at the corner of Central and Mid College Streets, mostly on a Saturday. Articles were even written in the Mouthpiece (The Labour Spokesman) of the Labour Party in assisting the CCM to emerge on the political landscape. Public Address systems (with technicians) were loaned to them to assist in their public meetings, yet this hatred for St. Kitts people is being vented and Secession from St. Kitts is being preached. Mark Brantley’s mother lived near to Trafalgar Village; the Village area (# 3 Constituency – a Labour Stronghold) is heavily peopled by Nevisians; everybody accepted the bright little boy when he came to spend his school holidays in St. Kitts with his mother and grandmother. No one ever discriminated against him for his grandmother, who was married to a shopkeeper was well beloved and highly respected.

Today, that same Mark Brantley is an avid SECESSIONIST. I pose the question again, “Who will be the BENEFICIARIES of SECESSION from St. Kitts? Have the people of Nevis been notified as to what benefits will be accrued were the island to break away? Point me a finger to any Nevisian who does not have a family in St. Kitts? How many Nevisian men are married to Nevisian women and how many Nevisian women are married to St. Kitts men? I keep harping on the fact that SECESSION was never a Black Nevisian thing; it was the white inhabitants who protested the forcible annexation of Nevis onto St. Kitts in 1883. The white people in Nevis were recognized for their Culture: Who is who resided in Nevis; on the other hand, those in St. Kitts were somehow uncouth (lacking refinement) ST. Kitts Black people and Nevis Black people could not even vote, never mind to have political aspirations in the running of things, so, why all this hatred amongst us Black people who are bonded by blood? Is this a Willy Lynch case of “DIVIDE and RULE?” Why is it that all Nevisian Leaders have had good relations with Kittitians, were treated with love and respect whilst living down here, yet, on their return home, they become antagonistic towards anything Kittitian and St. Kitts?”Why is this so?”

When are we as a people united by blood ties, going to discover the guts, the inner strength to stand up to those who profess to be our leaders and tell them point blank that all a we is one family? “WHEN?” How long are we going to continue to take up this white man’s cudgel (1883-2018= 135 years ago)? So, why the SCESSION ROUTE? Why the Division? Why all this hatred? Why are we the most nuclear armed country in the world with nuclear tipped missiles of hatred for each other? Why can’t we find or attempt to find the bonds that unite us as the one people who we really are? Why can’t we live in peace and harmony with each other? Isn’t there a saying that “Blood is thicker than water?” If BLOOD is thicker than water, we should all be ONE BIG, GREAT HAPPY FAMILY, greeting each other with a hug every time we encounter each other rather than the hostility with which we hold for one another. From a distance you look like my family even though we are separated by water. From a distance I feel the Nevisian Blood coursing through my veins. We have wasted a whole century and almost a half hating each other and for what?
Let the New Year 2018 be spent mending those fences of hatred which the politicians have erected to divide us. Let us break down those barriers which we ourselves assisted the politicians to erect, for we should have smelled the blood a very long time and shouted at them to HALT the acrimony and the disharmony which they have been feeding us with for so very long. Everybody is coming into our Federation and living better than where they originated and we who are tied to each other are cutting one another’s throats? Why can’t we take pattern from how the Spanish live? Don’t we witness the togetherness of the Guyanese? Look at the cohesive spirit of the Jamaicans who have a vibrant Jamaica Association here? Why can they unite, why can they build who are only from the same country? They are not bonded by BLOOD the way we are bonded and yet they can unite and live and help each other while we are at each other’s throats. They are building, while we are destroying; they are uniting white we who are blooded are hating! There comes a time in the history of mankind when he comes to his senses and declares that ENOUGH is ENOUGH! It is therefore high time for us to change our THINKING! It is high time for us to change our behaviour.

It is high time that we chart a new course. That we soar like Eagles, shedding our yard fowl mentality of being only content to scratch the surface of the earth, satisfied with the roaches, the centipedes, the worms of hatred and division which separate us. In soaring high above, we are drawn nearer and closer to our Creator, we now soar on the clouds of peace and harmony, in soaring, we are now possessed with choices and not contentment; in soaring, we now glide on the currents of LOVE, TOGETHERNESS PEACEFULNESS, HAPPINESS, discovering the brotherliness and the sisterliness in all of us, wishing that we had discovered this blissful feeling many moons ago. What a joy it is to dwell in the company and the comforting presence of each other as one family? May each of you, my truly beloved and newly discovered sister and brother enjoy the New Year 2018 and may we continue to climb the upward path to LOVE, PEACE and HARMONY! This New Harmonious relationship will drive away the ominous clouds of hatred and crime for we are now viewing each other with LOVE and RESPECT and not with envy, hatred and rancour. Steve Maraboli in his quote, Unapologetically You said, “Live your truth. Express your love. Share your enthusiasm. Take actions towards your dreams. Walk your talk. Dance and sing to your music. Embrace your blessings. Make today worth remembering!” PART (3) BY Earle Clarke, 16/01/ 2018:

“When one with honeyed words, but evil mind persuades the mob, great woes befall the state.” Euripides, Orestes.

