Bonaire, July 1, 2025 — This Emancipation Day marks a moment of national awakening: a recognition of our ancestors who left us a legitimate legacy of resistance, dignity, and identity—a legacy that has been systematically denied and suppressed for over 200 years. The Dutch government, in collusion with subordinated local administrations, ensured that the descendants of the freed enslaved remained unaware of their rights, miseducated about their history, and excluded from genuine empowerment. The truth remains: emancipation is still unfinished, as Bonaireans continue to live under political, cultural, and economic conditions that reflect a modern form of colonial control.
Conditional freedom—like parole—allows prisoners limited liberty under supervision while they continue serving their sentence. This concept mirrors Bonaire’s reality after July 1, 1863. Although slavery was legally abolished on that date, true freedom was never granted. Enslaved people were forced into a 10-year period of unpaid labor until 1873, essentially working to repay the landowners and government the compensation that had been paid to the slave owners—not to the enslaved. This was not freedom, but a continuation of bondage under another name. Even after 1873, their descendants remained trapped under colonial laws and foreign control—systems of domination that persist in Bonaire to this day.
Why Unfinished Emancipation?
Emancipation is the act of being set free from legal, social, political, or economic restrictions—especially from slavery, colonial rule, or oppressive control. Yet, true freedom goes beyond legal declarations. It is the power to make choices and live without domination by foreign governments, systems and is essential to dignity, self-determination, and human development. Freedom has many dimensions: political freedom—the right to participate in governance that represent your interests, express opinions and oppose injustice without fear; personal freedom—the right to live by one’s values and identity without coercion; economic freedom—control over labor, resources and opportunities without exploitation; and freedom from oppression—liberation from colonial rule, systemic injustice or discrimination. In postcolonial and Caribbean contexts, freedom must also include cultural survival, protection of language and identity, fair self-governance, and release from neocolonial structures. Until these are secured for Bonaire, emancipation remains unfinished, and freedom, conditional.
Since Bonaire’s forced integration into the Dutch constitutional framework in 2010, modern Dutch rule has replaced slavery with political, economic, and cultural subjugation. The island has endured the loss of political autonomy and self-governance, the erosion of cultural identity, growing economic dependency, and the systematic marginalization of its native population. Before 2010 comprising 80% of the island’s residents, Bonaireans have now—by July 1, 2025—been reduced to less than 30%. Our future and laws are no longer determined by us, but in The Hague. We now face the same tragic path toward cultural extinction that our Indigenous ancestors suffered.
The slave huts were not homes for the enslaved, but monuments to the Dutch legacy of colonial deceit. The painful reality of conditional freedom—sustained through centuries of invasion, occupation, and ongoing colonial reforms, including the 10-10-10 restructuring—has been buried beneath a narrative of commemoration. The official Emancipation Day poster, featuring broken chains and Bonaire’s infamous slave huts, promotes a sanitized version of history. In truth, these huts were propaganda structures built in 1850 a couple of years before abolition—not dwellings—designed to project a false image of humane treatment, while enslaved people, including those sent from other islands as punishment, perished in nearby salt pans with life expectancies of just 4 to 8 years.
Until Bonaire has the power to govern itself, reclaim its history, and define its future, we remain bound—by laws, systems, and narratives not our own. This July 1st is not just a day of remembrance; it is a call to awaken. On this Emancipation Day, Bonaire honors its ancestors not with silence or ceremony, but with truth—and with a renewed demand to finish the work they began.
James Finies
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