Brazilian Migrants and Ethnic Relationships in Post-War Suriname Caribbean Studies, Vol
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Caribbean Studies ISSN: 0008-6533 [email protected] Instituto de Estudios del Caribe Puerto Rico Hoogbergen, Wim; Kruijt, Dirk Gold, garimpeiros and maroons: brazilian migrants and ethnic relationships in post-war suriname Caribbean Studies, vol. 32, núm. 2, july-december, 2004, pp. 3-44 Instituto de Estudios del Caribe San Juan, Puerto Rico Available in: http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=39232201 How to cite Complete issue Scientific Information System More information about this article Network of Scientific Journals from Latin America, the Caribbean, Spain and Portugal Journal's homepage in redalyc.org Non-profit academic project, developed under the open access initiative GOLD, GARIMPEIROS AND MAROONS... 3 GOLD, GARIMPEIROS AND MAROONS: BRAZILIAN MIGRANTS AND ETHNIC RELATIONSHIPS IN POST-WAR SURINAME Wim Hoogbergen Dirk Kruijt1 ABSTRACT When the civil war between the Surinamese Army and the Maroon commandos ended in 1992, the gold industry in East Suriname was on the rise. The goldfields of Suriname are situ- ated mainly in Maroon areas. In the 1990s a migratory wave of Brazilian garimpeiros came to work in the Surinamese interior. The arrival of these Brazilians led to a culture of entrepreneurs and businesses wanting to produce as much as possible, as fast as possible and without any consideration for the damage the gold mining would do to the environment. The relationships between the Brazilians and the Maroons are less tense than one might expect considering the competition, however the interior of Suriname is still in some ways compa- rable to the wild west, particularly because of the total absence of any kind of government authority in the region. Almost all the Brazilians and Maroons are armed with pistols, rifles and here and there machine guns. The exploitation of gold in Suriname is done mainly on the basis of informal labour. The extraction of gold is done in teams in which the patron (the boss, foreman or patraõ) bears the finan- cial risks. In some cases the financing for the mine construction comes from big business in Paramaribo. Drug dealing accounts for large volumes of cash, part of which is invested in the inde- pendent and informal gold sector. Vol. 32, No. 2 (July - December 2004) Caribbean Studies 4 WIM HOOGBERGEN AND DIRK KRUIJT Keywords: gold mining, ethnic relations, migration, Post-War Suriname, informal economy SINOPSIS Los yacimientos de oro en Surinam se encuentran principal- mente en la región de los pueblos cimarrones, en el este del país. Al terminar la guerra civil entre las fuerzas armadas y la guerrilla de los cimarrones, la industria de oro cobró auge. En los años noventa un movimiento migratorio considerable de garimpeiros brasileños modificó el escenario demográfico de la región. Los garimpeiros y cimarrones establecieron una cultura empresarial de exploración y explotación de los yacimientos que se puede resumir de la siguiente manera: producir lo máximo lo más rápido posible sin considerar los efectos dañinos en el medio ambiente. Al tomar en cuenta la rivalidad potencial entre ambos grupos, la relación entre los cimarrones y los brasileños no es tan tensa como se supone. Sin embargo, las regiones remotas en el inte- rior de Surinam se parecen al “oeste salvaje”, sobre todo por la ausencia de la autoridad gubernamental fuera de la capital y la zona costeña. Casi todos los garimpeiros y sus contrapartes cimarrones portan armas caseras, pistolas y fusiles. La explotación del oro se realiza básicamente con trabajo infor- mal. Generalmente se trabaja en pequeños equipos de personas cuyo jefe (patrón, patrão, capataz) asume el riesgo financiero. En algunos casos el financiamiento de los grupos mayores proviene de empresarios grandes en Paramaribo. También la economía de drogas es una fuente de financiamiento en el sector de la explotación informal de oro. Palabras clave: explotación minera de oro, relaciones étnicas, migración, Surinam de la post-guerra, economía informal RÉSUMÉ Les mines d’or surinamiennes se trouvent surtout dans l’habitat des marrons dans l’Est du Surinam. A la fin de la guerre entre l’armeé surinamienne et les commandos marrons, en 1992, l’industrie de l’or a pris de l’essor. Dans les années quatre-vingt- dix une vague considérable d’immigrants brésiliens, les garim- peiros, a modifié le scénario démographique de la région. Les Caribbean Studies Vol. 32, No. 2 (July - December 2004) GOLD, GARIMPEIROS AND MAROONS... 