Electoral Reform Secretariat
Church Street
Basseterre
St. Kitts


DR. FRANK MILLS: ST. KITTS-NEVIS NATIONALS STILL CONNECTED TO HOME, STILL SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE

St. Thomas, USVI (September 17, 2006): Modern communication media have revolutionized the concept of transnationalism and what it means to be an emigrant, so many Kittitian and Nevisian Nationals abroad do keep abreast of the sociopolitical landscape in St. Kitts and Nevis, and therefore should not be denied the right to vote at home, Dr. Frank Mills of Sandy Point, St. Kitts says.

Dr. Frank Mills, Professor of Social Sciences and Director of the Eastern Caribbean Center at the University of the Virgin Islands (UVI), eloquently addressed the transformation of immigration into a more participatory movement that affords people in the diaspora ample opportunity to contribute to their home countries’ development.

According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, the concept of transnationalism is focused on the heightened interconnectivity between people all around the world and the loosening of boundaries between countries. “The concept of transnationalism has facilitated the flow of people, ideas, and goods between regions. It has been greatly affected by the Internet, telecommunications, immigration, and most importantly globalization. Concepts like citizenship, nationalism, and communitarianism are being changed and re-examined with this phenomenon of the Modern Age,” reads Wikipedia, in adherence with Dr. Mills’s argument last night in the Caribbean Room at the Holiday Inn Windward Passage Hotel.

Dr Mills said, “Immigrants who leave the country and go away still maintain their connections, still maintain their interest, and in fact they even get involved in business or other economic activities. This, I would say to Kittitians and Nevisians is not something that you can just wish away.

“The fact that there is that continuing interest,” he continued, “the fact that there is activity on their part is what identifies this whole aspect of transnationalism. It’s not just a matter of St. Kitts and Nevis. I think when one looks across the entire Caribbean, the entire Latin America, one sees that this is a developing phenomenon where we can no longer conceptualize immigration in the way that we did 20, 30 years ago. The whole matter of communications has turned this entirely around.”

Dr. Mills pointed out that earlier in the day he had been listening via the Internet for several hours to ZIZ Radio, which broadcasts out of St. Kitts, “and I’m sure there must be a lot of other Kittitians and Nevisians elsewhere who do the same,” he added.

Karleen Harris Jeffers is one of them. During breakfast this morning at the Windward Passage Hotel, the Kittitian National who lives in St. Thomas said that she too listens to ZIZ. Ms. Jeffers says she logs on to its Web site shortly after arriving at her office in the morning.

It bears pointing out that this phenomenon is not unique to ZIZ. Radio stations throughout St. Kitts and Nevis have a substantial listenership of Kittitians and Nevisians abroad. This is demonstrated countless times through St. Kitts and Nevis Nationals’ participation in call-in talk shows, as well as through e-mail submissions, and live requests and “shout outs” such as on Mother’s Day, which they are wont to make on the air.

So with the prevalence of modern communication media, perhaps there are many Kittitians and Nevisians who hold Dr. Mills’s conviction. “I will take issue with Kittitians and Nevisians who insist that Kittitians and Nevisians abroad either don’t know what is going on, are not interested, are not informed," he said. "That is not so at all. Today, with telephones, with cell phones, with telephone cards, with the Internet...there are many of us who are informed.”



Contact: Valencia Grant (869-762-6177)