BASSETERRE St. Kitts, August 25th, 2014 -- Dr Hon. Timothy Harris Leader Team Unity Hon. Sean Richards Deputy Leader Team Unity Hon. Sam Condor Hon. Eugene Hamilton Hon Senator Vincent Byron Other Candidates of Team Unity including Jonell Powell at the Head table my colleague at the head table Sherwin Williams of Trinidad and Tobago Executive Members of Team Unity, Team Unity Women, Youth of Team Unity, Members of the Media invitees all. Thank you for welcoming me to your beautiful country. I feel a real connection to this place as I have always heard from my father that we Fredericks are descended from one of the three brothers from a Nevis Plantation who migrated one to Montserrat, the second to Guyana and the third to Grenada.
Let me at the outset bring greetings from the New Democratic Party’s President Hon. Arnhim Eustace our executive and our supporters throughout Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to you Dr Timothy Harris and the executive members and supporters of Team Unity. Thank you for your invitation. As you know Dr Harris and Sean Richards travelled to St Vincent and the Grenadines and there, with the support of the New Democratic Party staged protest action which highlighted the total and utter disregard for the Constitution and Parliamentary Rules and procedure, which is being passed off as good governance in St Kitts Nevis today. Eustace called on Caricom to act, in circumstances where a minority government is attempting to ignore, work around and wish away the fact that a vote of no confidence twenty months un-tabled and un-debated, is unacceptable. Wrong is wrong is wrong is wrong. It can never be right.
NDP’s youth and other supporters lined the street leading into the CARICOM Heads of Government meeting place and raised their voices in support of the people of St Kitts and Nevis who cannot be happy with the unease and tension which must form part of the day to day in a country where the minority is trying to rule the majority. We stand with you Team Unity as you move towards taking government in St Kitts and Nevis, cognizant that in our own 8-7 Parliament change is on the way to St. Vincent and the Grenadines. We who desire a different brand of politics, and we who reject the politics of the past, agree that in both of our countries we must secure the future of our citizens by ensuring that together we will do better than was done before.
Today I am given the task of pressing your buttons you young people, and motivating you to fully appreciate that you are in the driver’s seat where politics is concerned. If St Kitts Nevis is anything like St Vincent and the Grenadines, then yours is a young population, and a young electorate. Young people will make the difference in the next election at home and I understand right here as well.
If you want to secure your future, I will say something to you today that politicians of the past don’t want you to know. You cannot afford to be apathetic and not care about politics.
At the local, regional and international level, decisions are taken politically, which impact our lives, in ways that politicians of the past hope we will never notice. When the national debt is so high that it cripples your country’s economy so that it does not grow, and there are no jobs for you as a result, then you go without work, your children can’t eat, you can’t make your ends meet. When CARICOM chooses to ignore the fact that one amongst their number sits in a parliament leading a government which lacks legitimacy and when CARICOM says nothing, and does less than nothing, it makes us question whether CARICOM is good for anything after a while.
When we unite at OECS level to open borders and offer opportunities for migration intra regionally to build this Caribbean nation, those are decisions taken which impact you. It gives you more to think about with regard to where you can work, go to school, raise a family. And all of these things, these governments, and assemblies of government with mandates should all have your best interest at heart. Therefore, it is a foolish man or woman or child who says politics? Me eh ha time fuh dat! All ah dem is de same! Six ah one half dozen ah de other. You cannot ignore your country’s politics and remain unaffected by it. Decisions and laws taken and made impact you de youth man today and you de adult tomorrow.
THERE IS NO PLACE FOR APATHY IN TODAY’S POLTICIS AND THAT IS WHY THE POLITICIANS OF THE PAST WANT YOU TO REMAIN APATHETIC AND UNINVOLVED. THEY DO NOT WANT YOU TO CARE. THEY WANT YOU TO COME GIVE THEM AN X AND LEAVE THEM ALONE SO THEY COULD RAPE PLUNDER PILLAGE, IGNORE YOU UNTIL THAT NEXT TIME WHEN THEY WANT YOUR X AGAIN
There is no place for that type of politics if your leaders are serious about securing your future and if they truly appreciate that in order to do it, they need to come together for better.
