Page 7 - aruba-today-20221223

a7
local Friday 23 december 2022

Prime minister elaborates on three levels for restoration, recovery

and reconciliation process

ORANJESTAD – Last Mon- a lot about Suriname. He
day, the government of the explained that on the one
Netherlands apologized to hand this has to do with
Aruba and the Dutch Ca- awareness that still needs
ribbean for the role of the to be achieved in the
Netherlands in the history Netherlands regarding the
of slavery. In the afternoon, differences, between for
prime minister of Aruba, Ev- example Curaçao and Su-
elyn Wever-Croes together riname on the one hand,
with Dutch Secretary of and Aruba and Bonaire on
State for Justice and Secu- the other.
rity, Eric van der Burg held a
press conference to elabo- “If we see the situation in
rate and answer questions Aruba this was not compa-
on the topic. rable to what took place
in Curaçao and Suriname.
Wever-Croes explained Netherlands. In this con- how big the damage is, but apply to Aruba. The ques- As I commented during the
in her answer to a ques- text, the digitalization of she does not have an an- tion is just to meet and dia- meeting this afternoon, if
tion by the press regarding the National Archive has swer yet because they will logue with more parties in you are a slave, then for
damage caused by slavery a very important role. For now be carrying out the in- society to determine the you it doesn’t make a differ-
in the past and what this this, Wever-Croes added, vestigation. At this point she direction in which Aruba ence if you are one of 500
means in the context of res- they received the good can say that some people needs to go. She added or one of 50,000 people,
toration and monetary rep- news that the Netherlands or groups, neighborhoods that she cannot put a price you have been enslaved”,
arations for Aruba. She indi- is ready to work together and processes are disad- on damages. Van der Burg indicated.
cated that they are not so and provide more funding vantaged because of slav- “For us, today is very mean- He commented that for the
far in Aruba. She said that to continue with the digita- ery in the past. ingful that this step was tak- Netherlands it was very im-
on the island, they want to lization of the archive. The “On top of that we need en by the government of portant to address all seven
have specially the direc- Netherlands also indicated to do good research, and the Netherlands, and from countries at the same time
tion that will be followed that they want to re-print a the question is, once this this moment already we will in order to make it clear
for what till come next, and book by author Luc Alofs, has been established, how be working on recovery, that even though there are
currently they are thinking and distribute it among the can you update and how restoration and reconcilia- historical differences, there
on three levels. youth. do you want to update the tion,” she emphasized. will be no differences in the
situation. Thus for Aruba, futuro, and for individuals it
She said that the first level is Luc Alofs (1960) is currently we are still on the path Secretary of State, Eric van will not make a difference.
symbolic. They need to de- head teacher of Research launched by the minister der Burg explained also that
cide what symbolism they at the University of Aruba of Culture from 1st July this if we look at slavery in the “As your prime minister
think fits in Aruba for such and partner in the project year until 1st July 2023. But past in the Dutch Caribbe- said, [Monday] morning
an apology. This is a ques- Travelling Caribbean Heri- before 1st July, we need to an, the countries that back we mentioned three cases
tion that she emphasized tage. He is also curator of have a concrete plan and then were not yet countries that we are taking into con-
she is not answering herself, the Historical Museum of afterwards I will say some- and Suriname, we can see sideration, but I mentioned
rather, a commission will Aruba, and president of thing more concrete”, great differences between also that aside from that
provide the answer. the National Commission of Wever-Croes added. the islands and Surinam. we will allocate funds that
Wever-Croes added that UNESCO in Aruba. He has She emphasized also that And to stay close to home, will not be available only
they have already received published various books, she mentioned in her regarding slavery, there is in European Netherlands.
good news from the Dutch including “Who is Aruban? speech on Monday morn- a big difference between The money is also directed
government, through the Social integration and na- ing that there is no need Curaçao and Aruba. to Suriname and countries
Secretary of State, that tion forming in Aruba”; to search for many rec- within the Kingdom and the
they are ready to take part “Slaves without plantation, ommendations, there are Van der Burg also men- special congregation in
in a memorial to Virginia slavery and emancipation already many recommen- tioned that in his speech, the Kingdom”, he pointed
Dementricia, who is known in Aruba”, and “Subordina- dations and not all of these Prime Minister Rutte talked out.q
in Aruba for being a slave tion and separatism; colo-
who became almost a nial governance and local
hero. “This you can say is politics on Aruba, 1816-
an answer to the question, 1955.”
but I am not sure”, Wever-
Croes said. “This is all that we want
to achieve in the second
The second level the prime level regarding education
minister mentioned is that and awareness. These are
they want to see improve- important and positive ges-
ment in education and tures”, Wever-Croes com-
awareness on the topic of mented.
slavery in the past. She ex-
plained that before that, As a third level, she contin-
they need to teach ev- ued explaining, they want
eryone in the community to reflect on the damage
precisely about Aruba’s that might have been
slavery past in order to caused because of slavery
have a better understand- in the past. She said that last
ing of the apology by the week a journalist asked her