Saba News News and Information from Saba Island, Dutch Caribbean
Genealogic research to determine where people come from in Saba, a slavery monument in St. Eustatius, the rehabilitation of freedom and resistance fighter Tula in Curacao, a name monument in Bonaire and a statue to honour resistance hero Virginia Dementricia in Aruba — these are some of the commitments that the Dutch government will finance in the Dutch Caribbean in light of the Slavery Past Commemoration Year which will start on July 1 throughout the Dutch Kingdom and in Suriname.
The commitments were mentioned in a letter that Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Hanke Bruins Slot along with four other ministers and three state secretaries sent to the Dutch Second Chamber of Parliament last Friday.
The commitments to the islands will be funded from the 100 million euros that the Dutch government has allocated for measures related to “knowledge and awareness”, “acknowledgement and commemoration” and “impact and psychological processing”. No specific initiatives have been committed for St. Maarten as yet. St. Maarten Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs in February 2023 appointed the nine-member Advisory Committee on Slavery, Atonement and Reparations which will advise the St. Maarten government about the response to the apology by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on December 19 last year.
The St. Maarten committee will begin by studying the colonial past and the slavery past within the island’s context and the impact of that past in contemporary society. The committee will then issue a report, including recommendations.
This process in St. Maarten will run its own course without outside pressure. “The Dutch government believes it is important that St. Maarten is able to complete this process at its own tempo and wishes to work together on the response to the apology once the process is complete,” it was stated in the letter.
Slavery monument
As for St. Eustatius, the Dutch government has made a commitment to finance a slavery monument or memorial on the island and to support the work of the St. Eustatius Cultural Heritage Implementation Committee. Various ideas in response to both commitments have been discussed, including a memorial to all Africans who were enslaved and the reburial of ancestors who are buried in St. Eustatius.
Representatives of descendants, civil society organisations and the public entity St. Eustatius are developing a plan outlining the desired implementation of the commitments. This measure is one of the commitments in the government response, for which the Dutch government has reserved 100 million euros.
The implementation of the commitments should be seen in the context of the wider process of raising awareness of the slavery and colonial past in St. Eustatius. There are various ways of raising awareness, including the further development of teaching materials on the slavery past in St. Eustatius, facilitating a public dialogue and oral history projects.
Genealogical research
Various discussions have been held in Saba with representatives of descendants, civil society organisations and the public entity. These resulted in various ideas for implementing the commitments to fund a memorial and to identify opportunities and support for genealogical research for descendants.
The genealogical research initiative in Saba is lined with the adopted motion of Member of the Second Chamber Sylvana Simons of the BIJ party which asked the government to facilitate measures to allow individuals to investigate their exact origins with DNA research by non-profit organisations, including Erasmus University. Implementation of the commitment in Saba can serve as a pilot for this initiative.
The implementation of this commitment is part of the broader efforts to raise awareness of the slavery and colonial past in Saba. These include facilitating a public dialogue, organising oral history projects, developing teaching materials on the slavery past in Saba and making July 1 an official public holiday on the island. These ideas are further being developed together with the public entity Saba and civil society organisations.
Colonial Archives
The Aruba Slavery Past Awareness Committee has made a swift start to an awareness campaign. The Aruban National Archives has started the process of using handwriting recognition software to make it possible to search the Colonial Archives. This will make an important contribution towards improving the accessibility of the information in the archives and will also make it possible to search more efficiently and effectively for information about enslaved people.
The need for improved education and educational methods about the slavery past in Aruba prompted the commitment to make sure that the books Education on the Legacy of Slavery and Slaves Without Plantation can be reprinted. These books are intended for use in the education system and will be updated, translated into Papiamento and made available to schools.
Work is also ongoing to have a statue erected in honour of the Aruba resistance heroine Virginia Dementricia. The committee is discussing a suitable location with an artist and the Aruba government.
Rehabilitate Tula
The rehabilitation of resistance hero Tula has been a long-held wish in Curacao and was an explicit recommendation in the Chains of the Past report. The Dutch government is committed to rehabilitating Tula. The rehabilitation will take place in Curacao on October 3 this year, the anniversary of Tula’s death.
