The National Repair Commission of Suriname (NRCS) recently held a lecture in collaboration with the Directorate of Culture in the context of the Day of Bonding, which has recently been commemorated on January 6. This year the focus is on connection and collaboration. The chairman of the committee, Armand Zunder, said that the government is currently busy appointing a cluster of ministers including Home Affairs, Education, Foreign Affairs and Justice and Police, so that the platforms of organizations that descendants of the group of the indigenous people and represent the enslaved, can start the reparations.
It is important to Zunder that various organizations join forces and fight together to demand the reparations that the Netherlands must make. In the run-up to the repairs, the organization will visit various neighborhoods, districts and villages where the indigenous people and descendants of the enslaved lived, to raise awareness. Zunder is of the opinion that, according to the repair committee, the word Maroon is not used, “they are freedom fighters from Suriname, including the indigenous people, because no one has fled, the people did not want slavery, but freedom, so the curriculum where it talks about runaways, must be adjusted. it is not in our dictionary and people will be made aware of it”, says Zunder.
Audrey Christiaan, who is known as a champion for the indigenous people of Suriname, told those present that the battle fought by the ancestors has been a battle of blood, sweat and tears. “It is now finally time for reparations to take place, which includes the land rights issue. Christiaan pleads for honor and restoration of the indigenous heroes who fought during the colonial period. “This is important because until now the language of the colonizers has been spoken, as if they were rebels and troublemakers. That was not the case, they are our heroes. It is time that we realize that and name them national heroes of Suriname, we must look forward to a hero’s day.”
