SIPPS President Dr. Julio R. Romney addressing attendees.
PHILIPSBURG--The harms of Dutch colonial enslavement continue to affect St. Maarten’s social, economic and political structures, according to the St. Maarten Institute for Public Policy Studies (SIPPS), which hosted a public dialogue on the island’s enslavement past and its continuing impact.
The dialogue, titled “Commemoration and raising awareness of Dutch-colonial enslavement past on St. Maarten, its effects, legacy, and continuing impact on the present,” was held on August 12 at the Philipsburg Mutual Improvement Association (PMIA) Hall on Backstreet in Philipsburg.
The event drew a full house of engaged participants, including Prime Minister Dr. Luc Mercelina, while more than 1,500 people watched the discussion through an online stream.
Participants underscored that the harms of Dutch colonial enslavement are not confined to the past but remain embedded in present-day social, economic and political inequalities and religious beliefs.
A major part of the evening was the participation of secondary-school students from St. Maarten Academy, Learning Unlimited Preparatory School, Methodist Agogic Center Comprehensive Secondary Education (MAC-CSE), Milton Peters College – HAVO/VWO, and the St. Maarten Youth Council Association.
The students presented their perspectives on the Dutch-colonial slavery past on St. Maarten and argued that little is being done to raise awareness of this “chattel” colonial enslavement and preserve this heritage history for future generations.
Historian and cultural anthropologist Beverly Richardson, a resident of St. Martin, also presented on St. Martin’s experiences with colonial enslavement.
SIPPS President Dr. Julio R. Romney said Dutch colonial enslavement produced three interlocking harms in St. Maarten’s society.
These include a fractured social structure, cultural dilution and fragmented personal identity; an unequal economic structure marked by structural poverty; and a distorted political development shaped by colonial governance and political dominance.
Romney further reiterated that these harms continue to influence St. Maarteners’ identity, economic upward mobility and governance culture.
SIPPS will conclude its commemoration and awareness campaign on August 27 at 7:00pm at the Belair Community Center. During that event, SIPPS will recognise and award the secondary-school students for their contributions through position papers that helped facilitate the awareness dialogue.
SIPPS will also reflect on the dialogue and provide a structured conceptual framework or tenable pathway to reparatory justice for the Dutch colonial enslavement inflicted on the people of St. Maarten, with the framework grounded in self-reliance.
The closing event will also include slave emancipation enactments and dance. SIPPS said all are welcome and are expected to attend.
