The Official Discourse on Youth in St. Kitts-Nevis

"You are the future of the fatherland… but mind you don't meddle in the present" is how Edgar Montiel summarised the approach of many Latin American governments to the participation of youth (Lewis, 1995). Even a cursory glance at the English speaking Caribbean will reveal a level of participation by young people in the decision making processes of their societies which is extremely limited at best and non-existent in the majority of cases. This is despite the fact that the majority of these countries are members of the Commonwealth and signatories to the Youth Charter¹ (1996) which has as its centre piece the participation of young people in all aspects of their societies in general and in particular in those policy decisions that directly affect them.

Let me add immediately that I am at the age when one is looked at rather oddly when one writes, or speaks, about youth. I am pleased to report however that those writers on youth operating in the post-modernist paradigm point out that youth is no longer tied to age but more to the size of one's wallet. Youth is but another commodity that can be purchased; proof of this assertion can be seen when old pop stars are re-cycled and they come back looking younger than they were the first time they were famous. I give Tina Turner, Diana Ross, Cher and Cliff Richard as examples of this phenomenon.

Youth as a vehicle for analysing society.

There is however a serious analytical point as to why a conference such as this should include youth on its agenda. Part of the rationale for this conference is for the School of Continuing Studies (SCS) of the University of the West Indies (UWI) to contribute to the analysis of the social forces at work in each of the non-campus territories in which it is located. A glance at the papers written for this conference illustrates the varied approaches used to undertake this analysis. Many of us involved in youth work would argue that exploring the relationship between adults and young people in a society is an excellent way of providing insights into some of the critical social forces at work in that society.

Studying how adult society interacts with its young people not only highlights the needs of, and the difficulties faced by, young people but also provides an excellent insight into how a particular society deals with its perceived problems in general and how it negotiates changes in its social structures. Christine Griffin reinforces this point when she writes:

"Youth is…treated as a key indicator of the state of the nation…. It is expected to reflect the cycle of booms and troughs in the economy; shifts in cultural values over sexuality, morality and family life; and changes in class relations, concepts of nationhood, and in occupational structures. Young people are assumed to hold the key to the nation's future, and the treatment and management of youth is expected to provide the solution to the nation's "problems" from "drug abuse", "hooliganism" and "teenage pregnancy" to inner city "riots" (Griffin, 1997: 17).

Many analysts of society (for example, Nettleford, Deosaran, Hall, Rattansi and Cohen) argue that one of the most significant areas in which rapid change is taking place in societies today is the cultural sphere and further that young people are responsible for the greater part of the process of change. McRobbie argues that this puts young people in an "even more pivotal position". McRobbie spells out what she means by this pivotal position when she argues that:

"Many of these powerful symbolic formations can then be interpreted as the voice of young people and the new subjectivities which changing social conditions bring into being. We are thus starkly reminded of the extent to which young people tell us a good deal about the scale and the dynamics of social change itself" (McRobbie, 1994: 179).

These cultural formations, she argues, are sometimes so powerful and energetic "that they come to represent or even stand in for a particular historical moment and its generation".

In another context, the German sociologist Karl Mannheim, refers to such instances as examples of "generational consciousness". For example the current situation in Montserrat following the volcanic eruption. The eruption will imprint itself on the consciousness of the young people of Montserrat until they die; the impact on their lives will be so enormous that they will be able to speak of life before the volcanic eruption and life after; indeed they may well define themselves as the "volcano generation". Another example of this phenomenon in the Caribbean is that of the Grenadian Revolution which had such a dramatic impact on the young people at the time that they are bonded together by this experience forever.

The thrust of the argument is that if we are to fully comprehend the social forces at work in any particular society then we must also understand the particular relationship that exists between youth and adults in that society. An analysis of St. Kitts-Nevis society that excluded this critical relationship would be an inadequate one.

Youth in St. Kitts-Nevis

I had originally intended to do a situational analysis of youth in St. Kitts-Nevis but data on youth were elusive. There was no one agency that had the responsibility for obtaining, and collating, information on youth. The recommendation of the Commonwealth Youth Programme that each country in the Caribbean should ensure the collection of baseline data and the setting-up of a national database on youth affairs, is of critical importance here.²

Although I was not able to obtain the quantitative data set needed for a situational analysis I was fortunate to obtain a copy of the Youth Manifesto 2000 of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party. The principal objective of this paper is to offer my reading of the Manifesto which was produced for the election held in March, 2000. My principal thesis is that although the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party sought to adopt a new approach to youth affairs in its Manifesto it failed to transcend the traditional, or 'preferred discourse',³ which informs the official approach to youth in the Caribbean. Indeed I hope to demonstrate that it further entrenched the negative concept of youth which is dominant throughout the Caribbean. I shall also take the opportunity to look at some specific issues relating to youth highlighted in the Manifesto.

