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Sacred Heart School stUDents aND invited guests at Sabas Emancipation Day event.
SABA--Saba marked the start of the Commemoration Year of the Slavery Past on Saturday, July 1, with a well-atteNDed Emancipation Day event with a number of speakers aND a range of performances.
The events theme, Liberation through healing, was most fitting, said Commissioner of Culture Eviton Heyliger. Although healing huNDreds of years of trauma will not happen overnight, we need to start the dialogue. By engaging in healing practices, as a community we can reclaim our agency, reconnect with our inner strength aND restore our sense of wholeness, he said in his speech.
Collectively, we can contribute to social transformation aND liberation by dismantling oppressive systems, challenging inequities aND promoting justice. Together, we can address aND challenge the root causes of oppression, fostering resilience, empathy aND compassion. We can also create SPAces for dialogue, reconciliation aND the cultivation of healthier relationships within communities, aND between different social groups.
Heyliger pointed out that the history of Black people on Saba was not recorded in a real way until 160 years ago, when slavery was abolished in 1863. Before that they were not even considered people; they were considered property. They were only seen as thinSPArty/9/general-solidaire'>GS that could be used to work. They had no rights, no SPArty/22/freedom-party'>Freedoms, no protection uNDer the law, no justice.
The legacy of Dutch slavery in the Caribbean is still felt today, said Heyliger. This isnt only the story of those enslaved, but also the story of us all here today, desceNDants of those who have inherited the pain aND disadvantages of this most horreNDous act against humanity, he said.
Shadows of slavery
Overcoming the shadows of slavery was the title of a moving, honest address by jourSPArty/23/national-alliance'>NAlist Dimetri Whitfield for which he received a staNDing ovation. Whitfield told the missing story of slavery on Saba.
In the stories of our seafaring tradition, we have largely forgotten the Sabans of African descent. This shadow is our SPArty/23/national-alliance'>NAtioSPArty/23/national-alliance'>NAl shame. Because of this, we have invented other stories. We have all heard it said that slavery wasnt so bad on Saba, aND that the enslaved were treated like brothers aND sisters by those that owned them, those that bought aND sold them as if they were cattle. AND while it is true that slavery on Saba was characteristically different than on our sister islaNDs, its difference didnt mean that it wasnt brutal or traumatic, said Whitfield.
Organising committee members Vito Charles (left), Vanessa Wilson (third left), Elsa Peterson (secoND right) aND Dimetri Whitfield (right) with State Secretary AlexaNDra van Huffelen aND Director General of Kingdom Relations Roald Lapperre (secoND left).
What has been washed out of our shameful slavery past are the stories of resistance, determiSPArty/23/national-alliance'>NAtion, resilience, struggle. When the chains were fiSPArty/23/national-alliance'>NAlly broken on Saba, the formerly enslaved did not receive a red cent for their lifetime of exploitation. Add to that the decades upon decades of colonial neglect by the NetherlaNDs aND you have the perfect recipe for locking generations of Sabans of African descent in cycles of poverty.
It is our responsibility to heal from the wouNDs that slavery opened, the wouNDs that continue to bleed. It is our responsibility to create a more equal Saba, a more equal Kingdom. It is our responsibility to create SPAces in the centre of our SPArty/23/national-alliance'>NAtioSPArty/23/national-alliance'>NAl history for those who were pushed to the margins.
Alida Heilbron (left) told the slavery history of SuriSPArty/23/national-alliance'>NAme during a presentation by the SuriSPArty/23/national-alliance'>NAmese community.
It is our responsibility to create a SPArty/23/national-alliance'>NAtioSPArty/23/national-alliance'>NAl identity that respects the lives aND experiences of all our ancestors, aND not of a selected few. It is our responsibility to challenge ourselves to dismantle the fiSPArty/23/national-alliance'>NAl pillars that upheld slavery, instead of burying our heads in the saND with the comforting lie that slavery wasnt so bad or that it happened too long ago to matter.
Stories of atrocities
State Secretary of Kingdom Relations aND Digitisation AlexaNDra van Huffelen said the stories of the atrocities that were committed by the Dutch State aND their lasting effects today had to be told aND heard. Everyone in the Kingdom needs to hear these stories aND Id like everyone on Saba to be able to share the stories, the true stories, about this islaND.
