Suriname: An Imagined Community

‘It’s so nice to be a Surinamese’ is a documentary about the ‘Dim-Sum-academy’, a group of educated young people, so the opinions expressed might not be representative  of the whole population. But since 60% of the Surinamese is below 29 years of age, they can’t be too far from it either. The youngsters in the movie make remarks like ‘I’m ashamed of the parliament’, ‘All governments since the independence have been insufficient’, and ‘I have lost my national pride’. All this represents a certain doubt among the Surinamese about if they are capable of steering the country towards prosperity. But on the other hand the young people do express pride, hope and vision: they address the problem of the old ethnic politics and the corruption and seem to thoroughly realize that these problems have to be overcome (Radstake, 2009).

But there is a long way to go, since the old political powers are still on the throne, and in 2005 the Dutch and the Surinamese government quarreled over the remaining developmental help, in a de-motivating atmosphere of old resentment, especially on the part of Surinam.

But to end on a note of hope I will quote Hobsbawm:  ‘Among the potential new nation-states, there might be one or two future Netherlands…bastions of tolerance, democracy and civilization’(Hobsbawm; p556) . If Hobsbawm is right, all the Surinamese have to do is convince Holland that it should help them follow the Dutch example. If we may believe the former Dutch minister of foreign affairs Ben Bot, this will always be possible: ‘‘The Netherlands won’t leave Suriname to its perils. For that we share too much together’ (Oranje).

 Sources

-Anderson, Benedict; ‘Imagined Communities’; 1983; in: The Post-Colonial Studies Reader; 2006, Routledge, Oxford.

-Bakker, Eveline; Dalhuisen, Leo; Donk, Ronald; Hassankhan, Maurits; Steegh, Frans; ‘Geschiedenis van Suriname; van stam tot staat’, 1998, Walburg Pers, Zutphen

-Bouterse, Delano; van Mulier, Ludwich; ‘Dekolonisatie en Nationaal Leiderschap’, 1990, Masusa, Nijmegen.

-CIA, ‘The World Factbook’, 2007, p 216

Viewed 25-3-2009 – 14-4-2009 at: http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.library.uu.nl/ehost/detail?vid=2&hid=117&sid=b2a12cd2-a544-42fb-9469 8dab75c0746c%40sessionmgr109&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d %3d#db=afh&AN=24575872

-Hobsbawm, Eric; ‘The perils of the New Nationalism’; In: Nation, volume 253, Issue 15. 1991

-Jansen van Galen, John; ‘Kapotte Plantage; Suriname, een Hollandse erfenis’ 1995, Uitgeverij Balans, Meppel.

-Oranje, Joost ; ‘Een zakelijke omgang met Suriname’ Published: 29th of April 2005

Viewed: 30th of March 2009 at: http://www.nrc.nl/dossiers/suriname/verhouding_met_nederland/

article1862826.ece/Een_zakelijke_omgang_met_Suriname

-Prins, Baukje; ‘Narrative Acounts of Origin: a blind spot in the intersectional approach?’, In: European Journal of Women’s Studies, Vol 13(3); 2006, Sage Publications, London.

-Radstake, In-Soo ,‘Het is zo fijn om Surinamer te zijn’, 2008, Llink                                                                             viewed           20th of March 2009 at: http://player.omroep.nl/?aflID=8438781