And I can tell you, when POLITICIANS from three political parties come together in the name of moving a country forward, putting aside ego, and personal ambitions, because your nation needs positive and serious leadership you the youth of St. Kitts and Nevis can see a prime opportunity to chose something new and energized or the politics of the past.
You are fortunate to have been given this opportunity. What an awesome chance you have to shake off the dust, and hold your nation by its bootstraps and move it forward. This is exciting…and I am happy to be a part of it. I want to give you this one mission: S.T.A.R.T: STAND TALL AND REACH THEM
Stand up….what is stopping you from standing up? In order to answer this we must ask the question, WHY YOUNG PEOPLE FED UP?
Young people throughout the region are fed up because they feel like they have placed their trust in one too many a politician who use them, pose with them, promise them the world and NEVER DELIVER on what they say they are going to do. Young people are fed up because to them politicians are fake and they lie and they disappear after they get your vote and never come back until they want your vote again.
Young people are fed up and disenchanted with politics and paint all politicians with the same brush…so they prefer to stay out. Let other people deal with that. Nothing in that for me, politics don’t affect me so I not in dat. I understand where that comes from. I get it. But it is exactly for all of these reasons that you must get involved…you must stand up and be counted, you must cast your vote and make sure that your views are heard and the power of you exercising your right to vote is felt by any and all politicians. Your vote can make the difference, your vote can change the direction of your country and you CANNOT allow any politician to frustrate you into suppressing yourself.
So, lemme tell you why I think it is no accident that I am one of the persons bringing this message to you.
I got into politics because I hated it. I hated the thought that some people were making decisions that would affect my life, and I could do nothing to influence them, or advise them or rebuke them even. I literally woke up one day and said NOPE…NAH…THIS CANNOT BE WHAT POLITICS IS.
Something sparked in me an internal fire and a desire to be UNBENT UNBOWED AND UNBROKEN on a mission to shape a different kind of politics in my country, and my region. Maybe it happened when the late Prof Rex Nettleford told me that the region needs it champions and my nation needs me first. Or, maybe it happened when I was 17 years old and a secondary school teacher who marched in protest against the New Democratic Party because my salary was two months late. Whenever it happened, I know, that I am not the first, I am not the last and I am nothing special. I can stand and so can you. This same desire to have a say, to share an opinion, to shout against injustice, to understand and grasp an opportunity is shared by all of you, all of us whether you choose to acknowledge it or not.
Prepare yourselves because the walk is not easy, but if you think about it, nothing worthwhile comes easily. It comes after effort, toil, despair, triumph and failure. If you know that yours is a righteous cause, that your nation needs the change, that you support the right people to see it through with fresh ideas, to impact on education, so that you get training that will lead to employment, if you the farmer see a plan for how you can earn from your knowledge, if you the young woman see an opportunity for education and employment that does not involve where you look good, or can visit the office at 7 in the morning for an interview, if you can see through the buy me vote now and suffer me for five years politics of the past you will be well poised to lime with them, wine with them, collect from them and reject them soundly at the polls.
The politics of today says give me a chance to be independent, to access opportunities without fear or favour, to function without fear of victimization or abuse or intimidation at the hand of any political party. The politics of today says here in the information, think on it, and make an informed decision. The politics of today says GET INVOLVED. THIS IMPACTS YOU…YES….YOU!
Why should you stand up?
PEOPLE HAVE FOUGHT AND DIED FOR THE RIGHT TO VOTE.
Think about it. In most places where there is a system designed to control and suppress the population, or a part of the population, the ability of persons to vote and their eligibility to vote is one of the first things that they seek to control. After slavery, colonialism, independence, this right to VOTE to freely assemble to associate is a powerful something. Why, because used properly, the VOTE can influence and dictate the agenda and it is the people who decide. It is you the voter who has the power.