For the Curacao Slavery and Legacy of Slavery Platform, the rehabilitation of Tula is a symbol of the emancipation movement. The platform has developed an extensive programme to take place around October 3 in response to the commitment. The platform has been awarded funding for this programme.
Name memorial
Bonaire has installed the July 1 Working Group to raise local awareness about the slavery past. The Dutch government has committed to realising a (sur)name memorial to the slavery past. The Bonaire Dialogue Group will identify the required additional name research. A variety of ideas for the design and the location of the memorial are being looked at.
The reprint of the book Bonaire, A colonial salt history and the associated teaching materials will be made available to schools in Bonaire to raise awareness of the slavery past and colonial past.
The July 1 Working Group is working with the Bonaire Dialogue Group and the non-governmental organisation support point NGO Platform Bonaire to develop a broader plan in response to the apology.
Since the apology in December, digital and physical meetings have been held on each island with representatives of governments, civil society organisations and descendants. The Dutch government finds it important that the islands lead the process initiated in response to the apology.
Additional research and discussion on the islands are required for some of the commitments. The manner and speed in which the commitments are implemented differ per island. The Dutch government is looking at how the work of the various organisations can be supported, with particular attention for grassroots organisations and community engagement. A meeting will be organised in the Dutch Caribbean after the summer, to which stakeholders from all six islands will be invited.
Increased subsidies
In the letter it was further announced that the two subsidy schemes for the entire Kingdom, of one million euros each by the Mondriaan Fund and the Culture Participation Fund, will be tripled to accommodate the approval of more project initiatives.
It became apparent early this year that there is a great deal of interest in organising cultural, community and educational activities at the Mondriaan Fund and Culture Participation Fund. Because the government recognises the importance of this broad social movement and supports the establishment of as many good, high-impact initiatives as possible, it has decided to increase the subsidies.
The subsidy for projects through the Mondriaan Fund will be increased by two million euros to three million euros. The Culture Participation Fund scheme will be increased by two million euros as well, to three million euros. A percentage of this will be reserved for the six Dutch Caribbean islands.
The Daily Herald.
Please keep me informed of the progress of the DNA research initiative. I am of Saban descent.
The apology For the participation of the Netherlands in the enslaving Trade of African People in the Caribbean by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on December 19, 2022 last year; makes him a “Dutch World Class Statesmen!”
Yes, If we do not know our Past then We will not know where we are going! Remembering the past of “Enslaved People” or human beings of particularly African Descent who were of black skin color is something very Noble and Altruistic to do for all Lovers of Equality and Justice!
Nonetheless, I always say that the New color of slavery nowadays is not black is Green or Money since the Dollar is Green. We are all unfortunately enslaved to Money where ever we may be in the world. The World has been formed and organized in a way that: if you do not have money you are not going anywhere, it is that simple.
The Power of Money and the Evil of money are as old as the Sacred Scriptures: The Bible says: The Love of Money is the Root of All Evil: (1 Timothy 6:10 King James Version)
For Money Thieves steal, for money women prostitute themselves and sell their body and create pornography, they say that Sex sells, For money Rapperts and Music Artist and singers, Exotic Naked Dancers all kinds of Perverse and Abominable things, For Money people risk their lives to sale and traffic Drugs, For money all kinds of Evils and Injustices are shown on Your Television Screen, For money Politicians Lie and Robb the Poor the most needy in our Society and trample on children’s future.
More important than Commemorating Slavery these days is Fighting Racism and Discrimination to teach our children the injustice of such practices. We much teach them that Silent Racism and Inaction go hand and hand.
The commitments for Slavery to the islands will be funded from the 100 million euros that the Dutch government has allocated for measures related to “knowledge and awareness”, acknowledgment and commemoration” and “impact and psychological processing”.
This Commitment should also include Fighting Racism and helping Poor Black people who have been left behind and defeated by Racism and are living in extreme Poverty in The Netherlands and on the islands to help them pull themselves out of Poverty, I think this is more important.
“The rich nations must use their vast resources of wealth to develop the underdeveloped, school the unschooled, and feed the unfed. Ultimately a great nation is a compassionate nation. No individual or nation can be great if it does not have a concern for ‘the least of these.’”
Martin Luther King Jr.
Cristian Hassell Feliciano