WILLEMSTAD - Former Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles and former Minister of Curaçao Suzanne Camelia-Römer agrees with King Willem-Alexander "that no one today is personally to blame for slavery", as the King stated in his Christmas speech on Sunday.
“What I do miss in the speech is how we are concretely working to address the consequences of slavery that still exist today.”
According to Camelia-Römer, who has been fighting for decades for recognition of the suffering that slavery has caused on the Antillean islands, these consequences cannot only be found in the “contemporary forms of discrimination, exploitation and injustice”. As shown by scientific research, these consequences include differences in economic perspectives, poverty, backward education, certain chronic diseases, the lack of research into history from a non-Eurocentric point of view, negative self-image, et cetera.”
These are all themes that need to be worked on, she says. “The heirs of the people responsible for slavery now enjoy the prosperity of Europe. That prosperity partly comes from the wealth gained through colonialism and slavery.”