By Dr. Rhoda Arrindell

Just the other day, I asked some folks in a gathering if they were happy with the way things are taking place on our island, and, like me, they are not happy. When I asked if what they intended to do about it, the response was tepid. That was a warning bell to me and even more reason to fear the direction our island nation is headed.

A few years ago, when he visited the St. Martin Book Fair, the young professor MK Asante left a message with the audience: “If you have an observation, you have an obligation.” The then 26-year-old reminded us that we cannot remain silent and complicit when we notice injustice taking place in our community.

I understand why some people choose to remain silent out of fear of being targeted by the powers that be. Many of us who have dared to stand up to injustice and other ills over the years know all too well what the repercussions can be. They can range from being disregarded for jobs and funding opportunities, economic boycott of your business, shady “investigations” of you and your family, to even death (Mr. Helmin Wiels being the most recent example). However, we also know that Freedom comes at a price, but it is a price that must be paid.

Many St. Martiners will tell you that they know that Independence is the solution to St. Martiners taking full control of their destiny as a people, with all the ramifications thereof. Yet, just a few are prepared to make the necessary sacrifices for this to happen. I’m not talking about the perceived material sacrifices that so many attribute to being a politically independent territory in this region. I am referring to sacrifices in terms of comfort zones and especially false notions of “power,” when in reality our people remain powerless in shaping our destiny.

Colonialism—whether by the USA, Dutch, French, British, or whomever—is evil and unjust. No matter how it is dressed up or whatever euphemisms are used to conceal it, it always works to the detriment of the colonized people and their way of life. The fact is St. Martin is a colony, and the contrived colonial domination that is currently taking place (on both sides of the island) is not in the interest of the St. Martin people, no matter what politicians tell you.

At this point in our development, my dear St. Martiners, the right thing for all of us to do at this time, regardless of age, political colors, passports, etc. is to unite and take a strong stand against colonialism and the continued use of our island nation and people as pawns to satisfy an evil agenda. We must do this not just for the common good today, but also in the interest of our children and future generations. We as St. Martiners, too, need to be honest with ourselves, that if we want our freedom and to preserve our island for the future generations, we must be willing to make sacrifices today, now.

I am calling on all St. Martiners to talk to your representatives, on both sides of the island, and urge them to put down their campaigning weapons and get together to fight this evil noose of colonialism around our collective necks. Those of us who know that independence is the way to save St. Martin cannot afford to sit idly by or remain complicit in the annihilation of our people and our values.

For those aspiring to get into Heaven, know that you cannot get in there while you’re still alive. W. Somerset Maugham once said: “If a nation values anything more than freedom, it will lose its freedom; and the irony of it is that if it is comfort or money that it values more, it will lose that too.”
February 25, 2019

Excellency,

I would like to congratulate your excellency and the secretariat on attending the upcoming meeting in Montevideo, Uruguay. In reference to the escalating Venezuela crisis and our previous letters of June 11, 2018 urging the CARICOM and the Caribbean region to intervene and object to prevent an armed conflict in the Caribbean and recent letter dated January 29th, 2019, as the crisis and conflict is deepening we herewith would like to request your urgent attention and call to action on behalf of the peoples of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, Curacao and Aruba.

By now it is very clear and obvious that the provocation and escalation is initiated and led by mayor world powers headed by the UK, France and the Netherlands and backed by the US as we witnessing a continuing military build up in Curacao, the ABC islands. We the people of the ABC islands highly object to be dragged into this conflict.

As the discussion is fundamentally based on the issue of democracy and human rights, the so-called ultimatum headed by these colonizing powers is directed towards a new election to re-elect a democratic president and government for the peoples of Venezuela we would like to illustrate herewith the hypocritical position taken by the government of the Netherlands (member of the UN Security Council) a front-runner in this provocation and escalation of this crisis.

The autonomous democratic Caribbean islands forming the country Netherlands Antilles in the Dutch Kingdom was dissolved and disintegrated on October 10, 2010. The Netherlands which maintained ultimate unilateral legislative and judiciary powers in the Dutch Kingdom abused these powers to continue with colonialism in the Caribbean region.