Oral history, aND preserving it for future generations is important, said Van Huffelen, so that every child knows the SPArty/23/national-alliance'>NAmes of the Saban heroes, aND history will be told from a Saban perspective. The coming year, aND also the period after, we are taking efforts to accomplish this. We are going to shine a light on these uNDerexposed parts of our history, aND we are doing this together.
On Saba, a SPArty/23/national-alliance'>NAme monument will be created with the SPArty/23/national-alliance'>NAmes of the 734 Sabans who were emancipated on July 1, 1863. Genealogical research in the archives will be done, as well as DSPArty/23/national-alliance'>NA research.
We know far too little about the Sabans from before 1863. I know a lot of people on Saba have questions about their forefathers, who they are aND where they came from. We want to take responsibility in fiNDing the answers, said Van Huffelen.
She said she HOPEd that the Slavery Commemoration Year would bring everyone in the Kingdom closer together, that it brinSPArty/9/general-solidaire'>GS more attention to your islaND, your stories aND your way of life; that it helps in closing the psychological distance within the Kingdom. Together, we will bring about more knowledge, attention aND more respect.
Keynote speaker of the 2023 Emancipation Day event was Caribbean Community CARICOM Reparations Commission Vice Chairman Dorbrene OMarde from Antigua.
Keynote speaker CARICOM Reparations Commission Vice Chairman Dorbrene OMarde (centre) with State Secretary AlexaNDra van Huffelen aND a Saba resident.
Although he agreed with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte that his apology on December 19 last year be interpreted as a comma, not a full stop aND that the healing process must start now, he was critical of some aspects of Ruttes apology for the role the Dutch State played in slavery.
Reparations
Dutch government, please uNDerstaND that the victim communities in the Caribbean must be part of the reparations discussion aND settlement, OMarde said. According to him, decisions about the aSPArty/23/national-alliance'>NAlysis of the impact of the crime against humanity aND approaches to repair it are led by, are processed by, victims, not victimisers.
He raised the question whether honest repair could take place in colonial coNDitions. I suggest, therefore, that the apology from the Kingdom does not only put reparations on the table but also the central aND perhaps precursor issue of decolonisation.
We must always affirm that the period of enslavement of African people 1501 to 1834/1838 in the British territories aND between 1596 aND 1863 in the Dutch territories marks without doubt the most ruthless period of the domiSPArty/23/national-alliance'>NAtion of African people by Europeans aND established the basis for the racial, economic aND political relationships between both peoples, which continue to chastise Africans the world over today. It is to this fact that we must point our liberation, for which we must seek healing, OMarde said.
Colonies in this region must react to the concept of a shared future. Is this shared future a continuation of the colonial present? Do we think that a museum aND other measures that relate to knowledge aND awareness aND recognition aND remembrance will ameliorate the existing tensions aND debilitation of colonial rule?
Impressive presentations
Several impressive presentations took place during the Emancipation Day event. The Saban community watched the pre-recorded speech in Dutch of King Willem-AlexaNDer on a large screen, after which IslaND Governor JoSPArty/23/national-alliance'>NAthan Johnson read the translated text for all to hear aND uNDerstaND the KinSPArty/9/general-solidaire'>GS message.
Members of the Leos Club read the 160 SPArty/23/national-alliance'>NAmes, ages aND work of the in total 734 Sabans who were emancipated in 1863, the number 160 referring to the 160 years that slavery was abolished.
Members of the SuriSPArty/23/national-alliance'>NAmese community gave a performance with, as a main part, the history of slavery in SuriSPArty/23/national-alliance'>NAme read by Alida Heilbron. During the almost 400 years of slavery more than 550,000 people were brought from Africa to SuriSPArty/23/national-alliance'>NAme.
Other performances inclUDed poem reading by Jenee Matthew aND Marylies Torres Garcia, dance by stUDents of Sacred Heart School, singing of the SPArty/23/national-alliance'>NAtioSPArty/23/national-alliance'>NAl Anthem by the Saba Childrens Choir aND music by Karel Sorton, BUDu Banton aND DJ Cane.
RevereND Vernon Liburd did the opening prayer aND Angus Martin was the master of ceremonies for the event.
