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By Hilbert Haar
Former Minister of Education Omayra Leeflang hit a nerve when she said in an interview that it is wrong to link the history of slavery consistently with victimhood. The answer, she said, is to be found in two things: fighting poverty and strengthening education.
In the past, I have written about the way our generation deals with the history of slavery. In an article that appeared in the newspaper Today I argued that it makes no sense to complain about the great injustice (no argument there) the slavery-practice has done to thousands of people if you close your eyes for today’s reality.
And that reality is of course that there are still enslaved people within the community of St. Maarten. The thing is: almost everybody knows this but nobody does anything about it. This made me realize that it is easier to complain about something that happened hundreds of years ago than it is to actually do something to change the situation of people who are held in slave-like conditions today.
Let me emphasize here that I am not downplaying the horrific conditions slaves had to endure in the past. On the contrary, I consider slavery as an awful and criminal practice. And because this is so, I am seriously irritated that nobody stands up for today’s slaves.
These are the facts as I see them. Slavery was practiced a long time ago. It was awful and inhumane. But, but. That ship has sailed and there is nothing anybody can do to change that history. I could elaborate here on the phenomenon of victimhood and how people love to be a victim. In reality it is nothing more than a cry for attention – and I want to leave it at that.
But now, my friends, we have a situation whereby slavery is happening right under our very noses. And you know what? People who are aware of these situations could actually do something about it – free these modern-day slaves from their proverbial chains.
The fact that this is not happening tells us something about the rather hypocritical attitude that dominates the slavery-debate.
Politicians prefer to talk about apologies and compensation – money! money! – but they never address the real problem.
I find it refreshing that Omayra Leeflang has grabbed the bull once more by the horns by dismissing the love for victimhood and the link between slavery, health and social problems.
Now I wonder whether Leeflang’s outcry will be heard by those who are in a position to change the nature of the slavery-debate and – that would be nice! – to finally tackle the issue of modern-day slavery within our community.
Chances that this will happen are, in my opinion, uncomfortably close to zero. Politicians lack the balls to do something and other community leaders prefer whining to creating solutions.
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