The more dense populated islands Aruba, Sint Maarten and Curacao, something what is not so obvious to outside world, they were all stripped from their autonomy and are back under Dutch control and rule. The Dutch which controls and decides on the budget (and judiciary) of the Curacao government, headed by the Secretary of State Mr. Knops, a ex-military and ex-lieutenant active in the Iraq war, forced the prime minister of Curacao, Mr Rhuggenaath which is subordinated to the Hague powers to escalation of the crisis. Curacao Prime Minister Rhugenaath publicly sided with the ultimatum for a new election causing a direct interference in the sovereign neighboring country Venezuela internal affairs. Curacao which as Aruba, the closest Caribbean islands to Venezuela, are equipped with a full US military forward base and with international harbors and airports of military standards are at the moment converted in the most strategic war-campaign-bases. War planes are already landing and troops are deployed from the Netherlands towards the ABC islands under guidance of Dutch brigade-general Peter Jan de Vin which was deployed to Curacao to overseer this military operation along with State Secretary Mr Knops.

The less populated in-defensive islands of Saba, Sint Eustatius and Bonaire were annexed, integrated and incorporated in the Dutch constitution without equal rights, with all administrating, democratic, judiciary, powers unilaterally re-positioned under the Dutch parliament in the Hague and at the moment are being governed in a colonial status against the free will of the peoples and not of their choosing.
As the Dutch government is preaching or claiming to support democracy and human rights in Venezuela meanwhile Bonaire is in a heavy humanitarian crisis by neutralizing and erasing their democratic and human rights. Imposing unilaterally laws for a systematic institutionalized ethnic cleansing of the local population, explosion of the crude death rate over 60% and massive immigration over 400% increase of non-Bonerians. At the moment in a short period, the local Bonerians became a minority on their own island and there is no stopping to this displacement and extermination process.

On Sint Eustatius, the democratically elected local government were un-democratically removed from power, with claims of corruption without proof or formal investigation by the Dutch government with abusive use of legislative , military and police powers. The Dutch appointed a non-democratic ruler to govern and erased the peoples democratic rights by stopping elections on the island till further notice. Note that the government of Sint Eustatius is the only Dutch Caribbean island which stood up against the Dutch government because illegal annexation on October 10, 2010 and presently are in court-proceedings against the Dutch government.

These mayor developments are contributing to re-establishing colonial regiments back in the Caribbean and these re-colonized territories are misused as this Venezuela case and crisis is unfolding to destabilize the region and vision towards a united and integrated Caribbean.

Our urgent call to attention and action is towards the Caricom countries and our Caribbean and Latin American brothers and sisters for supporting our islands of Bonaire and Sint Eustatius in our quest to get re-inscribed back on the list of the Non-Self-Governing-Territories of the United Nations and fall back under the scrutiny of the international community on our way back to regain and restore our fundamental human and democratic rights.

 Yours sincerely,

James Finies, president Foundation We Want Bonaire Back

Excellency,

I would like to congratulate your excellency and the secretariat on attending the upcoming meeting in Montevideo, Uruguay. In reference to the escalating Venezuela crisis and our previous letters of June 11, 2018 urging the CARICOM and the Caribbean region to intervene and object to prevent an armed conflict in the Caribbean and recent letter dated January 29th, 2019, as the crisis and conflict is deepening we herewith would like to request your urgent attention and call to action on behalf of the peoples of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, Curacao and Aruba.

By now it is very clear and obvious that the provocation and escalation is initiated and led by mayor world powers headed by the UK, France and the Netherlands and backed by the US as we witnessing a continuing military build up in Curacao, the ABC islands. We the people of the ABC islands highly object to be dragged into this conflict.

As the discussion is fundamentally based on the issue of democracy and human rights, the so-called ultimatum headed by these colonizing powers is directed towards a new election to re-elect a democratic president and government for the peoples of Venezuela we would like to illustrate herewith the hypocritical position taken by the government of the Netherlands (member of the UN Security Council) a front-runner in this provocation and escalation of this crisis.

The autonomous democratic Caribbean islands forming the country Netherlands Antilles in the Dutch Kingdom was dissolved and disintegrated on October 10, 2010. The Netherlands which maintained ultimate unilateral legislative and judiciary powers in the Dutch Kingdom abused these powers to continue with colonialism in the Caribbean region.