The Manifesto of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party

The Youth Manifesto merits closer analysis for a number of reasons. First, the Labour Party is now the governing party of St. Kitts-Nevis, and therefore a critical part of the State apparatus, and is now in a position to implement, or not, the undertakings set out in the Manifesto. On this point it is interesting to note that it is not until page twelve of a sixteen page document that the Party commits itself to action for youth. Indeed the Party points out that the very fact that it has produced a Youth Manifesto is enough to signal the strength of its commitment. These critical points are set out in the following quote from page 12 of the Manifesto:

"The St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party is also mindful of the fact that the delivery of services to youth requires both political will and enough resources to make a difference. The fact that this action is being announced in the form a Youth Manifesto, is a measure of the political commitment of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party to this course of action."

The State plays a critical role, particularly, in small island States and it sets the important parameters that constrain or enable young people to realise their aspirations. A respected commentator on youth affairs in the Caribbean, Linden Lewis, makes this point when he argues that:

"It is at the level of the State that the broad political and social parameters are laid down which define some of the terms of the social reproduction of the youth" (Lewis, 1995: 25).

Lewis points out that it is the State that determines the legal age of consent, it is the State that determines the age at which one is officially recognised as an adult. It sets the age at which one can drive a car, get married, vote in elections and it can demand a period of national service from young people. The State controls to a large extent the social institutions responsible for secondary socialisation and it is the State that is charged with the responsibility of disciplining young people when they deviate too far from the values and norms of adult society. In short Lewis argues that the State has a "vested interest in the social reproduction of youth" (ibid.: 25).

Secondly, this is the most official policy statement I could find and it therefore sets the framework for any discourse on youth policy in St. Kitts-Nevis in the near future.

Representations of Youth in St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party Youth Manifesto 2000

The Manifesto itself is attractively and professionally produced in the Party colours with the assistance of an international consultant. The consultant distilled the data, collected from extensive consultation and secondary sources, into a coherent document which was then adopted by the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party as its Youth Manifesto.⁴ The language is very user-friendly even though a detailed reading of the Manifesto shows that the intended audience is not only youth but parents, members of the teaching profession, business people from the private sector and, most importantly, members of the public who are concerned about the values, attitudes and behaviour of youth in St. Kitts-Nevis.

In terms of the structure of the Manifesto it has ten sections of which two, Current provisions for youth and Priorities for Action, take up four pages. It is interesting to note that the shortest section in the Manifesto is the one dealing with finance that is only given four brief paragraphs. The policy statement for each section is set out in bold type at the outset for clarity. The sections of the Manifesto are as follows:

• Introduction
• Definition of youth
• Current provisions for youth
• Profile of youth
• The challenges facing young men and women
• Unfolding opportunities for youth
• Priorities for action
• Finance
• Conclusion
• Appendix 1: A methodological note

The specific policy proposals are summarised in the conclusion on page 16. These are:

• Back to basics: Reinforcing the Moral Foundation
• Raising Awareness: The National Youth Forum
• Education: Reaching the Unreachable
• Technical and Vocational Training
• Special Employment Opportunities
• Motivation: The Prime Minister's Award Scheme
• Leadership Training: The Youth Development Centre
• Participation: A National Youth Organisation
• Mobilisation: A National Youth Service
• Coordination: A Restructured Youth Department

It would be fair to say that all of us involved in youth work would welcome most of the proposals set out in the Manifesto. For me, the proposals to expand vocational training, the establishment of a stand alone youth department and the setting up of a centre run by young people are all to be applauded. It could be said that in proposing to set up these various institutions the Party is trying to come to grips with some of the real challenges confronting young people, for example, the issue of genuine participation by young people in the decision making processes of St. Kitts-Nevis society. On the face of it, the Party is sending a strong message to the society that youth issues are to become part of the mainstream agenda and that they merit clear and detailed recommendations rather than the couple of paragraphs usually given to youth issues in the main Manifesto of the majority of political parties in the region.

The Manifesto itself is unashamedly political. It does not use the device of seeking consensus through mock objectivity. It states explicitly that it is targeting the 16-30 year olds for 'special intervention and empowerment' (ibid.: 3) and it makes no bones that this is an important political constituency because 'these young people are considered important because of their demographic strength, their energy, creativity, imagination and ability' (ibid.: 3). The Manifesto alludes to the inherent difficulties of defining youth but it avoids all the potential pit falls by using the definition suggested by young people. This is a good device because it demonstrates in a practical way the Party's faith in young people to define themselves and that it is prepared to listen to what they have to say.

