Fascism revisited: Wilders questions trip of Muslim converts to Egyptian ‘hate camp’

By now it may be generally known that we here in Holland got our share of islamophobia and far right exclusiveness, to put it mildly. Geert Wilders parliamentary group (it is not a party, only a ‘movement’) has 24 seats of the 150 in the lower Chamber and its presence in Dutch society. is quite [...]

Images and perceptions on economic development in Suriname: distorted reality or ignorance?

Introduction In the Dutch broadcast of “Zomergasten”, the Surinamese lawyer and human rights activist Mrs Lilian Goncalves said that in her opinion, Dr Frank Essed, architect of Surinamese economic planning between 1950 -1970, was a visionary and a genius in his own right. Dr Betty Sedoc, seminal Surinamese scholar shares the aforementioned opinion, but stipulates [...]

5 Somali pirates sentenced to Dutch prison

The criminal court in Rotterdam, the Netherlands has sentenced five Somalian pirates, captured by the Dutch navy after hijacking a South African yacht and kidnapping two of its South African crew-members, to up to 7 years imprisonment today, reports the Dutch NOS.nl news agency. Although the Dutch navy rescued the South African skipper and his [...]

The vulnerabilities of democracy

Introduction This essay hypothesizes that democracy is confounded on a peculiar principle: ‘once democracy is destroyed it never fully recovers’. This rather austere and irreversible principle is rooted in the empirics, more precise, on the impact of conflict and violence on society. This essay postulates that conflict hinges on three specific criteria, rather, the existence [...]

Merchants and military

In 1980 the group of junior officers took over government in Suriname. Uncanny was the fact that the Dutch government soon after that fact, decided to offer the new regime aid and assistance. One Member of Parliament in the Dutch ‘Tweede Kamer’ said that it was imperative to protect ‘Dutch interests’. But the Dutch government [...]

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