In the US during the time of segregation by 1965 in the United States there was a literacy test they would use to determine which black people could vote, they put stumbling blocks in the way of blacks who owned land and could therefore vote….guess how many marbles in this jar and if you guess right you can vote. Women can’t vote. Even as recently as in the last US Presidential election One political party was divulging false information to see if they could keep minority voters away from the polls because they felt that the minority voters would not support and vote for their candidate.
Why go through all of this? Because you, the informed and motivated voter can vote for change and demand it. You can hold those who you vote for accountable.
FEAR IS A TOOL USED BY A FOOL
The politicians of the past use intimidation as a tool and fear as a tactic. They fire people for talking to you, if you don’t support them, they make their own supporters feel that they will lose their jobs if they interact with you or overtly support or listen to you with your different views. They go after your family or friends. They divide the country along party lines.
(PS )
Politics of the past says to you the young voter, that instead of caring about getting a good job that you can keep, or going into business for yourself, asking the hard questions of your representatives and those who want the job to represent you, you must look for the next fete and party and judge the performance of a those who govern you, not on what they deliver to make your lives better long term but whether the next fete will be drinks free so we go ha we swag tun up. That is called squandering your vote.
If you think about the power of the vote, you should guard it jealously and if you feel like the life you are living today is a battle to make ends meet, to get good employment, to get real opportunities if you feel that it is a battle and a war, then you should see your vote as your ultimate weapon; a tool to change the direction of your nation and to employ new people to the task of fighting on your behalf. If they perform they secure your support, if they don’t you use your vote to bring in fresh ideas and fresh energy, without apology. You hold them accountable.
SEE THROUGH THE SMOKE AND MIRRORS
There is something I call smoke and mirrors politics. It is a tool used by the politicians of the past maybe because they are lazy and do not want to perform, or they could not be bothered to actually deliver on the things they said they would do. Some have become so personally wealthy during their tenure as your representatives that in order to shift attention from questioning them they use Distractions to get your attention. Money is often a tool of great distraction. So there is no money to do basic things, but when an election is in the air, money suddenly becomes available, and it is targeting those who are newly able to vote. If you look around I am sure you can see initiatives that are new that target eighteen year olds…distraction politics. Short term gratification.
Music is another tool. There are those who believe that if you play the right music and fly in the right artistes your job is done. That is all the young voter cares about.
But what about the young informed voter? They dismiss your questions about their programmes and plans. They don’t want to be held accountable for their record. They try to avoid you at all cost. You the informed young voter are the one with influence who can lead your peers. Do it. It is your responsibility as a young person with sense to talk with your friends and people you know or don’t know on the block. Help them to understand the real….what is what..
ALL KNOWLEDGE IS USEFUL
National Debt, Economic Growth, Sectors of the Economy, Government Policy, private sector. These are words that are used and seldom ever broken down and explained to you the young voter so you can understand why knowing about these things is important. If you finish school and have your qualifications, if you have experience, a trade, a skill and you can’t get a job it is most likely because one or more or all of these things are being poorly managed, poorly implemented, not prioritized, not incentivized or left to spiral out of control. Being informed as a voter is gaining as much knowledge as you can from those who want to represent you or who are representing you. If for example they don’t want to make the time to explain why government policies to attract investors should include some mandatory employment clause for locals to get jobs when these investments come, remember your vote is your weapon, and if they refuse to tell you how they would do things differently, your vote is a weapon, your tool, your power. Wield it.
INSULTS AND DISPARAIGING REMARKS AND BEHAVIOUR
I never understand why some politicians believe that cursing out the citizens of the country is a strategy which works in their favour? Young people get turned off at the behavior of some politicians. They curse the voters, they rubbish people and still expect to get those same people’s support. In St. Vincent I was a snatty nosed gyal others have been called dutty dogs, the opposition leader was called a roast breadfruit, the people uneducated rump, protestors were given the middle finger by our prime Minister who declared it the perfect finger…but a few weeks ago his acolyte was inviting our supporters, those same protestors to join them. Understand that in the politics of the past this was a tool used by politicians to keep you away from the polls. They want you to become so disenchanted and this happens
especially when they think they are losing popularity that they hope to cuss you so much that you stay away from the polls. You have to see this for what it is, and ensure that you make your mark on that day…let the insults act as gasoline in your engine to give you the desire and drive to mark your X it must be really an act of power if politicians would go to such lengths to stop you from using it against them.