The overall message that the Manifesto is seeking to convey is that the Party had made great strides in the past and that it has brought the society in general, and the economy in particular, to the point of take off. If take off is to be achieved and sustained then the newer industries which are technologically driven will have to be embraced and since 'today youths are the children of the technological age, with an uncanny affinity for modern equipment….they intuitively understand how these gadgets work' (ibid.: 4) This 'uncanny affinity' gives younger people an absolute advantage over their elders 'for mastering the operations of computers and related facilities'. Thus continued economic growth is the product being sold and the means of achieving it is through technological change and this is the natural province of the young. The Labour Party is seeking to project itself as the party of change and growth and so it is making a strong bid to associate itself with the young. This theme is conveyed to the reader not so much in words but by the pictures used in the Manifesto which show members of the Party meeting with young people in many different settings or young people engaged in energetic activities. This basic theme, however, is explicitly set out in the last line of the introduction, where it is stated that:

"all the analyses suggest that the key to this strategy of technologically based development is youth" (ibid.: 2, their emphasis).

This theme that the future belongs to the young and not the old is picked up again on page 10 where it is pointed out that "the nation is probably in its best position historically to repair the social and psychological damage done to the masses during slavery and colonialism. It is now poised to send a clear message of hope to our youths." The mark of slavery and colonialism has made the adult (i.e. those over thirty) unfit for the brave new world of the future; their time will be spent in getting healed. The implication is that this new generation is unscarred by slavery because "they are the first generation to be born and reared in independent St. Kitts-Nevis and to have gained from a society enjoying the benefits of universal adult suffrage, full primary and secondary education and all the other positive indices of human development" (ibid.: 3).

The Manifesto however does not take this argument to its logical conclusion, namely, that the over 30's are not needed in this Brave New World and what the implications are for the continued cohesiveness of a society where the old are not contributing significantly to economic growth. The Manifesto opens up a gap but it tenders no solutions for closure; it merely moves on, leaving the over 30's with their self-esteem in shreds. The final nail in the coffin of the over 30's is driven home on the first page of the document in the following words:

"This progress will undoubtedly be technologically based, requiring workers with agile minds and bodies to take advantage of the opportunities emerging in growth industries and throughout all areas of life."

As alluded to above there is much to recommend this document in its attempt to, inter alia:

• Put youth issues on the main political agenda.
• Its promise to create a national youth service
• Its promise to expand vocational training for young people.
• Its intentions to increase participation of young people by the establishment of a youth centre run by young people themselves and
• The creation of a separate youth department.

There is very little in this document to be critical about and on the 'face' of it this is true. I want to argue, however, that this document is a variation of the old adage that beauty is not only skin deep. Indeed my argument is that the Manifesto can only be seen as positive when it is read in isolation and seen as a stand-alone document. When it is read in the context of the dominant discourse that shapes the overall relationship between adult and youths in the Caribbean, then it will be seen that the document is not only constrained by this dominant discourse but in fact reinforces that discourse. We therefore have to go below the surface of the Manifesto to see how it is linked to a wider discourse that undermines the conscious attempt of the authors to break out of the 'preferred discourse' that fixes the existing relationship between St. Kitts-Nevis adult society and its young people. The methodological tool that will be used to undertake this interrogation is 'Discourse Analysis'. It is therefore necessary to make a few remarks about the use of this as a methodological approach to social research.

Discourse Analysis

This mode of social research is used predominantly in the disciplines of social psychology, linguistics and cultural studies. At this point I want to avoid getting caught up in the process of trying to get a single definition of this method because I do not think it helpful for the task at hand. A more useful approach is to look at the purposes to which the methodology is put. Within the literature two broad approaches to discourse analysis can be discerned. The first approach has its origins in the philosophical writings of Wittgenstein and Austin. For both writers language is not a neutral tool that simply reflects reality; on the contrary, for them language is a tool that acquires its purpose and function from the social context in which it is used (Widdicombe and Wooffitt, 1995: 56). It is not surprising then that Wittgenstein should liken language to a game where once we agree on the basic rules to govern the game we are then at liberty to play the game in a variety of styles. Thus there are two dimensions to language. One is the ground rules and conventions used to organise it (its grammar), which is usually referred to as its 'structure’. The second is how we then choose to combine, within the rules, the words to make sentences and paragraphs, this is the 'performance' aspect of using language.⁵ In this approach then 'discourse analysis' is used to try and understand social actors' 'performances'. Thus research entails analysing pieces of written texts, or pieces of speech, in order to try and discover why people choose to use language in certain ways; even if the actors were not conscious of the way they were in fact using the language. As a practical example then the use of this methodology in social psychology would essentially be concerned with not only describing the way texts are constructed but also to "explore the functions served by specific construction at both the inter-personal and societal level" (Storey, 1993: 56).⁶

The second approach to 'Discourse Analysis' has its origins in the writings of Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. The principal exponents of this approach, however, are French: Claud Levi-Stauss in anthropology, Ronald Barthes in literary and cultural studies, Michel Foucault in philosophy and history, Jacques Lacan in psychoanalysis and Louis Althusser in Marxist theory. Together they contributed to the development of the schools of thought commonly referred to as ‘structuralist’ and ‘post-structuralist'.⁷ For these writers 'discourse analysis' consists of the process of exposing ‘discursive formations’. The term 'expose' is used because such discourses are usually hidden, or so taken for granted, and embedded in texts. Here a 'discursive formation' is conceptualised

"As a body of unwritten rules which attempts to regulate what can be written, thought and acted upon in a particular field" (Storey, 1993: 92).