Dear reader, a beautiful lady from Nevis visited my home during the Christmas Season and, when she was departing, she informed me that she is a great reading fan of my articles and listens keenly whenever I am on the radio giving my views. On December 30th, I visited the land of my mother’s birth and was satisfied to learn of the many reading fans I have over there. Then, there was this lady who was travelling to England for medical purposes, who met me in Church Street and told me that she was going to purchase some copies to take up to England for some of her friends and family have requested that she travels with them. I must be performing a gigantic task in the education of my people and I promise to continue in the same vein as an unbiased referee presenting the facts and blowing the whistle whenever there is an infringement. It is my fervent hope and New Year’s wish, that more of us as a people could emulate the Eagle by soaring high on wings of Principles and Integrity, instead of emulating the yard fowl which can only fly as high as the limb on which it will perch for the night, and which can only scratch the surface of the earth, totally content with whatever emerges out of the ground.

I wish to pose the question here and now, “Why is it that the Nevis Politicians, in order to hold sway with the Nevis Electorate, always turn to the topic of “SECESSION” and in doing so, build up this VENOMOUS HATRED for St. Kitts people who are their Blood Brothers and Sisters? Why do they perform this TREACHEROUS ACT? Is it Love of Nevisians or manipulation of them? If there is SECESSION, who wins and who loses? If there is a Timothy Harris who wants to achieve the Prime Ministership at any cost and by any means possible, it would be business as usual; but, if it is a leader who has been elected by the people, if it is a leader who possesses the same National Fervor like his Nevisian counterparts, it definitely would not be business as usual, because we will become two separate entities. It would not be St. Kitts-Nevis anymore. It would be an independent St. Kitts and an independent Nevis, each paddling its own canoe. What if St. Kitts sets up its boundaries and deny Nevisian fishermen from selling their fish in St. Kitts? What if Kittitians rise up and say that all Nevisians must obtain a permit to travel to St. Kitts?
What if Kittitians demand that Nevisians do not come to St. Kitts to work? Kittitians also possess NATIONAL PRIDE as well you know! The disastrous thing about this SECESSION BUSINESS is that those, who are calling for Secession are not truly and honestly educating their people about its cause and effects. We only have to look at the dire consequences of the BREXIT MOVEMENT, where the people were not thoroughly educated. The impression given was that too many Europeans were invading England and taking away jobs, but English people were in other European lands working. English made goods had a market in Europe, but, with its exit, it would not be business as usual; England now has the time of its life negotiating with the European Union. The English pound has even been weakened. Granny used to say, “All that glitter is not gold!” “A bird in the hand is better than forty in the bush!” “Monkey is sure of what is in its belly, not what is in its mouth!” “Beware of false prophets!”

The perpetrators of the Brexit Movement should have journeyed to St. Kitts to be educated about some of granny’s words of wisdom, and they would have been spared the writhing agonies they are now experiencing. Our brothers and sisters in Nevis do not have to travel far to learn, for they are just across the road from St. Kitts. I could well remember when I was the Corporal in charge of New Castle Station 1962-1963, how this particular Lawyer who was a Secessionist used to travel over there encouraging those who lived near to the sea-side to sell their land to white people. He was the Lawyer for the white people and still the Lawyer for the locals. Wasn’t this an indication that, if Nevisians were encouraged to sell their land near to the sea that they and their children would not be able to enjoy this natural resource? There was this Nevis Lawyer whose client worked in Tortola and who got injured down there. She returned home and solicited his services. The US Dollar when she employed him was E.C$1.68. When the case was tried the exchange rate skipped to E.C$2.70, yet, the lady was paid in US Currency but at the rate of $1.68. See how much those who bellow Secession love their people?

Who gains and who loses were Nevis to SECEDE from St. Kitts? What amazes me is that most of the leaders who preach SECESSION are those who worked in St. Kitts unmolested, undiscriminated by Kittitians and were a vital part of the Labour Movement down here, yet, when they returned home and entered politics, they began spouting this venomous hatred for everything St. Kitts. Eugene Walwyn was born in Nevis but lived in St. Kitts at a very tender age where he attended school, attended University and opened his law office here before returning to his borning land. Nobody ever showed him a bad face, but yet, when he returned to Nevis and entered politics, he began spouting SECESSION from St. Kitts. Theodore Hobson lived in St. Kitts. He played cricket in St. Kitts, was viciously against Secession, but afterward acquiesced to the Secessionist Movement even writing a letter in the Nevis Observer of June 02, 2006 condemning the NRP for not supporting the CCM in its bid for SECESSION! Mr. Hobson ran four times in Nevis’ elections-1983, 1984, 1987, and 1992 always losing in the exercise. Simeon Daniel, upon returning from England was in young Labour with me; he worked for the Labour Government but, upon returning home and entering politics, became vehemently hateful of St. Kitts and its people who accepted him without reservations, realizing that we are one people. Yet, he was like a viper with his hatred for St. Kitts people?

