Suriname where freedom is not an illusion

For the foreigner who wants to learn about Suriname it might be very confusing to discover that people of   African, Indonesian,  Indian, Chinese, African, Jewish, Syrian, Lebanese, European, Taino (Carib), Trio, Warau, Wayana and Arawac  descent and culture are presented as one people and are  all united as Surinamese.
The truth is the only indigenous inhabitants of Suriname are  the Lokono (Arawac), Wayana, Trio, Warau, and Taino (Carib), who met with European invaders in the 17th century at the time when Europeans were prospecting the globe for treasures and landed on the shores of Guyana's wide rivers.
The 17th ,18th and 19th centuries are characterized by the 'golden' period of triangular trade which saw African enslaved people being  bought and shipped  to Suriname  by  Dutch, mostly Jewish merchants who sold and exploited  them like  cattle on sugar , coffee, cotton and cocoa plantations. The products of their slave labour were then shipped to Europe and sold to finance next rounds of highly profitable trade of human cargo for processed sugar, coffee, cocoa, cotton, tobacco, Indigo and timber from Suriname.
The system of colonial domination and systematic exploitation has enriched the Dutch, British, German and French colonizers who raided  and violated the indigenous lands of Suriname's original inhabitants.
The presidential Palace in Suriname has for the first time witnessed a spiritual cleansing ceremony on Sunday August 9th 2015 to commemorate the  international day of Indigenous Peoples.  The annual  celebration of this international day of indigenous Peoples takes place in the Palm gardens. These old  gardens  are adjacent to the Presidential Palace in Paramaribo which was built  in 1730 during colonial times at the site where the indigenous villagers saw colonial ships sail up their Suriname river looking for bounty. The Dutch colonizers used their United East Indian Company and West Indian Company  networks to bring cheap labor from China, India and Java,Indonesia  to respond to shortage of workers due to the abolition of slavery in 1863. The day of abolition of slavery July 1st 1863 is commemorated annually just like the arrival of contract laborers from India is a national holiday in Suriname. The first ship with contract laborers from India arrived in Paramaribo on june 5th 1873.
The new generation of Surinamese celebrated the 125th anniversary of the immigration of contract laborers from Java, Indonesia on August 9th 2015.  Descendants of those immigrants from Java, India, Africa and China today are part of our new government and are elected members of Suriname's National Assembly.
The Chinese organization Kon Ngie Ton San has just celebrated its 135th anniversary in Paramaribo and is reminding all Surinamese of the contribution of Chinese contract laborers who came to Suriname in 1853 to work on the sugar plantations. My great grandfather was one of those contract laborers who came to Suriname and met my great grandmother Magdalena Trijn who gave birth to my grandfather Hendrik Jan Tjoe Nij.
President Desire Delano Bouterse called himself a small Amerindian boy from the Casiwinica region in Suriname who is honored to be inaugurated as President of Suriname in the Anthony Nesty Indoor Stadium on august 12th 2015 in the presence of Caribbean and Latin American as well as African and Asian presidents and international diplomatic representatives. Suriname's vice president Ashwin Adhin has ancestors who came from India and built their lives in Suriname.
A walk through Paramaribo might bring you to the New Libanon store or you might want to take a look inside the Jewish Synagogue and modern Mosque which stand peacefully side by side.
The  colonial German, Italian, French, Polish fortune seeking mercenary military who made their careers as soldiers and later became plantation owners have left their mark on surinamese family names. Dutenhofer, Labadie, Godefroy, Betten, Du Peyrou, Raineval, Cellier are some of the wellknown names from Suriname's colonial plantation era.
Untill today the official language spoken in Suriname is Dutch, but the lingua franca is  Sranan, while large sections of the population speak Sarnami Hindi,  Javanese, Saramaccan and Aucan laguages as well and  indigenous languages are also spoken.
The true melting pot which is Suriname has one big human family which might not yet have shaken off all colonial shackles,  but is well on its way to grow into a prosperous multi ethnic nation where peace reigns,  tolerance is the rule and freedom is not an illusion.