There are several points that need to be taken into account when considering this approach to 'discourse analysis'. First, the term 'text' is taken to mean much more than speech or written material, as in the first approach; it includes "objects, events and processes which are embued with meaning and interpretation" (Widdicombe and Wooffitt, 1995: 56). Second, in this approach, discourses are intrinsically linked with the exercise of power in society; indeed for Foucault, discourse formation is the means by which institutions, for example the youth service, wield their power 'through a process of definitions and exclusions' (Storey, 1993: 92). Thus it is not surprising to find that in the Labour Party's Youth Manifesto we see the process of defining 'youth' articulated and criteria for those worthy of receiving State assistance identified. It is for this reason that Widdicombe and Wooffitt (1995) argue that in this approach:

"Discourses are conceived as systems of meanings which reflects real power relations, and which in turn are a consequence of the material and economic infrastructure of society."

An adoption of this approach to reading the Labour Party's Youth Manifesto forces one to ask such questions as: are there discourses embedded in this Manifesto that "facilitate and limit, enable and constrain what can be said (by whom, where, when)" (Widdicombe and Wooffitt, 1995:59) on the subject of Youth? And, are the power relationships that exist between adults and youth reflected in the Manifesto and does the Manifesto seek to challenge those power relationships or does it seek to reinforce them to the detriment of young people? It is hoped that the analysis which follows will throw some light on these questions. Third, in this approach to discourse analysis the emphasis shifts from what the narrative is about to what function the narrative serves. As Storey puts it:

"It shifts our concerns from 'how' the story is told to 'why' and from those whom the story is about to those who tell and consume the story" (Storey, 1993: 94).

Storey cites the example of the Tarzan stories where the stories tells us very little about the colonised but a great deal about the colonisers. In our case the emphasis shifts from the truth, or otherwise, of what is said about young people to what are the motives of the authors of this document; how does what they say support their purpose(s)? Fourthly, and finally, many researchers who adopt this approach to discourse analysis argue that in doing so they adopt a particular political stance, namely a commitment to radical political intervention. By definition, they argue, the researcher is engaged in a political enterprise because he or she exposes the often hidden ideological working of institutions in society. Indeed writers like Parker and Burman go further and argue that there is no point in using this methodology if one is not motivated by an overt political goal. They argue that:

"If we do not (make political interventions), we will be assimilated into mainstream empiricist research. We would then find our own work relayed among the repertoires of the discipline, rather than offering, as it should, critical readings of its texts." (quoted in Widdicombe and Wooffitt, 1995: 60)

Here I would want to argue that this position is untenable because political motivation cannot be deduced from the choice of a research method. It could be argued that a particular methodology has a tendency to lead in one direction rather than another but ultimately the adoption of a political stance is a moral choice that has to be consciously made; as the philosophers are always keen to remind us 'ought' cannot be deduced from 'is'.

This second approach, cited above, is the approach that I shall adopt to read this particular text of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party's Youth Manifesto 2000.

Youth as "folk devils"

I have argued elsewhere (Williams, 1988) that youth issues are usually discussed within two, often related, paradigms. The first is one in which youth is used as a 'metaphor for social problems and instability'. In this paradigm youth is portrayed as problematic and often 'pathological'. This latter context is the dominant one in which youth is discussed and the continuity of this paradigm is illustrated aptly by Shakespeare The Winter's Tale:

"I wish there was no age between sixteen and three-and-twenty, or that youth would sleep out the rest; for there is nothing in the between but getting wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, stealing and fighting" (quoted in Rogers, 1977).

This point is reinforced by Pearson (1983) who argues that over the previous one hundred years in Britain, the recurrent complaints about young people have involved one or more of the following issues:

• The immorality of young people
• The absence of parental control
• The way in which having too much free time leads to crime
• The threat which deviant behaviour poses to national identity and to labour and discipline

The above list is fairly universal and I am sure these complaints can be heard not only in St. Kitts-Nevis but also throughout the Caribbean in general.

