Saramaccaner
The Saramaccaner , or Saamaka, is the oldest community of refugee slaves who were formerly transported to Suriname from Africa . Along with the Ndyukas, it is the largest Marron community in the bushland living in the tribal association .
Social structure
The trunk is formed by los . A lo is a unit of people who feel connected to each other through their common historical background on the plantations and their common cultural and / or spiritual basis. It formed over time among the slaves on the plantations. While on the run, it finally developed and solidified at the moment the tribal was founded. A lo consists of one or more bees , also called bere (belly), a matrilineal kinship group, people with a common ancestral mother . The ancestral mother is the first woman who was transported from Africa to Suriname and the first mother from whom the group emerged. The Marron - or Businenge - parentage forms the root and bracket with Africa. The bees are again divided into osos (house), the families.
Political structure
At the head of a tribe is the gaanman (also: granman ), the head of the tribe. The gaanman is usually chosen for life from the lo of the maternal line of its predecessor. Further from the kapten , as the village head of a lo and the basjas who assist the kapten . If important decisions have to be made, krutus , assemblies consisting of older men from the village, are called.
These social and political structures still apply to all Marron tribes in Suriname today . However, due to the so-called jungle war from 1986 to 1992 between the jungle command under the Ndyuka Brunswijk and the military rulers in Paramaribo, many Marrons grew up with rifles. Many of the already scarce social institutions were also destroyed in the fight. This led to massive emigration, a brutalization of customs and a break with old traditions. But the gold fever that broke out in the tribal areas, which resulted in armed conflicts with the Garimpeiros from Brazil, meant that many marrons no longer recognize traditional power, traditional values and norms. The traditional tribal law is therefore often no longer the legal norm for conflict resolution.
history
The Saramaccaner or Saamaka tribe was formed over the decades from groups of the first refugee movements of slaves at the time of the English colonization under Francis Willoughby from 1651. With the first permanent settlement of Suriname by Europeans, the first African slaves probably also set foot on Surinamese soil. The first slaves to flee probably came from sugar cane plantations on the Suriname (river) , which had been established around the former capital Torarica . In order to stock up on weapons and other important items, there were repeated attacks on the plantations. Because of the shortage of women among the Marrons, slaves were usually kidnapped.
In 1690 a spectacular event occurred when the plantation of the Jewish planter Imanuel Machato on the Cassewijne, a tributary of the Suriname River, was attacked. A small group of marrons had returned to free the slaves that were left behind. They killed the owner and robbed all of his property. The attackers belonged to the group of Matjaw (u), one of the most important los of the Saramaccans.
The number of escaped slaves increased particularly in 1712 when the French privateer Jacques Cassard attacked Suriname in his second attempt, this time successful. The colonists had sent many slaves into the hinterland during the attack when they had rushed from the plantations to Paramaribo to defend the country. This was to prevent the slaves from falling into French hands in the event of arson . However, this meant that many preferred freedom in the bush to slavery on the plantations and never returned.
From 1717 each colonist was allowed to undertake punitive expeditions and hunt slaves who had fled. The premiums for slaves returned alive or dead (chopped off hand) were increased by the governorate during this period. For discovering a Marron village, z. B. the award 600 guilders.
On July 22, 1721, the death penalty (public execution ) for fled slaves was made public on a poster. But even this punishment, intended as a deterrent, did not have the desired effect. The same applies to the expensive military expeditions against marronage, which were undertaken many times in the first half of the 18th century .
