epr atlas 1639 Suriname epr atlas suriname 1640 Ethnicity in Suriname Group selection The main groups inhabiting Suriname are the East Indians or Hindustani (27.4% of the population according to the 2012 census), the Maroons (21.7%), the Creoles (30%), the Javanese (13.79%), the Indigenous peoples (3.8%) and ethnic Chinese (1.5%) (4282). 4282 [Algemeen Bureau voor de Statistiek in Suriname, Suriname has one of the most ethnically diverse populations in the region (4283). 4283 [Chin and Menke, 2017] Power relations Before its independence, Suriname was a planation colony of the Netherlands (4284). Suriname declared independence on Novem- 4284 [Chin and Menke, 2017] ber 25, 1975, when the Dutch Parliament granted the country its independence. This prompted more than one third of the popula- tion to leave Suriname for the Netherlands (4285). Suriname was 4285 [Chin and Menke, 2017] already “internally autonomous” since 1954, which meant that the Netherlands only kept control of defense and foreign affairs (4286). 4286 [BBC, 2012] An Electoral Act, “based on racially demarcated constituencies”, came with the internal autonomy. Ethnic division was already prob- lematic and this Electoral Act further aggravated the problem and extended it into the political sphere (4287; 4288). Suriname’s first 4287 [BBC, 2012] post-independence president was Johan Ferrier and the prime min- 4288 [Minority Rights Group International, 2017] ister was Henk Arron. Both were form the Suriname National Party (NPS), a party associated with the Creole elite (4289). In 1980, Ar- ron and later Ferrier were ousted in a military coup. The military installed Hendrick Chin A Sen, of Chinese descent and from the Nationalist Republican Party (PNR), as prime minister and later as president too. However, only two years later, in 1982, the mili- tary seized power in a coup led by Lieutenant-Colonel Desire (Desi) Bouterse and set up a Revolutionary People’s Front. Additionally, 15 opposition leaders were executed (4290). In 1986 a civil war started when Ronnie Brunswijk founded the Surinamese Liberation Army (SLA). The SLA, mostly composed of Maroons, aimed at restoring the constitutional order and preserving the autonomy of the Ma- roons and fought against the Bouterse government. In summary, be- tween 1980 and 1987 Suriname was ruled by a succession of military regimes (4291). Between 1987 and 1991, a new civilian constitution was electorally approved, Ramsewak Shankar, from East Indian eth- nic origin, was elected as the new president in 1989 and ousted by an epr atlas suriname 1641 other military coup in 1990. Finally, in 1991 Ronald Venetiaan from the NPS was elected president. In 1992 the civil war ended with a peace accord (4292). Venetiaan was re-elected in 2000 and 2005, af- ter Jules Wijdenbosch, an ally of Bouterse, was president between 1996 and 2000. In July 2006, the government officially apologised for the 1986 massacre in the village of Moiwana, where at least 39 Ndjuka (Maroons) were killed (4293). Bouterse faced trial for the 1982 killings (where he accepted “political responsibility”) and was convicted in absentia for drug trafficking (4294). Nevertheless he was elected president in August 2010 and in 2012 the Parliament passed an amnesty law for the acts committed during the Bouterse military rule in 1982. Interestingly he was able to return to office “by forging a coalition with Ronnie Brunswijk, his old nemesis in the Interior War of the 1980s” (4295). He was re-elected in July 2015, when his National Democratic Party won the majority of seats (4296). Suriname has a popularly elected unicameral National assembly with 51 members. The parliamentarians elect a president and vice president. The 1987 constitution replaced the role of the prime min- ster with the vice president. The parliamentarians, as well as the president and vice president serve five-year terms. A particularity is the Council of State, which is headed by the president an influenced by the military. The role of this council is to ensure that the govern- ment’s actions conform to the law and is able to annul laws passed by the National Assembly (4297). Although efforts have been made 4297 [Chin and Menke, 2017] to transcend ethnic, social, and geographic barriers, race, class and ethnicity are still crucial factors in Suriname (4298). This is also mir- 4298 [World Culture Encyclopedia, 2017] rored within the political parties, since most of them are based on ethnicity. Party split-ups are frequent. “Clientelism is an important feature of politics” (4299). According to Chin and Menke, for exam- 4299 [World Culture Encyclopedia, 2017] ple, the “Progressive Reform Party” is a Hindu party, the “Suriname National Party” is an elite Creole party (although it has now lost popularity), the “Progressive Suriname People’s Party” is a working- class Creole party and the “Party of National Unity and Solidarity” and “Pendawa Lima” are Javanese parties (4300; 4301: 325). 