The second, and more positive paradigm in which youth is conceptualised is one in which youth becomes a metaphor for hope and change. The idea of youth being a regenerative force in society found its most coherent expression in Ortega Gasset's conservative theory of history. In this theory of history elaborated in 1931 (as described in Murdoch and McCron, 1975) age stages replicated the stages of development for a society. In the same way that a person develops, society evolved from its childhood/youth or 'primitive' stage to its adult or 'civilised' stage. It is in the youth stage therefore that the foundations for taking society to a higher stage of development are laid. Failure to inculcate the correct values and knowledge in the young would disable them from undertaking their historic task of transforming society and the degeneration of society would inevitably follow.

We often hear politicans, senior policy makers in youth affairs' departments and youth development workers espousing the modern day version of this thesis when they point out that "youth is the future". We see, for example, this position explicitly stated in Time for Action, the Report of the West Indian Commission (1993), as follows:

"To say that the youth are the future of the Caribbean is an assertion which goes beyond the cliched expression. For the Caribbean is, in developmental terms, much like the youth which is the focus of this paper: from a history of intense colonialism, most Caribbean societies are now in the their second or third decade of independence" (1993: 380).

Here colonialism is depicted as childhood, whereas the decades after independence are seen as equivalent to the period of youth. The aspiration is that eventually the Caribbean will make it (if the youth of today play the role expected of them) to mature adult status which, we can only deduce, is the implied stage reached by developed countries.

There are moments in the history of a society when a larger than usual 'gap' develops between the adults and youth of that society. Usually a small minority of young people who engage in highly visible anti-social acts is picked out by the mass media and given a very high profile. It could be around the way young people dress or the type of music they listen to or the way they dance. Those young people going to dance hall events in Jamaica would be a good example here. This creates a moral panic when all of us "oldies" think that exposing the under-pants, wearing of dread-locks, the wearing of an ear ring by a young man or the violent lyrics of some of the songs that young people listen to, will lead to the destruction of society as we know it. This fear often lead many adults to pressure the authorities to do something urgently to curb the perceived threat to the continued existence of decent society. Although the original event that triggered the "moral panic" may have related to only a small group of young people a kind of multiplier effect takes place whereby young people in general are tarred with the same brush. At such points there is a tendency for a society to use its young people as a metaphor for all that is wrong in society; in other words adult society converts its young people into what Cohen (1980) called "Folk Devils." Commentators on youth affairs such as Hall and Cohen in the UK and Linden Lewis in the Caribbean, argue that moral panics serve several functions at a societal level. These are summarised below:

• Moral Panics heighten the level of fear and anxiety in the society.⁸
• Moral Panics provide the platform on which the State, and other official agencies concerned with youth, can increase the amount of discipline imposed on young people (for example, harsher sentences for juvenile crime and the adoption of a curfew on young people being on the streets at night in some states of the United States and now also in Belize).
• Moral Panics also provide the platform on which to criticise, and discipline, families (e.g. imposing sentences on parents for the misdemeanors committed by their children).
• Moral Panics often serves as a distraction from deeper structural problems in the society.

"Folk devils" versus "hope for the future"

A closer reading of the text of the Manifesto shows that not only are both positive and negative paradigms present but that they are actively competing for dominance. It could be argued that the tension between these two competing paradigms is a reflection of the underlying tension that currently exists between adults and young people in St. Kitts-Nevis. As the Manifesto is about youth and change, and the St.Kitts-Nevis Labour Party is seeking to identify itself with this dynamic, it is not a surprise then to find examples of the positive metaphor in the text. For example on page 4 we are told that:

"this unique category of youth will be the focus for achieving the vision of a society that is literate, numerate, technologically competent, innovative, caring, compassionate and law abiding" (ibid.: 4)

It is interesting to note, however, that positive references to youth cease after this page. In fact there are only three unqualified positive statements used to describe youth in the text: one in the introduction (p.2) one in the definition of youth on (p.3) and one in the summary of the first section on (p.4) quoted above.

In contrast there are ten negative references to youth in the Manifesto and if numerical references was made the main criteria of dominance then the struggle for hegemony between the two metaphors would be a token one only. Let us look now at how the Manifesto contributes to a discourse that seeks to construct youth as "folk devils".

Let us begin by noting that even when the Manifesto is seeking to be positive about youth it must tag on the caveat about being "law abiding", as illustrated in the last quote above. Is there a fear in St. Kitts-Nevis that young people are not, or will not be, law abiding in the future? Or is this is a reflection of the fear about young people which is always present and not far below the surface of St. Kitts-Nevis society? We get the first hint of the existence of folk devils on page 7 where we are told that:

"Mr. Washington Archibald, the founder of 'Project Strong', observed that many young people were gravitating towards "social cesspool characterised by drugs, crime, and teenage pregnancy" (ibid.: 7)