The first leader of the CCM travelled to St. Kitts regularly to seek the cooperation of the younger elements in the Labour Party to help him to form his political party. The discussions were held upstairs Mrs. Stanley’s (a born Nevisian and strong Labour supporter) shop at the corner of Central and Mid College Streets, mostly on a Saturday. Articles were even written in the Mouthpiece (The Labour Spokesman) of the Labour Party in assisting the CCM to emerge on the political landscape. Public Address systems (with technicians) were loaned to them to assist in their public meetings, yet this hatred for St. Kitts people is being vented and Secession from St. Kitts is being preached. Mark Brantley’s mother lived near to Trafalgar Village; the Village area (# 3 Constituency – a Labour Stronghold) is heavily peopled by Nevisians; everybody accepted the bright little boy when he came to spend his school holidays in St. Kitts with his mother and grandmother. No one ever discriminated against him for his grandmother, who was married to a shopkeeper was well beloved and highly respected.

Today, that same Mark Brantley is an avid SECESSIONIST. I pose the question again, “Who will be the BENEFICIARIES of SECESSION from St. Kitts? Have the people of Nevis been notified as to what benefits will be accrued were the island to break away? Point me a finger to any Nevisian who does not have a family in St. Kitts? How many Nevisian men are married to Nevisian women and how many Nevisian women are married to St. Kitts men? I keep harping on the fact that SECESSION was never a Black Nevisian thing; it was the white inhabitants who protested the forcible annexation of Nevis onto St. Kitts in 1883. The white people in Nevis were recognized for their Culture: Who is who resided in Nevis; on the other hand, those in St. Kitts were somehow uncouth (lacking refinement) ST. Kitts Black people and Nevis Black people could not even vote, never mind to have political aspirations in the running of things, so, why all this hatred amongst us Black people who are bonded by blood? Is this a Willy Lynch case of “DIVIDE and RULE?” Why is it that all Nevisian Leaders have had good relations with Kittitians, were treated with love and respect whilst living down here, yet, on their return home, they become antagonistic towards anything Kittitian and St. Kitts?”Why is this so?”

When are we as a people united by blood ties, going to discover the guts, the inner strength to stand up to those who profess to be our leaders and tell them point blank that all a we is one family? “WHEN?” How long are we going to continue to take up this white man’s cudgel (1883-2018= 135 years ago)? So, why the SCESSION ROUTE? Why the Division? Why all this hatred? Why are we the most nuclear armed country in the world with nuclear tipped missiles of hatred for each other? Why can’t we find or attempt to find the bonds that unite us as the one people who we really are? Why can’t we live in peace and harmony with each other? Isn’t there a saying that “Blood is thicker than water?” If BLOOD is thicker than water, we should all be ONE BIG, GREAT HAPPY FAMILY, greeting each other with a hug every time we encounter each other rather than the hostility with which we hold for one another. From a distance you look like my family even though we are separated by water. From a distance I feel the Nevisian Blood coursing through my veins. We have wasted a whole century and almost a half hating each other and for what?
Let the New Year 2018 be spent mending those fences of hatred which the politicians have erected to divide us. Let us break down those barriers which we ourselves assisted the politicians to erect, for we should have smelled the blood a very long time and shouted at them to HALT the acrimony and the disharmony which they have been feeding us with for so very long. Everybody is coming into our Federation and living better than where they originated and we who are tied to each other are cutting one another’s throats? Why can’t we take pattern from how the Spanish live? Don’t we witness the togetherness of the Guyanese? Look at the cohesive spirit of the Jamaicans who have a vibrant Jamaica Association here? Why can they unite, why can they build who are only from the same country? They are not bonded by BLOOD the way we are bonded and yet they can unite and live and help each other while we are at each other’s throats. They are building, while we are destroying; they are uniting white we who are blooded are hating! There comes a time in the history of mankind when he comes to his senses and declares that ENOUGH is ENOUGH! It is therefore high time for us to change our THINKING! It is high time for us to change our behaviour.

It is high time that we chart a new course. That we soar like Eagles, shedding our yard fowl mentality of being only content to scratch the surface of the earth, satisfied with the roaches, the centipedes, the worms of hatred and division which separate us. In soaring high above, we are drawn nearer and closer to our Creator, we now soar on the clouds of peace and harmony, in soaring, we are now possessed with choices and not contentment; in soaring, we now glide on the currents of LOVE, TOGETHERNESS PEACEFULNESS, HAPPINESS, discovering the brotherliness and the sisterliness in all of us, wishing that we had discovered this blissful feeling many moons ago. What a joy it is to dwell in the company and the comforting presence of each other as one family? May each of you, my truly beloved and newly discovered sister and brother enjoy the New Year 2018 and may we continue to climb the upward path to LOVE, PEACE and HARMONY! This New Harmonious relationship will drive away the ominous clouds of hatred and crime for we are now viewing each other with LOVE and RESPECT and not with envy, hatred and rancour. Steve Maraboli in his quote, Unapologetically You said, “Live your truth. Express your love. Share your enthusiasm. Take actions towards your dreams. Walk your talk. Dance and sing to your music. Embrace your blessings. Make today worth remembering!”