Whatever the challenges you are going through as a young person, those challenges are real and important. If you are seeing your parents struggle to make ends meet, if you can’t see where opportunities for getting a good job can come from, if your only hope for some kind of employment is to leave your country, if you can’t see how you can get housing, or own a piece of land, if you can’t dream about what you want to accomplish in life and set about accomplishing it in this space then you need to speak out.
You need to make the issues that confront you, the issues that politicians address and fix when you give them the mandate. You can’t lose strength, or focus when you become motivated and go out to mark your X and hold politicians accountable. You cannot get tired or weary, for long. Because long after they have retired and gone, the decisions they took when they were given the job to represent you will still be affecting you. What you are going through is real. The solution to the challenges you face starts with you making them REAL for the politician. Starts with you understanding the power you hold by the vote you can give for or against.
SOCIAL MEDIA IS YOUR ALLY
The politics of the past and its practitioners fear what they cannot control. Social Media and the fact that the internet has made the world flat and given everyone the chance to have their say drives politicians of the past insane. Seriously. No joke. They HATE that they can’t control what people see and post about them. They are annoyed and aggravated that people from all parts of the world can chime in to a conversation or start one up to criticize or complain. They ignore the fact that social media can be used to congratulate inspire and promote. They focus instead of silencing the dissent or criticism of policies or behavior that can go viral online. I know of one Politician who referred to people using social media as internet crazies who he promised to smoke out!
This space is your domain where you can freely influence and introduce talking points and raise awareness of the issues affecting you and your contemporaries. Use it. Freely fearlessly and often. This politics of the past with its cloak and dagger intrigue and smoke and mirrors distraction and ol’ school ol’ talk and no action has no place in today’s world where people want action, and outcomes which place them in tangible and substantively better positions in their lives after they choose at the polls. You are no different. You deserve no different.
A WORD TO YOUNG WOMEN
I want to speak to you as a woman and a mother. There is a space and place in politics for you. You are the bedrock of your home, your community and every political party. There is no reason why you who are the foundation, should not aspire to step out and speak up for the issues that confront women and women and children especially. Women are natural “multitaskers” and problem solvers. Your function is not to be the recipient of some lewd and lascivious comment or some out of place sexual advance from any politician. Some of them who want to know if their princesses can feel the love need to understand that the value of a woman is more than what exists under her clothing.
To those women who want to enter politics and participate at the highest levels. I can tell you that it is not easy, but again nothing worthwhile is easy. You, who dare to stand up and be counted in this way will be targeted and maligned because the politics of the past dictates that only the status quo must survive….change is the enemy.
Those politicians who approach you as sex objects, who try to impose themselves on you have deep insecurities that you cannot help them to fix. If they cannot define you as a sexual entity, they may go to the next extreme and define you as a lesbian or a man with the hope that they can disparage you and cause others to negative your capacity and intellect. Smile to yourself. These are the politicians who are most vulnerable to change and most opposed to strong women who will only permit themselves to be defined by their capacity and brain power.
Take heart and steel yourself for the journey. You will be a beacon for women who see you as representing the best in them. You will, by how you speak, what you say and how you carry yourself, inspire other young women to change the way they see themselves and the way they approach politics. And that, is a worthwhile endeavour. That is a journey worth making.
So where does this leave us? At the start. Today make a promise to yourself your friends, family community to start to be the change you want to see. Start to hold politicians accountable, start to demand that they hear you. Start. STAND UP AND REACH THEM.
*************************
DISCLAIMER
This article was posted in its entirety as received by SKNVibes.com. This media house does not correct any spelling or grammatical error within press releases and commentaries. The views expressed therein are not necessarily those of SKNVibes.com, its sponsors or advertisers
.jpg)