THE DISCUSSION AND the battle of the Caricom repairs has taken a new turn. Jamaica has direct presented a petition to the King of England. The island asks the king, who remains Jamaica’s head of state, to submit three legal questions to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
It is notable that the petition does not contain a financial claim. Jamaica initially wants to obtain legal answers that could be important for the further repair process. The government wants to determine, among other things, whether the capture of Africans, their forced transport to Jamaica and their slavery were ever lawful under English law. In addition, the country is asking whether these practices were contrary to international law and whether the United Kingdom has a legal obligation to provide reparations to the Jamaican people.
Afro leaders like Armand Zunder can accelerate processes by reaching out and uniting with each other
According to many, Jamaica is therefore breaking with the trajectory of Caricom, which has set up a joint structure to reverse their claim repairs to continue. For example, a ten-point plan was drawn up in 2014, it was renewed for the first time in 2018 and again in July of this year.
Armand Zunder, who heads the National Repair Commission Suriname, explains that Jamaica is not breaking with this trajectory but is opting for a possibly faster path. He suggests that Suriname can also do that with the Netherlands. According to him, Suriname has missed an important opportunity After the Netherlands’ apology, to hold direct talks with The Hague about repairs on December 19, 2022, because the late President Chandrikapersad Santokhi also wanted to include contract labor as a point of discussion.
Zunder is only partly right about this. He wisely forgets to mention how many conversations have been held by Dutch delegations with all kinds of Afro-organizations in Suriname. It would indeed have been nice if the government had one focal point had appointed for the interviews. But it would be ideal if the Afro organizations could agree on their own focal point who could do that.
However, because so many want to be the initiator and no one the follower, Suriname is indeed lagging behind in the process. The country does not have to sue the Netherlands, as Zunder asks, because unlike England, the Netherlands has already started the process. In Suriname, the Afro organization must align itself and appoint a strong leader from civil society to lead the discussions. But who will that be?
That is the problem and that has always been the problem in Suriname. By the way, the Netherlands knows this very well and uses a strategy of divide and rule. Unfortunately, by not being able and willing to appoint an Afro leader to lead the way, the Afro community goes along with it.
Afro leaders like Zunder can accelerate processes by reaching out and uniting with each other. Only a fist can hit a table and make demands, a slap from an open hand cannot be compared to that. Santokhi would have nothing to say against a proverbial fist of Afro-organizations. The old and wise Zunder knows that too.