The textual device used to introduce folk devils is that of a third party, Mr. Archibald. Such a device facilitates their introduction without the authors themselves being seen to do so. It is interesting to note that Mr. Archibald in fact attributes the creation of ‘folk devils' to the St. Kitts-Nevis education system. He argues that the schools branded these young people at an early age as being non-academic. The young people subsequently internalised this label which reduced their self-esteem and made them resentful against mainstream society. The Manifesto however chooses not to explore the implications of this type of argument, namely that it is adult society that is the main cause of the problem. Instead a different line of argument is pursued. It develops the theme of folk devils. Indeed we get a more explicit glimpse of the "folk devils" when we get to page 9 where it is pointed out that young people in St. Kitts-Nevis are not that unique after all, indeed we are told that they are "just like youth everywhere". They are obsessed with asserting their identity and "the urgency to satisfy this need forces them to think only of the here and now and to use whatever cultural artifacts, such as clothing, consumer goods and music to announce their presence. The energy generated to satisfy this primordial need is part of the definition of youth" (ibid:9).

The Manifesto is arguing therefore that being a folk devil is not something that is projected by adult society on youth but is, in fact, part of the intrinsic definition of being young. Youth cannot help being selfish, hedonistic (just thinking of the here and now) and loud (their music and clothes). It is just something that society has to live with and try and control the best it can.

We should not be surprised then that the text seems to follow a line of argument that supports the view that adult society is not the main cause of problems for young people. Without this argument, there would be no platform on which to erect the need to control young peoples' behaviour. Having thus established the fact that young people cannot help being 'problematical' in asserting their collective identity it now has a base on which to legitimise the need to control young people’s behaviour. On this note the Labour Party begins to articulate its position, in bold letters, on the issue of social control:

"The St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party understands the need for young people to assert their collective identity and will therefore facilitate this essential process in ways that are socially acceptable" (ibid.: 9).

Thus like sex, an admittedly natural process of maturation, youthfulness has to be controlled within 'socially acceptable' limits. The question is how much say should young people have in defining what a 'socially acceptable limit' looks like? The text is silent on this point. This immediately raises an interesting question, namely, who is the audience for this part of the Manifesto? Clearly it is not those young people who cannot help asserting their collective identity. It must therefore be aimed at adults concerned about the type of identities being asserted and the values and attitudes being expressed by young people. The Manifesto is clearly addressing itself to the constituent of the body politic that is usually referred to as the "moral majority".

Having flagged up the need for social control the Manifesto leaves its intended readership in no doubt as to where it stands on law and order and moral values. These issues are dealt with explicitly in the next section entitled "The challenges facing young men and women". In the first part of this section the text seeks to play down the unfounded fears of this moral majority by pointing out that despite the alarmist stories narrated in private and in the mass media, there are few facts to be borne in mind. What are some of these facts? These are summarised as follows, on page 9:

• That Caribbean family structure is fragile
• That female headed household had been the norm since slavery
• That people have traditionally migrated to find employment
• That teenage pregnancy is on the decline (180 in 1987 to 144 in 1997)
• That juvenile crime is on the decline (from 91 in 1998 to 63 in 1999)

Having pointed out that some of the fears talked about in private and in the mass media are 'alarmist', and having set out some of the data to support this position, the text then legitimises those very 'alarmist stories' by articulating a position on law and order and morality. It reveals an apparent need to develop a strategy for coping with the perceived threat from the 'folk devils' it has constructed. Having set out the above 'facts' and explained that the Party will pursue a policy of getting girls who get themselves pregnant back into "the mainstream of society and to enjoy the benefits of progress" (ibid.9), the next paragraph opens with the following sentence:

"Similarly it is totally unacceptable for any citizen to live in fear of being the next victim of criminal offences. The current government has already committed itself to a policy of zero tolerance of criminal behaviour in addition to the institutional measures being put in place to strengthen the capacity of law enforcement agencies, the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party will go back to brass-tracks to address the problem at the level of moral reinforcement" (ibid.: 9-10)

It is seen that the text of the Manifesto cannot sustain the positive view of young people that it started out with and with which it sought to associate itself. This is because there is a need to assuage the fears of the invisible moral majority. This forces the text to slip, almost unconsciously, into the traditional 'Folk Devil' perception of young people. The text is forced to come to terms with the social and political reality of the dominant discourse that surrounds young people in St. Kitts-Nevis. The State, on behalf of the rest of society, must take steps to ensure that the behaviour of young people is closely monitored and controlled to ensure it conforms with the expectation of adult society. Linden Lewis points out that:

"the social reproduction of youth is characterised not only by the reproduction of the material conditions of life, but also by the capacity to reproduce socially defined and shared values and beliefs" (Lewis, 1995: 4).

It should come as no surprise, based on the above analysis, that when the Manifesto moves to its "Priorities for Action" section it should state its first priority for young people as "Back to Basics: Reinforcing the moral foundation". Althusser reminds us that this type of social reproduction involves the socialisation of young people to the values and norms of the established order.