The more dense populated islands Aruba, Sint Maarten and Curacao, something what is not so obvious to outside world, they were all stripped from their autonomy and are back under Dutch control and rule. The Dutch which controls and decides on the budget (and judiciary) of the Curacao government, headed by the Secretary of State Mr. Knops, a ex-military and ex-lieutenant active in the Iraq war, forced the prime minister of Curacao, Mr Rhuggenaath which is subordinated to the Hague powers to escalation of the crisis. Curacao Prime Minister Rhugenaath publicly sided with the ultimatum for a new election causing a direct interference in the sovereign neighboring country Venezuela internal affairs. Curacao which as Aruba, the closest Caribbean islands to Venezuela, are equipped with a full US military forward base and with international harbors and airports of military standards are at the moment converted in the most strategic war-campaign-bases. War planes are already landing and troops are deployed from the Netherlands towards the ABC islands under guidance of Dutch brigade-general Peter Jan de Vin which was deployed to Curacao to overseer this military operation along with State Secretary Mr Knops.

The less populated in-defensive islands of Saba, Sint Eustatius and Bonaire were annexed, integrated and incorporated in the Dutch constitution without equal rights, with all administrating, democratic, judiciary, powers unilaterally re-positioned under the Dutch parliament in the Hague and at the moment are being governed in a colonial status against the free will of the peoples and not of their choosing.
As the Dutch government is preaching or claiming to support democracy and human rights in Venezuela meanwhile Bonaire is in a heavy humanitarian crisis by neutralizing and erasing their democratic and human rights. Imposing unilaterally laws for a systematic institutionalized ethnic cleansing of the local population, explosion of the crude death rate over 60% and massive immigration over 400% increase of non-Bonerians. At the moment in a short period the local Bonerians became a minority on their own island and there is no stopping to this displacement and extermination process.

On Sint Eustatius the democratically elected local government were un-democratically removed from power, with claims of corruption without proof or formal investigation by the Dutch government with abusive use of legislative , military and police powers. The Dutch appointed a non-democratic ruler to govern and erased the peoples democratic rights by stopping elections on the island till further notice. Note that the government of Sint Eustatius is the only Dutch Caribbean island which stood up against the Dutch government because illegal annexation on October 10, 2010 and presently are in court-proceedings against the Dutch government.

These mayor developments are contributing to re-establishing colonial regiments back in the Caribbean and these re-colonized territories are misused as this Venezuela case and crisis is unfolding to destabilize the region and vision towards a united and integrated Caribbean.

Our urgent call to attention and action is towards the Caricom countries and our Caribbean and Latin American brothers and sisters for supporting our islands of Bonaire and Sint Eustatius in our quest to get re-inscribed back on the list of the Non-Self-Governing-Territories of the United Nations and fall back under the scrutiny of the international community on our way back to regain and restore our fundamental human and democratic rights.

Yours sincerely,

James Finies, president Foundation We Want Bonaire Back

Dear Editor, I decided to write about my recent experience only because I read about someone else who had a similar experience. Recently I read about a woman who had difficulties with a female 911 operator. I’m choosing to share my experience after reading that I might not be the only one who has been victimized by this female police officer answering emergency calls. I read the letter to the editor this past week about a 911 dispatcher & laughed. Keep in mind that I did not laugh as in haha that's funny, I laughed a sad laugh. A wow, I’m not the only one to have been completely disrespected by a woman on the local police force on the Dutch side of the “friendly island”. I was & have been physically & mentally abused by a man over the years. I finally decided to report him. I regret that 911 call. The female police officer who took my call asked me “what did you do to provoke him to beat on you”. Yes, that's what she asked me. The conversations I believe are recorded so the proof is there should I ever want to take this further. I must come to the conclusion that this is a very bad apple in the bunch of police officers that are answering 911 calls. As the writer's situation sounded far too familiar with the terrible attitude I received making me feel as though I was at fault. In the end, the police force of St Maarten did not help me. I did, however, contact Safe Haven who was able to offer advice, talk calmly, relate to my situation. Women, if you are having a problem with a man I suggest you contact Safe Haven for help. The police force is obviously not trained to assist women with domestic abuse issues.
I’d like to throw this question out to the Chief of police & I look very forward to your response to the media & to the women on this island...is there a problem with the women on your force? Why is it that the women police officers speak so badly to other women? How dare they feel screaming & pointing their finger in a woman's face is acceptable to get their point across. I AM not an animal...Are they trying to fit in with the macho men? Do they resent other women may be of different nationalities? I have yet to meet a woman police officer, again, on the Dutch side of the “Friendly Island” who was in-fact an emotionally stable individual, able to keep her emotions out of the situation, deal with the situation she was called out to attend. Instead of straying off to, who is your neighbour, her friend is my neighbour, that officer is my friend, I don’t like that you are more educated than me, I don't like your house is bigger than mine, & finally... I don’t like anyone with lighter skin than me. Please keep in mind that this is not my opinion, This is a recent personal experience. Anyone out there who feels the local St Maarten policewomen are not biased, well, you are their friend, relative, neighbour etc & finally, I bet your vehicle has & black tinted windows & no officers peel it off...you are not 1 of us common folk. There are 2 types of people on this island. The ones connected to the local police force by blood or friendship..then there are us stupid folk who are forced to bow to them or we end up being yelled at by a female officer as she points her finger into your eye.

