By a deeply disappointed descendant of the enslaved
There are moments when, as a people, you have to pause and ask yourself: “Have we really pulled our own pants down this far?”
The state visit of King Willem-Alexander to Suriname was exactly such a moment. A kind of national audition for a role in a bad comedy, but unfortunately, we played the lead role.
Up close, I saw something that hurt: a painful indoctrination problem that revealed itself in full sunlight. While the grassroots tried to guard the dignity of our ancestors, the real program was being arranged in closed rooms. As if our history were some attachment in an Excel sheet from The Hague.
The Great Selection Show
Anyone who thought that this visit would finally create space for real conversations was disappointed.
What we got was:
- a tightly controlling directing team,
- a few local stars who mostly wanted to shine in the photos, and
- a whole lot of people who were invited because they do not cause trouble.
People who did want to contribute from spirituality, historical depth, or ancestral honour? They quietly disappeared from the guest list. Filtered out. It seemed as if they were afraid someone might say something that did not fit the polished agenda.
And then those photos. Those wide smiles. The enthusiastic hugging by the ex-coloniser. We are collecting them all, you know, in a photo album. Title: “The Laughing Traitors.”
A collector’s item.
In the Netherlands, apologies were made in 2023, but anyone with a bit of historical awareness knows that those apologies would only truly have meaning if they were spoken on the soil where all the misery began, where genocide, exploitation and humiliation took place.
*Meet Kofi Agyeman, a dynamic Diasporan Activist who calls the Netherlands home. With a passion for social change and cultural connectivity, Kofi is dedicated to making an impact far beyond his surroundings. His engaging approach to activism inspires others to join the movement for a better world.
