Participants at a recently held Maroon gathering in Dominica have come to an agreement to reach out to other Maroon organizations globally to create an International Maroon Declaration which will be disseminated to all Maroon organizations globally for their contributions and endorsements.
The Maroon Gathering Program took place via zoom from the 12th to 16th November 2021 at Jungle Bay Resort & Spa.
“Our decision to call the Maroon Gathering is one of an ongoing conversation started when we, a group of maroon descendants from Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica took a contingent to the United Nations (UN) in 2019,” Coordinator of the maroon gathering movement, Akilah Jaramogi told Dominica News Online (DNO) during an interview.
According to her, the group’s mission for this gathering was to unite maroons of the Diaspora as a people with origin from indigenous people/nations of Africa recognized by the UN through legal argument in favour of maroon self identification as indigenous/ tribal people and again to share knowledge on indigenous African cultural relations through connection to land, non-human species and natural environment as well as language, political, social and economic systems.
Jaramogi said the group attended the UN the indigenous people forum with the mission to seek directions as to how the maroons of the Diaspora can achieve indigenous people status.
“By going after this means that we can be exposed to rights and privileges as other indigenous groups around the world when it comes to basic human rights and rights to live as free people and to enjoy nature, opportunities like other groups,” she stated. “That was our mission in 2019.”
Jaramogi subsequently visited Dominica gathering history from the historian and the elders to share stories of maroons and marinades, also to bring closer groups from Martinique and Guadeloupe, St Lucia in one space in order to have a bigger contingent when the group returns to the UN with its case.
She indicated however, because of Covid-19 in 2020 this could not have happened, “so we found the time in 2021, because our aim is to go back to the UN in 2022 with a stronger case, not just in a way to request indigenous people status, but to prove that this is an entitlement to maroon community as well as indigenous groups around the globe.”
Meantime, Jaramogi is encouraging all support organizations to send in their contributions to the declaration by December 15th, 2021.
She revealed that from mid-January, the group will circulate a draft and a final planning zoom meeting will be scheduled soon thereafter.
“The draft will be completed in real time at this meeting, so that a final draft can be made available by the end of January 2022,” Jaramogi said.
A link will be made available for the zoom meeting.
“the group’s mission for this gathering was to unite maroons of the Diaspora as a people with origin from indigenous people/nations of Africa”
Lol what a load of nonsense. The keywords are “diaspora”, “origin” & “Africa”. You’re a descendant of Africans shipped to the Caribbean. But guess what? Africans aren’t indigenous to the Caribbean, nor is Africa a country, so what are you even trying to claim? You don’t even know what your “origin” is so what nation are you claiming to be from? Slaves were taken from all over West Africa, not just one country so be specific (which you can’t lol). The indigenous people are the Kalinago people. You are no different than the rest of the black population, stop trying to cause an unnecessary divide.
“identify as indigenous/ tribal people and again to share knowledge on indigenous African etc”. You’re not indigenous or tribal, nor an indigenous African. You’re just stealing modern African nations cultures & claiming it as your own. Stop it
The Gold Coast for example in the 16th century is a completely different place to 2021 Ghana. You can’t look at 2021 Ghanaians & say “That’s our ancestors culture!”, because it isn’t. They’re not the same people.
You claim you’re “indigenous” & you’re trying to embrace your culture, but you’re not, you’re just appropriating/stealing modern Africans culture & claiming it as your own.
You live your live like a Dominican, NOT how your ancestors 400 hundreds ago did or how Africans in Africa today do
If you truly are a descendant of a maroon (runaway slave) then cool, but you’re genetically no different than the rest of the black people who are still descendants of Africans, so why are you trying to divide the community for no reason? We need unity, not division. Black is black.
Hey Dominican Boi, your frustration is understandable as we were all lied to by multitudes of European and European-American so-called historians/doctors that educated us with pure lies. One such is their guy Columbus discovered Kalinagos, American Indians and even their land, just to begin the worst genocide mankind has ever experienced. Kalinagos are indigenous, but that’s not our fight. We need to take it to the liers. Lots more info has been exposed/unearthed to correct those lies. See and research The Olmec Heads in Mexico c 10,000 yrs ago. The Moors were in the America’s almost 1000 years before Columbus and, by the time Christopher got there he met so many Black people who he immediately enslaved among 1 million of those he and Batho DeLas Casas murderously called Indians. When Batho returned 10yrs later he wrote to the Vatican that only 60k remained and mostly the Black ones. Read btwn the lines for the resulting genocide. Calm down, and let’s research to educate all.
Instead of asking questions, Dominican Bwoi you assert an authority that is rooted in assumptions. The wise person asks questions and shows curiosity; the close minded claims to know all. There is literature if you wish to engage with ideas instead of biases. If you don’t inquire then that stance alone is revealing.
“By going after this means that we can be exposed to rights and privileges as other indigenous groups around the world when it comes to basic human rights and rights to live as free people and to enjoy nature, opportunities like other groups” OK, since you want indegenious status and the “rights” and “privileges” as us then let’s see how much you like those privileges when your land is stripped from you, when you are pushed to a small reservation and constantly told by the rest of the population that you aren’t good enough. How about losing your land title? Let’s see how much you enjoy the privilege of not being able to get affordable loans because you have no collateral and thus a bank doesn’t want to give you a mortgage. And don’t let me get started on the quality of service from internet service providers who offers the most pricey yet poor quality internet options when we’re the “most vulnerable”. Sure, you want the status but not same lack of access. Say EXACTLY…
Stupes tan. Stupes again tan