Saamaka Maroons
(sah-ah-mah-kah muh-roonz)
Amazon Rainforest, Surinam
Proven Free
“The occupation of the Saamaka territory dates back to the 16th Century, when the ancestors of this people fled from slavery on the plantations. At that time they put up resistance against the Dutch colonial authority until it finally recognized their territorial and cultural autonomy in a treaty signed in 1762, which put an end to hostilities between the Dutch and the Saamaka people, as well as other Maroon peoples. Saamaka culture and identity form a complex network of ongoing relations with ancestral and other spirits, with the land and with kinship structures… In particular, their identity is inextricably linked to their struggle to free themselves from slavery, which they call the “first time.”
*Taken directly from the 2006 report issued by the Twelve Saramaka Clans
What are the beliefs and practices of my people regarding how a human being is meant to exist in relationship with a living earth?
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Proven Resistant
In 2000 the Association of Saamaka Authorities filed a petition before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. They alleged that the state of Surinam had violated their rights by granting logging and mining concessions on Saamaka lands. In 2006 the Commission found that the State of Surinam violated the right to property to the detriment of the Saamaka people by not adopting effective measures to recognize its communal property right to the lands it has traditionally occupied and used. It ordered that the state repair the environmental damage caused by the logging concessions and make reparation and due compensation to the Saamaka people for the damage done by the violations.
*Taken directly from the 2006 report issued by the Twelve Saramaka Clans
What are the beliefs and practices required to survive and thrive as free people opposing white supremacy?
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Additional Resources
Powerpoint
Download the entire Saamaka Maroons slide deck for educational purposes