BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – YOUTHS will take to the streets later today (June 10) as members of Young Labour (YL), the youth arm of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party (SKNLP), are set to march through Basseterre in order to highlight the events of June 10, 1967.
On that day, exactly 42 years ago, it is alleged by the SKNLP that representatives of the People’s Action Movement (PAM) unsuccessfully attempted to overthrow the lawfully-elected government of Premier Robert L. Bradshaw.
Many SKNLP supporters believe that the coup was the brainchild of the then Political Leader of PAM, Dr. William Herbert Jr. However, PAM representatives over the years have denied any such involvement by their party’s founder.
The march is scheduled to begin by Masses House at 4:15 p.m. and work its way down Church Street into the Bay Road via College Street, up Fort Street, west onto Cayon Street and then return to Masses House. Members of the public are invited to join the march and are asked to wear black T-shirts or tops.
YL member Keisha Archibald informed that the march would be held under the theme “Faces Change: Philosophies Remain”. According to the representative, the theme is meant to signify that even though the present PAM candidates are not those who staged the failed coup, the philosophies that motivated PAM to undertake the treasonous act still exist within the party.
“[The march] is mainly to educate the young people of St. Kitts and Nevis and to bring to their attention the involvement of the People’s Action Movement to seize power by the bullet instead of the ballot. The youths of the Labour Party view it as our duty to alert our young people and others who were not around at the time to this dark episode in our political history.
We believe strongly that although there are new faces in the People’s Action Movement today, the philosophy of the PAM party in introducing violence into our political system remains the same,” she said.
However, PAM Deputy Political Leader the Hon. Shawn Richards said the march is nothing more than a “political gimmick” and asserted that young voters would not be fooled by the SKNLP’s “desperate attempt to clutch at straws”. Additionally, he refuted claims that his party’s philosophy is violence-based, and instead pointed his finger at the SKNLP.
“I was alive in 1993 when Denzil Douglas and the current SKNLP leadership incited persons to throw bottles and stones. I was alive in 2004 when he said he could incite the public like that again...and, more recently, when he threatened to hold a revolution should the elections not go his way.
“Based on the comments and actions of its leader, it is clear that the SKNLP’s philosophy, and not PAM’s, is one of violence,” said Richards.
