The Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Caribbean: Will De-Colonization Ever End?

The institutional arrangement of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Dutch Caribbean was overhauled in 2010, celebrated on 10^th October, known as: 10.10.10. After five years this major operation will be evaluated in 2014/2015. The evaluation issues are predictable: the degree of supervision by the Kingdom, the so-called consensus laws, and the unrestricted access to the Netherlands of any Dutch citizen in the Caribbean. Thus with the inauguration of 10.10.10 accusations of continued Dutch interference and even colonialism were raised. So the first government of Curaçao dodged the Dutch-imposed integrity-screening test for its ministers; a number of ministers of Curaçao’s government were prosecuted for fiscal fraud; while Aruba’s Prime Minister has recently been on hunger strike opposing metropolitan scrutiny of the Aruban budget. On the other side of the Atlantic the Dutch Prime-Minister quipped disrespectfully that an urge for independence would be answered promptly: “just call us, it will be arranged instantly.” Serious disagreements also continue over regulation of the movement of persons from the Dutch Caribbean to the Netherlands. If this movement of people is no longer free and unrestricted, the Caribbean countries will engage the UN Decolonization Committee.

In this paper we examine the question of whether the 10.10.10 changeover should be judged as a continuation of a form of colonisation, or whether it can be framed in a post-post colonial vocabulary. A vocabulary that reflects a normalized relationship of partners in the Kingdom that is free – at last – from colonial blemishes.