REQUESTING INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY Greetings Brothers and Sisters, Here we are (again!) involved in a referendum nobody asked for to take place May 15. You know the situation 'cause you've been here. The puppet government wants the people to approve (not asking them if they agree or not) the December 2008 agreements they signed with their Dutch masters- without consulting anybody - that put back in the hands of the Dutch administration the vital areas of national life such as justice, public finances, education and control on good governance. So were going back in time instead of decolonizing. The contradictions manifest in a much harder way now than when you & David came to support us in 2005. This set against the background that in this globalized era the remaining colonial powers are seeking to rapidly consolidate their control of "their" colonies in the midst of the crisis they themselves caused and making sure that no independence or national liberation movement will stand in the way of their industrial and financial capital to expand "their" markets outside their own national borders. We see the USA administration opposing, jailing and plotting against Puerto Ricans fighting for independence. The UK government has declared more than once that it will under no circumstances recognize any government that proclaims independence in Montserrat, Anguila, Virgin Isles etc. We recently saw an arrogant Sarkozy ignoring the call for freedom that echoed through the streets of Guadeloupe and Martinique. The Dutch government is executing the same policy. In the year 2010 the Committee for Decolonization of the UN will cease to exist. So the great world powers have decided that those who are not independent by 2010, will never be because colonies will have ceased to exist by then because their own people have decided so in "democratic" referenda. Hence the May 15th referendum to legitimize the recolonization. The opposition parties here keep repeating their backwards position that the government should restore "what we had", which is of course a state of colony. They do not mention independence as an option "because the people are not ready for it", although they are strongly campaigning for NO in the referendum. The latter we support of course. In this political - economic- social - cultural -spiritual unbalanced situation people tend to seek security more than ever. The ones promising to sooth the daily pain of hunger, incarcerated sons, pregnant teenage daughters, extremely high index of diabetes, blindness, amputations, obesity -due to malnutrition-, heart attacks and cancer, ever failing children in a oppressive and inefficient Dutch imposed school system, disoriented youth, chronical lack of democracy, oppression of the national culture & language if you only vote SI are more likely to get the votes. However, as dialectics teaches us, oppresion creates it own resistance. The number of people rejecting shameless Dutch intervention in their daily life is growing steadily at a never before experienced pace. The large crowds at the meetings, the call-ins on the radio talkshows, the strikes (busdrivers, health care workers, university students etc.) are evidence people are sick and tired of being trampled on and that the mental as well as the material circumstances favor a transformation or revolt. These subjective and objectives conditions should be turned into political action to bring down this corrupt system of exploiting people and there resources. Hence the mobilization and agitation propaganda required. One particular point of concern is the huge migration wave from the Netherlands bringing rough settlers to "their" colony in the Caribbean. They come with the strong euro currency, buy land, manipulate humble country people into selling their property for a mere trifle, chase others from their property, bring in many Dutch students to "do their practice" here, but in fact work fulltime, also in mangement positions and companies "are sorry they have no place" for local students etc etc. The governments grants Dutch "investors" many privileges: they buy beaches and shut out locals or charge high entrance; unemployment has increased but offical numbes say it went down. Why? Because Dutch immigrants register as having found work and thus manipulate the unemployment numbers. They are coming in in crowds to vote for YES in the referendum, although they should be living here in order to vote, but who controls the apparatus? They themselves. In last elections we experienced personally the results of their tampering with the electronic voting machines, which will be used again in May. So vigilance is essential. The Dutch government has already announced that regardless of the outcome of the referendum they will continue their "restructuring" of the islands. This means that the process they agreed for the smaller islands (Bonaire, Saba, St. Eustatius) to become an integral part of the Netherlands or a municipalty will continue. They have already executed part of their plans. The two larger islands (Curacao as the largest and St. Maarten as 2nd) will become as of 2010 an "autonomous country within the kingdom", or simply continuing colonialism in the next stage of imperialism: recolonization & denial of any independence, let alone national liberation reality. We simply do not exist as opposing political factor. We are engaged in a intense process to promote NO. It is, as you can figure, tough with ignorance, bad education, poverty and fear guiding people. The local bourgeiosie is tapping into these issues to promote YES, telling people the Dutch government will pay the national debt of the country, build schools, houses, bring in money, finance progress etc. etc. I have expanded to explain to you as interim chair of the GAC and, through you the GAC and others, the urgency of the situation and I am asking, on behalf of the Afrikan family in diaspora in Curaçao for your solidarity. We need all the assistance we can get to spread the word, to help us build an international campaign denouncing the deprivation of peoples'a rights by the Dutch government, a government pretending worldwide to be democratic and tolerant. (As the attached article shows the Dutch hypocrisy: Money laundering in Netherlands amounts to 18.5 billion annually: Amounts to 5% of Dutch GDP) We need to reproduce banners, folders, posters, T-shirts, stickers, we need funds to cover the media - mind manipulators par excellence - who are seizing the time and charging extra rates for interviews, adds and so on since we are covering everything from personal funds. We could use the help of Brothers and Sisters helping us to get a website especially for this purpose online, to design posters and other propaganda material, to write statements of support to be sent to the local media and other forms of solidarity. My place is here at this crucial moment. So I won't be able to go to Geneva for the Durban Review Conference where I know you all will do an excellent job guided by our brave ancestors who resisted extermination and made it possible for us to be here today, a job for which you have my unconditional support. Honouring the work entrusted on us by the ancestors Joceline Clemencia Chair Independence Party of Curaçao Language is more than language Instituto Kultural Independensha (Cultural Institute Independence) drs. Joceline A. Clemencia, director Tel./Fax (5999) 869-3443 Cel. (5999) 562-4122 jossy3011@hotmail.com
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  • Caricom
    I find this account very confrontational offensive and insulting. It doesn’t at all reflect a balanced testimony of how the situation is in Curaçao. A false view is propagated of how circumstances are in Curaçao. Hate is being sowed against the Dutch and upright hard working Yu di Kòrsou, (Island Child) of all colors creed ethnicity background and social status. It is exactly this type of rhetoric that has Curaçao so divided and polarized.
    Andrés F. Casimiri – Esq.
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