It is interesting to note that nowhere in the Manifesto are the rules of the established order interrogated to see if they are in the best interests of society in general and young people in particular. Neither does the Manifesto pose the question whether adults are following the 'established rules of morality' themselves. This is a major, implicit, and unexplored, assumption of the text. Sometimes the silences of a text tell us far more than what is actually written.

Thus a Manifesto which sets out an attractive set of policy proposals in the interests of young people turns imperceptibly into a Manifesto which legitimises the dominant negative concepts of young people, thereby doing a huge disservice to the young people that the Party is trying to win over to its political platform. Indeed it could be argued that the text shifts from a programme for the development of youth to one that articulates the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party policy on law and order. Youth issues become the vehicle through which the Party can legitimately present itself as the party of law and order because it will take a "zero tolerance" stand against the behaviour and attitude of the 'folk devils' existing in St. Kitts-Nevis.

Is this construction of folk devils valid in St. Kitts-Nevis?

The immediate response must be a resounding 'no'. The text continually struggles against its own internal inconsistencies in order to achieve its contradictory purposes. I shall say more about these contradictory purposes below. The text itself is forced to recognise that St. Kitts-Nevis is, in relation to other countries in the Caribbean, very lucky to have such a law abiding and highly motivated youth population. Let us look at several examples where the text acknowledges this fact: on page 9 we are told that juvenile crime is on the decline and that teenage pregnancy is also on the decline; on page 12 we are told that religious education has expanded with the expansion of secondary education.

The text itself describes the average youth in St. Kitts-Nevis as being employed, unmarried and still living with a parent, most likely in a female headed household. We know that youth unemployment and the absence of parental guidance are two of the key indicators of youth deviancy which do not pertain to the youth of St. Kitts-Nevis.

Moving outside the text the evidence to support the view that the youth of St. Kitts-Nevis are extremely bad candidates for the label of 'folk devils' is not hard to find. For example, an interesting study undertaken in Nevis, by Hensley Daniel,⁹ shows that the adult population has little to fear from their young people; indeed there was much to assuage any such fear. Highlighting some of the key findings we see that over 70% of respondents aspired to a professional or technical career, 73% were proud to be Nevisian, 84% enjoyed going to church frequently and 60% preferred regional music. Even the area of sexual attitudes and behaviour, which often gives the most cause for concern on the part of adults, we see that many adolescents are more conservative than adults. For example, when it come to the age of consent 79.4% of respondents felt that the age of consent should be raised; in relation to this finding the author of the study points out that: "The mean age of 17.5 was reported to be the best age for beginning an intimate relationship" (ibid.: 12).¹⁰ Attitude to drug use by young people is, understandably, another area of major concern to adults. The survey showed that the drug preferred by adolescents is alcohol (32.4%) and this must be a cause of concern because it mirrors the pattern of adult consumption. In relation to the harder drugs the report on the survey points out that "Scores of 0.5% for cocaine and 1.5% for marijuana would seem to indicate that there appears to be a low level of substance abuse among those adolescents surveyed" (p. 10). From this research we also see that the majority of adolescents in Nevis are patriotic, enjoy a good relationship with their parent(s), 72.5%, have regional heroes (Michael Jordan being the exception) and the boys enjoy playing cricket and the girls netball.

Thus we see that there is insufficient evidence, both within and outside the text, to support the labelling of St. Kitts-Nevis's young people as 'folk devils" so why is such labelling used in the text? An answer to this question is not to be found exclusively inside the text. To get a clue as to why the text uses such a construction we have to link the text to some of the wider discourses currently taking place in St. Kitts-Nevis society. Before doing so, however, let me conclude my reading of Manifesto 2000.

The Rhetoric of Broken Promises

One of the Caribbean's most prominent commentators on youth affairs, Professor Ramesh Deosaran, argues that the majority of Youth Policy Manifestos are not worth the paper they are written on because they are rarely ever implemented. Indeed he characterises the situation of the youth in the Caribbean as being one of "hope and broken promises" (Deosaran, 1992: 66).

As if to anticipate this potential critique the St. Kitts-Nevis Policy Manifesto makes the bold statement that "The St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party wished to go beyond promises and deliver resources to young people" (2000:16). It recognizes that all the youth policy proposals contained in the Manifesto will cost a lot of money and in order to prepare the tax payers, who will of course have to foot the bill, that such costs are indeed "not cost but investments in our future" (ibid.: 15, their emphasis). The Manifesto attempts to construct consensus by pointing out that such anticipated expenditure is in the best interest of all the stakeholders in St. Kitts-Nevis society. Indeed the Manifesto is arguing that it is the price the society has to pay for social peace. Again we see that the negative image of young people is being reinforced.