In 1749, the colonial power under Governor Johan Jacob Mauricius made the first serious attempt to come to a peace treaty with the Saramaccans. A military expedition was ordered to the bushland under Lieutenant Carl Otto Creutz, who came from the Duchy of Kleve , to negotiate a peace treaty with the Saramaccans according to the motto: "negotiate with gun in hand" - or " divide and rule ". After 9 Saamaka villages had been destroyed, Creutz reached an armistice with the Marrons . In the following negotiations with the Matjaw (u) leader Dabita Ajako, agreements were made on a draft peace treaty. a. intended to end the hostile clashes, the recognition of the freedom of the Saramaccans, the extradition of slaves who had fled their homes, their trade relations with the plantation area and an autonomous succession procedure for their tribal chiefs. The peace ultimately failed due to sabotage , both from the "planter aristocracy," which in the majority against a contract and for the destruction of the "rabble", as well as on the part of Saamaka that under the going disagreed about the arrangements and in which especially the lo leader Samsam played a controversial role. A delegation of around 20 governorate slaves, headed by the three military men Knelke, Mensch and Picolet, who was sent to the Saamaka in 1750 to comply with initial agreements, never returned to Paramaribo and was lost. Another attempt to come to a peace treaty was made in 1755 under the leadership of Captain Hentschel. After this expedition had also failed, the dispute resumed.
Only after a peace treaty with the Ndyukas had come about on October 10, 1760 , did the colonial power try again, also with the Marrons , who had settled on the upper reaches of Suriname and Saramacca , to start negotiations on a peace treaty. The Ndyuka leader Kwaku complied with the government's request to inform the Saramaccans of the desire for peace. In February 1762, the envoy from Kwaku, Wii (Willie), a Saramaccan who was staying with the Ndyukas due to problems in his residential area, returned with about 40 marrons , including 6 lo leaders with the Ndyukas. A government delegation led by Louis Nepveu negotiated here with the Marrons and concluded a provisional armistice. In the case of the Marrons , most of the negotiations were led by Abini von dem Matjaw (u) -lo. Nepveu tried in vain to obtain information about the fate of the expedition members who had been missing since 1750. Finally it was agreed that the final peace treaty should be concluded on the Sarakreek , a tributary of Upper Suriname. A few months later a second delegation, again led by Nepveu, traveled to the mouth of the Sarakreeke to seal the peace there. On September 19, 1762, the Saamaka also concluded the peace treaty in the traditional way, through an oath ( sweri ).
Abini vom Matjaw (u) -lo was the first gaanman recognized by the colonial administration , chief of the Saamaka tribes. As an outward sign and symbol of their rulership and recognition of their independence from the Dutch, the gaanmans were given a scepter , a staff with a silver knob.
The contract with the colonial power essentially corresponded to the one that had been concluded with the Ndyukas two years earlier. In some points it differed, however. B .:
- described the tribal organization in more detail,
- the extradition of escaped slaves is regulated more emphatically. Only the colonial administration was empowered to judge whether the reason for the flight was the mistreatment by the plantation owners,
- agreed that the Saamaka had to support the colonial administration in the event of a slave rebellion and in the event of a breach of contract by the Ndyukas,
- recognized the jurisdiction of the Saamaka , including the execution of the death penalty; except for problems with whites,
- stipulated that they were not allowed to sign a separate peace treaty with the Ndyukas and that they were also not allowed to support them in any actions against the colonial administration,
- agreed the delivery of goods to the Saamaka , and that in exchange for this and in order to confirm the contract, they had to surrender four hostages, children of tribal heads, to the colonial power. This article also contained a list of the goods to be delivered as an annex,
- the handover of the goods at the Victoria post (immediately upstream from Berg en Dal ), the southernmost military post on Suriname, the former border between the plantation and Marron area, agreed.
It is noticeable that the contract was also signed by three locals . Although this contract did not contain any regulation about the stay of a postman as a representative of the colonial power with the Saamaka , the ensign J. Dörig, who was entrusted with the function, appeared in the residence of gaanman Abini, in Senthea on the side course of the same name on November 3, 1762 of the Gran Rio, a headwaters of Suriname.
The contract concluded with the Saamaka on September 19, 1762 also applied to the Matawai and their gaanman Musinga, who had also signed the contract.