4300 [Chin and Menke, 2017] Overall, there are five different periods for Suriname: 4301 [Tjon Sie Fat, 2009] • 1975-1986: After independence the Creoles were coded as se- nior partner, since both the president and the prime minister were Creoles from the elite Creole party NPS. The Javanese and East Indians were junior partners (4302, 455). Between 4302 [Tjon Sie Fat, 2009] 1980 and 1987 Suriname was a military dictatorship, but since their leader Bouterse is a Creole, the status of the Creoles as senior partner was maintained. • 1987-1992: corresponds to the civil war period, when the Suri- namese Liberation Army, mostly consisting of Maroons, op- posed the Surinamese government. The Maroons were coded as discriminated. • 1993-2003: after the war the Maroons still face socio-economic difficulties and some discrimination, but their status was epr atlas suriname 1642 changed to powerless. • 2004-2011: corresponds to the census from 2004 (4303, 16). The 4303 [Caricom Capacity Development Programme, 2009 population numbers are from the Suriname census (4304). From 4304 [Algemeen Bureau voor de Statistiek in Suriname, the 2004 census onwards, the Creole definition was changed. Before 2004, mixed-race people were counted as Creoles, after 2004 they were separated. For reasons of consistency, the Cre- ole definition prior to 2004 was maintained. Hence the mixed- race and Creole numbers were added in the 2004 and 2012 censuses. (4305, 16). The relatively strong decrease in popula- 4305 [Caricom Capacity Development Programme, 2009 tion share for East Indians in Surinam is mainly due to a large wave of emigration during the years of the War of the interior, leading especially minorities to emigrate from Suriname (4306). 4306 [Amersfoort,2009] • 2012-2017: corresponds to the census from 2012 (4307). 4307 [Algemeen Bureau voor de Statistiek in Suriname, Indigenous Peoples The indigenous peoples, more precisely the Taino (Arawak), Kali- nago (Carib), Warrau Wayana and Akurio, were the first inhabitants in Suriname. The indigenous peoples have no legislation regarding their rights. While some villages have titles to land, all ownership rights belong to the government. Furthermore, many indigenous peoples suffered from the civil war in the 1980s, since they were re- located by government and guerrilla forces (4308). The population 4308 [Minority Rights Group International, 2017] numbers are from Levinson (1975-2011) and the Suriname census (2012 onwards) (4309; 4310). 4309 [Levinson, 1998] 4310 [Algemeen Bureau voor de Statistiek in Suriname, East Indians The East Indians constitute the largest ethnic group in Suriname. They originally came to Suriname as indentured laborers from India when slavery was abolished in 1863. The Hindustani party resisted independence and challenged the light-skinned Creole elite with the “fraternization policy”. This consisted of a political cooperation between Hindustanis and non-elite Creoles (4311). 4311 [World Culture Encyclopedia, 2017] Javanese The Javanese originally came to Suriname as indentured laborers from Java in Indonesia when slavery was abolished in 1863. The Javanese participated in a coalition with the Creole elite that led Suriname to its independence (4312). 4312 [World Culture Encyclopedia, 2017] epr atlas suriname 1643 Chinese They originally came to Suriname as indentured laborers when slav- ery was abolished in 1863. Hendrick Chin A Sen, of Chinese descent, was a military-installed prime minster (and later also president) between 1980 and 1982 (4313). However, he did not act as a repre- 4313 [BBC, 2012] sentative of the ethnic Chinese (4314: 14). The population numbers 4314 [Briggs, 2015] are from the Suriname census (4315). 4315 [Algemeen Bureau voor de Statistiek in Suriname, Creoles The Creoles are mainly of African ancestry (4316). The Creole elite, 4316 [Minority Rights Group International, 2017] joined by the Javanese, led Suriname to its independence (4317). 4317 [World Culture Encyclopedia, 2017] While the Maroons are the descendants of slaves who escaped from the plantations, “the Creoles are mainly descendants of slaves who did not escape from the plantations, along with other Surinamese people of mixed racial origin” (4318). 4318 [Franszoon, 1988] Maroons The Maroons, formerly also called “Bush Negroes”, are also of African ancestry and have their own languages. There are six sub- groups, appertaining to “two branches based on location, and cul- tural and linguistic differences”. The Maroons are the descendants of former slaves who “escaped into the rainforests of Suriname to avoid the very harsh conditions” on the Dutch forced labour plantations. They then established independent communities and developed a distinctive identity based on their West African origins (4319). They 4319 [Minority Rights Group International, 2008] also returned to the plantations in order to attack them, led 50 years of guerrilla warfare against the colonial troops and made a contri- bution to the abolition of slavery (4320). Their attacks ended with a 4320 [Minority Rights Group International, 2008] peace agreement between the Maroons and the Dutch government. This agreement allowed the Maroons to live a virtually independent existence until well into the 20th century (4321).