By: Earle Clarke
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| The Democrat newspaper - official mouthpiece of the PAM - in its Saturday 10th June 1967 Edition dubbed Monday 12th June 1967 as Freedom Day in anticipation of a sucessful coup. |
June 9th, 1967, was a Friday. Everybody went to work with the expectation that they would be enjoi8ng a long weekend, because the 10th of June was a holiday to celebrate the birthday of the Queen of England who is also the Queen of the Commonwealth of Nations, (including the then state of St. Kitts-Nevis and Anguilla).
These Commonwealth Countries were former Colonies and still Colonies of Great Britain like Montserrat, Anguilla and the British Virgin Islands, unless these former Colonies adopted a Republican type of Constitution like the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the former Colony had to accept the Queen as the Head of that former Colony of Great Britain.
St. Kitts-Nevis and Anguilla had just adopted Statehood Status from Great Britain in 1967. For the first time, we were able to look after its internal affairs. While Britain retained responsibility for its defence and external affairs. St. Kitts-Nevis and Anguilla was represented at the United Nations and all foreign connections by Great Britain. In short, we were Semi-Independent.
This Constitutional advancement came two years after the People’s Action Movement, which was formed in 1965. The big businesses were against Statehood, because most of them were owners of the various Sugar Plantations in St. Kitts and were connected to former owners of Sugar Estates who were now wielders of power in the House of Commons or The House of Lords in England.
These big businesses were in “Panic Mode” for they believed that Britain had abandoned them. Whenever Mr. Bradshaw, that great champion of the cause of the oppressed, dehumanized, under-privileged, exploited people of St. Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla passed any Laws which would benefit these same dispossessed people, the big businesses and the planters could petition the Queen’s Representative – the white Administrator at Government House and he could veto whatever bill which was passed.
So, when the People’s Action Movement came into being, representing the interest of these said big businesses and the sugar estate or sugar plantation owners, these same people who possessed the financial power, but not the political power, they saw a chance to capture both political and financial powers, especially as their thinking was that Britain had abandoned them when they gave power to Mr. Bradshaw to chart the course of the Internal Affairs of St. Kitts and Nevis.
In 1966, the People’s action Movement (PAM) contested the Elections for the first time and failed to capture a single seat, because the electorate of that time saw the candidates of PAM as errand boys for the big businesses and sugar plantation owners.
One of them had a father who on more than one occasion, sold out his black people to the mostly white Sugar Producer’s Association and another was raised on an estate to the West, where his father was an Overseer.
Dear Reader, I have given you this background so that you can better understand the events leading up to the 10th of June 1967, all manner of sabotage took place leading up to our Statehood celebration.
Our electricity supply was sabotaged. All type of propaganda was spewed out about St. Kitts. Investors were discouraged from investing in St. Kitts as this would cause the down-trodden people to become independently minded and not to depend solely and completely on the work provided by the sugar estates and the big businesses.
Mr. Bradshaw, Mr. Southwell and Edmund Morton travelled to Europe to lure investors to our shores. The visit was paying off.
Investors were visiting our shores to see first hand, the little island which was advertised in Europe and North America.
The Democrat Newspaper carried articles each week, warning would-be investors not to invest in St. Kitts under Mr. Bradshaw, who will confiscate their investments.
Today, you wonder how these people could pretend to love their country. They only loved it from 1980-1995 when they were in power. They did not love it before and they do not love it now.
Having failed to roll back the hands of progress, the People’s Action Movement joined up with miscreants from Anguilla, with the managers, oversees, the employees of big business and launched an attack on the lawfully elected government of Mr. Robert L. Bradshaw in the early hours of Saturday 10th June 1967, three months after we celebrated our new status as a Semi-Independent State.
There are a lot of doubting Thomas’s out there who do not believe that there was a 10th June, but in his Scrapbook which was written by Ronald Webster, the so-called Revolutionary of the Anguilla Revolution, published in 1987, May 30th, by Global Color ISBN 0-9618421-0-5. All enquiries should be addressed to Seabreakers Anguilla Ltd. P. O. Box 16, The Valley, Anguilla, West Indies.
In his Scrapbook on page three (3) – Chronology of the Revolution – indicates that on May 30, 1967, caption – St. Kitts Police were disarmed and leave – Anguilla Day. Then, below that you have May 31st, - First Anguilla Delegation to St. Kitts.
June 10, 1967, Anguillians raid St. Kitts and attack Police Headquarters and the Defence Force at the Power Station. How can PAM say that there was no PAM Day on 10th June 1967?
Here is what Ronald Webster said in his book and I quote, word for word from Page 21. It is captioned, St. Kitts Attacked.
On June 10th, 1967, I organized a small Anguilla invasion force which landed in St. Kitts. What we really wanted was to keep the battle away from Anguilla. We felt that, by attacking St. Kitts, we would give them less incentive to come here. They’d have to try to guard their own place, attack being the best defence. .
As Minister of Defence, this was my strategy. I also hoped to bring back Premier Bradshaw and his deputy Southwell as hostages. That was the main purpose of the raid. We left Island Harbour at 3:00pm on my fishing boat. I had banned all flights leaving Anguilla that day and closed the ports to keep secrecy about our trip, but news leaked out via St. Martin and Guadeloupe. We loitered around Flat Island until sunset and then set off for St. Kitts.
It was a clear night, but we got confused about the lights of Saba and Statia. In fact, we drifted too far west and reached Saba about 11:00pm. We then adjusted our course for St. Kitts and landed at Half Way Tree. Atkin and another chap manned the main boat while I let off the invading force.
They were supposed to link up with Dr. Herbert (who founded the PAM opposition in St. Kitts), but somehow, it didn’t work out that way. In fact, several young Anguillians with families in St. Kitts had jumped on board the boat as we left Island Harbour. When they were let off in St. Kitts they contacted their families and rumour of our invasion spread quickly. Word got around and Bradshaw hid, while sending out a force to find the invaders.
We were a mixed force. Anguillians from our Defence Group, plus those who jumped on board and two American Volunteers. They were just sympathetic to our struggle and were definitely not mercenaries. Thirteen of us went on the trip.
After dropping off the offence group, we pulled the boat back to Statia and stayed in Radio communication. We had problems starting the engine and had to row part of the way back. And the weather turned back. We got back to Island Harbour the next afternoon and heard about several explosions in St. Kitts which were reported over the radio.
The Police Headquarters and the Power Station had been attacked, but several Anguillians were held and only got home later, after a trial. We had communications with friends in Statia and through them we organized to carry back to Anguilla, all those who escaped.
If Hamas in Palestine who had been fighting Israel for the liberation of Palestine and for the removal of settlements from Palestine could be labelled a terrorist group, then, the People’s Action Movement could be also labelled a terrorist group for attempting to overthrow a lawfully elected government just after they had lost an election in 1966.
Readers should bear in mind that, as part of their dastardly act, they stored water in 40 gallon containers and transported them by sea to the South East Peninsula Road. They were to poison the water at the Basseterre reservoir for you and I to drink, thereby killing off thousands of Basseterre residents.
This had nothing to do with the blowing up of the Ponds Pasture Oil Depot, which would have wiped out the whole of New Town and down town Basseterre and as far as West Farm to the West and Cayon on the North. We have a bunch of lawless self-serving politicians trying to seek office to run a country they cannot praise.
If we vote for them, irregardless of how much money they offer, we will be giving them the political and economic power to re-enslave us. Be aware of them.