5 garimpeiros et les marrons ont établit une culture d’entreprise d’exploitation des mines qui peut être résumé de la manière suivante : produire le maximum, le plus vite possible sans con- sidérer les effects nocifs sur l’environnement. Si on prend en considération la rivalité entre les Brésiliens et les marrons, leurs rapports n’étaient, en principe, si tendus. Cependant, les régions le plus lointaines de l’intérieur du Suri- nam, ressemblent le Wild West, surtout par l’absence d’autorité administrative en dehors de la capitale et de la zone côtiere. Presque tous les garimpeiros et les marrons, portent des armes fait maison, des pistolets et des fusils. L’exploitation d’or en Surinam se fait en gros, de manière infor- melle. En général, on travaille en petites équipes dont le chef (le patron ou patraõ) assume tout le risque financier. Dans certains cas, le financement des groupes plus grand provient de grands entrepreneurs à Paramaribo. Le trafique des drogues est aussi une source de financement dans le secteur de l’exploitation informelle d l’or. Mots-clés: exploitation minière d’or, relations ethniques, migration, l’Après-guerre au Surinam, économie informelle Received : 1 July 2003. Revision received : 6 February 2004. Accepted: 7 February 2004 Introduction f all the Caribbean countries, Suriname is perhaps the least known in academic English literature. OThis is mostly due to the fact that the most current research on Suriname has always been published in Dutch, the official and administrative language of the country. The status in academia is matched by its status in the international banking and donor community. Since attaining independence in 1975 this former Dutch colony has received a lavish supply of development funds from the Netherlands. In terms of development aid, the Netherlands are almost sole donors. Reports written by World Bank staff members or by consultants of ECLAC and other UN Vol. 32, No. 2 (July - December 2004) Caribbean Studies 6 WIM HOOGBERGEN AND DIRK KRUIJT institutions are somewhat scarce. In international literature little attention is paid to Suriname’s complex economy and society, and its complicated political history since independence. From 1980 until 2000, a sergeant’s coup, a series of palace revolutions, another coup and an internal ‘dirty war’ that never reached inter- national publicity, have deeply troubled the country. Its economy, in 1975 one of the most prosperous of the Third World, stagnated, then deteriorated, going downhill during the years of military government and internal war. The latest World Bank country report described Suriname’s economy as ‘dependent on aluminium and aid’ (1998: 3). This typification, however true, tends to underestimate the impor- tance of other, mostly illegal sources of income that, from the 1980s onwards, gradually substituted the more traditional formal sources of national income. Today, Suriname’s economy depends on the tax revenues from aluminium exports and development aid, as well as the profits from illegal extractive activities such as gold exploitation and timber exports, on the drug commerce to the Caribbean and Europe, and on the remittances sent by family members living in the Netherlands (Kruijt and Maks 2002: 249- 253). In the following paragraphs, we will provide empirical data on the effects of one of these sources, the illegal and informal gold exploitation and reflect on its social effects in terms of migra- tion and ethnic relations. As will be shown, gold mining activities primarily engage Brazilian migrants and Maroon communities in East Suriname. This region was the locus of profound economic, social, and political transformations during the internal war, with long term demographic, social and cultural consequences for both Suriname and neighbouring French Guyana. We analyse these consequences describing the history and recent parallel economy of gold mining in Suriname. Our line of argument in this article is this: the structure of Su- rinamese society in the 20th Century, first in the years of colonial government, then in the period of administrative autonomy within the Kingdom (1954-1975) and since independence (1975-the pres- ent) has always been influenced by latent ethnic tensions between Caribbean Studies Vol. 32, No. 2 (July - December 2004) GOLD, GARIMPEIROS AND MAROONS... 7 Map 1: East Suriname. the light-skinned elite and the dark-skinned descendants of slaves, the descendants of Hindustani contract workers who migrated to Suriname after the abolition of slavery and the descendants of Vol. 32, No. 2 (July - December 2004) Caribbean Studies 8 WIM HOOGBERGEN AND DIRK KRUIJT Javanese contract workers, a second migrant group who settled in the country between 1890 and 1940. The tensions were channelled by the formation of a ‘pluralistic society’, formed on the basis of economic and political segmenta- tion of the three most important ethnic groups (analysed in Van Lier 1949/1971): In spite of the ethnic pluriformity and the un- derlying ethnic tensions, the different groups were able, through a system of internal ethnic compartmentalization, to work together in the political arena by the formation of coalitions in which the different ethnic parties worked together under democratic rules. The conceptualisation of the term ‘plural[istic] society’ originated in the colonial era (Furnivall 1939, 1956) and described the Brit- ish and Dutch colonial societies in Asia in which the population remained in their ethnic groupings and took part in society via their leaders. Van Lier (1949/1971) and later Hoetink (1967) ap- plied Furnivall’s logic to the then Dutch colonies: Suriname and the Dutch Antilles.