“I know what it is like to lose land. I am from a transmigration village. We cannot let this happen again or there will be no more Saamaka people. We will be like ghosts.”

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Jan 22

Silvi Adjako (sill-vee ahd-jok-oh)

subsistence and market farmer

IMAGE SOURCE: Richard Price. “Saramaka People v Suriname: A Human Rights Victory and Its Messy Aftermath.” Cultural Survival. 29 Jul 2012. | TEXT SOURCE: Testimony. Inter-American Court of Human Rights Case of the Saramaka People. v. Suriname. 2 May… — IMAGE SOURCE: Richard Price. “Saramaka People v Suriname: A Human Rights Victory and Its Messy Aftermath.” Cultural Survival. 29 Jul 2012. | TEXT SOURCE: Testimony. Inter-American Court of Human Rights Case of the Saramaka People. v. Suriname. 2 May 2007.

QUOTE CONTEXT: “Our land and the forest is everything for us. It’s our life. What the Chinese did (logging our land) threatens our future, the future of all Saamaka people. Our descendants will face enormous problems because of this.”
QUOTE QUESTION: Who among your People knows what its like to lose land?

IMAGE CONTEXT: Silvi Adjako whose gardens were destroyed by the Chinese loggers, later said, “If you saw what they did, it would make you cry!”

IMAGE QUESTION: What land do you steward?

MEDIA LITERACY CONTEXT: The quote is from testimony before an international court. The photo is from an NGO website.

MEDIA LITERACY QUESTION: How does word of your victories get to the outside world?

READ SILVI ADJAKO’S AFFIDAVIT FOR THE INTER-AMERICAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS: https://www.forestpeoples.org

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Saamaka Maroons

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“Our ancestors fought for and won their freedom from slavery and established autonomous communities. We fight for and won our right for legal recognition, controlling and managing our territory.”

“I know what it is like to lose land. I am from a transmigration village. We cannot let this happen again or there will be no more Saamaka people. We will be like ghosts.”

Silvi Adjako (sill-vee ahd-jok-oh)

“Our ancestors fought for and won their freedom from slavery and established autonomous communities. We fight for and won our right for legal recognition, controlling and managing our territory.”

“When we fell trees we are thinking of our children and grandchildren, of the future generations. When the outsiders come in they just clear-cut a whole area and then take away what they want.”