When slavery was abolished on July 1, 1863, the Saramaccans and the other tribes had been living as free people in Suriname for over a hundred years.
The Saramaccaner tribe consists of a total of 12 lots . Some of the going are: Matjaw (u), Nasi, Abaisa, Awana and Dombi. The Saamaka residential area is the middle and upper reaches of the Suriname River. Their language is that of Saramaccaan . The Saamaka call the Suriname River Gaan (large) Saamaka and the Saramacca River Pikin (small) Saamaka .
Belfon Aboikoni
The tribal chief - the gaanman - has been Belfon Aboikoni vom Matjaw (u) - lo since it was installed and sworn in by President Ronald Venetiaan on October 29, 2005 . The gaanman residence is located in Asidonhopo on Pikin Rio .
On March 12, 2006, a gaanman was kidnapped for the first time in the history of the Marron community . The newly appointed gaanman Belfon Aboikoni was kidnapped by nephews from his residence in Asindonhopo. He was detained for hours in the village of Dangogo, the home of Jacob Oseni Amiena, to recognize Amiena's reign. Within the Matjaw (u) -lo there has been a dispute about the recognition of gaanman for some time . Both Belfon Aboikoni and Jacob Oseni Amiena had received the first traditional ordinations from tribesmen.
Due to the dispute within the tribe about the occupation of the gaanman post by Belfon Aboikoni and the severe flooding, including in the Saramacca area on the upper reaches of the Suriname River, the ritual activities for his appointment as head of the tribe could only be concluded at the beginning of September 2006. This involved visiting holy places to pray for the prosperity and general welfare of the Saramaccans. These places are among others in the villages of Dan, Lafanti, Manlobi and Pata, the center of the Nasi-lo (sub-tribe of the Saramaccans). In the ritual trowe nyang (literally translated: throwing food), food is sacrificed to its predecessors and ancestors in order to ask for blessings for themselves and the tribe. Only when these rituals were rounded off was Aboikoni recognized as a full member in the circle of tribal chiefs.
Gaanman Belfon Aboikoni died on June 24, 2014 in Paramaribo .
Dispute over succession
After a four-year dispute within the Saamaka community about the successor to Belfon Aboikoni, his younger brother Albert Aboikoni was sworn in as the new head of the tribe by the Matjaw-lo, both through ritual acts and by President Bouterse in the presidential palace on August 12, 2018 .
Environmental protection price
On April 20, 2009, the 2009 Goldman Environmental Prize was awarded to the Saamaka Community and five other awardees. The award, which is awarded annually, is intended as a stimulus for environmentalists working on the grassroots. The Saamaka received the award for their years of dispute over their right to live in their traditional tribal area.
When the government wanted to grant concessions to foreign companies in their area for large-scale tropical timber felling in 1997, the Marrons began their fight for the legal recognition of their land and housing rights. Ultimately, in 2007 the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled in favor of the Saramaccans.
The award was presented in San Francisco (California) on behalf of the kaptens bug Eduards and Hugo Jabini. There is a total of $ 150,000 associated with this environmental protection award.
literature
- André RM Pakosie: Gazon Matodja, Surinaams stamhoofd aan het einde van een tijdperk . Stichting Sabanapeti, Utrecht 1999, ISBN 90-805186-1-1 .
- CFA Bruijning and J. Voorhoeve (main editors): Encyclopedie van Suriname . Elsevier , Amsterdam a. Brussel 1977, ISBN 90-10-01842-3 .
- Hans Buddingh: Geschiedenis van Suriname . Het Spectrum, Utrecht 2000 (3rd edition), ISBN 90-274-6762-5 .
- Bernardus Scholtens: Bosnegers en Overheid in Suriname, de ontwikkeling van de politieke verhouding 1651-1992 . Nijmegen 1994.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ StarNieuws, June 25, 2014 Dutch, accessed August 13, 2018.
- ↑ StarNieuws, August 13, 2018 Dutch, accessed August 13, 2018.