To end this on a positive note as I believe there are many positives within this said “friendly island” police force. There is a senior male police officer who works as a 911 dispatcher. Words cannot explain the compassion this particular individual has shown. I do hope to cross paths with him 1 day as I will never forget the patience to listen to my story, the understanding & non-judgemental advice. In every fruit basket we find a rotten, however, I assure you the St Maarten police force has some seasoned gentlemen that are ready to help any woman, child or man in need of help. If you find yourself in a helpless situation, woman, call Safe haven before making any bad decision.
I choose to withhold my name as unfortunately the women on the force are prone to targeting an individual for making a complaint & I can be sure they will target my family for writing this. It is a sad day when the police force cannot be trusted due to high strung emotions & mafia-like behaviour. I’m hoping more women feel comfortable to share their experiences & eventually see a better-educated Police force. Again, I look forward to the Chief of Police addressing this obvious hidden issue.

Authors name withheld upon request.

A number of persons brought to my attention of a letter to the Editor on or around November 25, titled “ Are there criteria for Dutch Funding etc”. As my name is explicitly mentioned I take the opportunity to offer some clarity and a reaction of facts:
The writer who chose to remain anonymous hid behind the title of a “concerned citizen of St. Maarten” and stated the following:
Quote: “But the following day I was even more surprised that you ( Bibi Shaw) did not champion the people and integrity for the abuse of using Government funds to build a house for these fraudsters” – Unquote.
The facts: to refer to me or any member of my family as fraudsters is out of line and unacceptable. Secondly, the news article specifically mentioned the name of Carlos Dollison, Jr. a nephew of mine whose dwelling was destroyed by Irma. I am advised that he fit the criteria and that repairs to his home had to start prior to hurricane Irma.
Quote: “Glenda Dollison lives in a house on property left to her by her father Carlos Dollison”. The fact: indeed the writer is totally correct that the land was left by my late father Carlos Dollison and I am the sole heir.
Quote: “She ( Glenda Dollison ) lives in a concrete house, so her house was not destroyed as they claim in this ( “Daily Herald”) article”.
Fact: At no time did the press release mention my name as being a recipient of repairs or a new house. There was no claim in the article that the house of Glenda Dollison was destroyed. I suggest that “ the concerned St. Maartener” go and read the article again as Carlos Dollison, Jr. name is mentioned and Lionel & Eneida Dollison.
Quote: “ How does the SMDF justify building, not repairing, a house for this person and they select her and her brother to build a house for”.
Fact: no house was repaired or built for Glenda Dollison. Eneida and Pedro Dollison, Lionel “ Dollison and Carlos Dollison are none heirs to the property “the Concerned St. Maartener” refer to. The last three persons ( Lionel , Eneida and Carlos ) were on the list of SMDF long prior to the hurricanes. Lionel received repairs to his home and a wheelchair ramp, Eneida & Pedro received a new dwelling and Carlos ( my nephew) received a new dwelling. I restate, these persons were on the SMDF list long prior to hurricane Irma.

 The concerned citizen of St. Maarten rightfully and factually stated that Glenda Dollison lives in a house on property left to her by her father. It was the only fact the writer had right.

I trust to have set the record straight.

Glenda Dollison