As pointed out above, the finance section, which is the final section of the Manifesto, is the shortest of the ten sections and there is no firm commitment on expenditure to generate confidence that the policy Manifesto will indeed "go beyond promises and deliver resources to young people" (2000: 16). The Manifesto recognises that "undoubtedly a separate revenue stream will have to be created for these new developments."(ibid.: 16). Thus, unlike George Bush, the Manifesto is saying "read my lips, this means new taxes". The Manifesto intimates that tax incentives will be given to the private sector to come on board and assist in the delivery of these policy initiatives.

The Manifesto ends with a very tame and vague commitment in relation to financing the policy proposals contained in the Manifesto. After identifying that a separate revenue stream will have to be found it concludes that "the government will seriously explore the available channels" (ibid.: 16). This is a very disappointing end to what started off as a very promising and bold statement to commit the Party to putting youth issues centre stage. Will this be, yet again, a missed opportunity?

So why the need to construct 'folk devils'?

Finding the answer to the question 'Why a separate Youth Manifesto?' may give us a clue as to the direction in which to look for a possible answer to the more fundamental question above. It needs to be borne in mind that the St.Kitts-Nevis Labour Party was not going to the electorate as an opposition Party but as an incumbent one. It could not readily present itself directly as the Party of change and renewal. It therefore needed a vehicle to market itself in this way and youth was a ready-made marketing tool. It is not surprising, therefore, that the first part of the text is spent in highlighting 'youth as the future' and youth as the vehicle of technological change and development. Having thus promoted this image of youth the Party then sought to align and identify itself with this 'image'; it is the image of youth that the text is interested in, not real youth themselves. Once the image needed has been constructed and usurped for the Party's implicit political purpose it becomes expedient to tap into the traditional dominant negative or 'folk devil' paradigm in which youth is usually conceptualised.

The second purpose for the construction of 'folk devils' in the text is that, as argued above, it enables the Party to portray itself as the Party of 'law and order' and discipline. In constructing youth as 'folk devils' the text's audience is no longer young people but the 'moral majority' who constantly patrols the ethical borders of society and is always ready to implore the authorities to take steps to protect decent society from the 'Barbarians'. The text therefore constructs the threat and of course projects the Party as the only Party ready and capable of dealing with such a threat.

This construction of 'folk devils' also enables the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party to project itself as the party of change whilst at the same time being the most committed to the traditional values of St. Kitts-Nevis society. It is these contradictory purposes that force the text to be so internally inconsistent. For example, after pointing out that juvenile crime is on a downward trend it immediately flags up the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party's commitment to a 'zero tolerance' policy to crime.

The most fundamental reason for a society to resort to the transformation of its young people into folk devils' is that of 'displacement'. In a seminal text Hall¹¹ argues that there are times when, faced with deep structural problems, particularly economic ones, a society will scapegoat a part of its population instead of dealing with those structual issues directly. There is not sufficient evidence in this text to justify such a conclusion but the fact that this text is engaged in the creation of 'Folk Devils' suggests that such a displacement could be taking place in St. Kitts-Nevis society. From many of the papers presented at this conference it would appear that St. Kitts-Nevis is faced with at least two critical issues. First, how will it transform itself into a modern economy that will be able to compete effectively in a globalised economic system? Secondly, what shape will the State take in the future? The text does make an attempt to address the first problem in that it recognises that the future lies in creating a workforce that can deal with technology. The creation of 'folk devils' though does signal a reluctance to let go of the past and the wish to "return to basics" confirms a desire to keep young people firmly locked into the traditional values of an agrarian society. In relation to the second issue the text is completely silent. Here is a text that claims: "the key to this strategy of technologically based development is Youth" (ibid.: 2) (their emphasis) and that "these young people are considered important because of their demographic strength, their energy, creativity, imagination and ability" (St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party, 2000: 3); yet nowhere in the text is there an attempt to engage 'youth' in the debate about the future of the federation. Cession is a deeply traumatic issue for the society and as was shown at the time of the last referendum a significant part of the Nevis population favours cession.¹² Could it be that the underlying tension within the society about this issue is too much for adult society? and their inability to deal with this issue forces them to seek a distraction? Securing consensus around the need for modernisation and how to maintain the state in its present form is a very difficult political task; it is much easier to secure consensus around the need to "go back to brass-tacks to address the problem at the level of moral reinforcement" (ibid.: 10). The overall effect of the text of the St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party's youth Manifesto 2000 therefore is to exclude young people from a debate about the critical issues concerning the future of St. Kitts-Nevis society. The text of the Manifesto transforms youth from 'subject' to an 'object' requiring discipline in order to assume a place in society, and thereby be rendered silent. Thus a text which states its explicit aim of targeting youth for 'special intervention and empowerment' (ibid.: 3), contributes to a discourse that effectively 'dis-empowers' them.

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Footnotes

URL http://www.uwichill.edu.bb/bnccde/sk&n/conference/papers/Williams.html