The March for Land-rights by the Indigenous Arawak & Carib Peoples of Surinam, December 1976
In the early hours of the 27th December 1976 a group of some 50 woman and man assembled at the Marowijne riverside in the eastern border town Albina preparing for a 150 km four day march to Paramaribo, the capitol of Surinam, in an unusual out-cry in their struggle for achieving the land-rights to the land they were living on for centuries. Up until today these rights have not been granted but recently the struggle has been rejuvenated and is gaining more and more attention.
I met Nardo Aloeman the Carib activist and organizer of the march from Galibi in Paramaribo and we became friends.
I photographed the activities of the cooperation of fisherman WOTO which he had founded, so when later he asked me to come along with the march I gladly participated. The films I shot during the day were brought to Paramaribo each evening and were developed and printed for the news outlets to attract attention for the march. Recently these photographs were published for the first time as a series by the Sara Blokland project
Srefidensi Foto.
The
Rijksmuseum in 2017
acquired 10 photographs for their collection and published them in
Shackles and Bonds, Surinam and the Netherlands from 1860
(2018)
03-12-1976 Andre Cirino & Nardo Aluman during meeting Pierrekondre
29-12-1976 approaching the ferry over the Commewijne river
29-12-1976 Meerzorg, the last night
30-12-1976 at the start of the last day
