Dr. Rhoda Arrindell’s charge to CARIFESTA: support Caribbean people who still live in colonized spaces

BARBADOS--“Reparations tied to sovereignty are not charity, they are justice. They are how past harms are repaired and a viable Caribbean future is secured. Until all are free, none are free, and in unity there is freedom.”

With that closing declaration, Dr. Rhoda Arrindell captured both the urgency and the spirit of her intervention during the “Big Conversation” series at CARIFESTA XV in Barbados. Representing the One St. Martin Association (ONE SXM), she placed St. Martin’s unfinished mission of decolonization squarely before the Caribbean family and asked for action, not sympathy.

Arrindell's testimony was a powerful reminder of St. Martin’s unity, a sharp critique of European hypocrisy, and a rallying cry for Caribbean solidarity. Her appeal was grounded in history, in the lived experience of St. Martiners who navigate two colonial administrations daily, and in the conviction that sovereignty and reparatory justice are central to the survival of Caribbean peoples.

𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲

Arrindell’s core message was directed to CARICOM and the wider Caribbean: support those who still live in colonized spaces, not only with words of solidarity but with concrete steps. She asked the region to respond formally to the Dutch apology for slavery, to press for UN and CARICOM-facilitated referenda on independence, and to commit to reparations as restorative justice.

“Independence alone will not erase every challenge we face as Caribbean people,” she explained. “But dependence guarantees a continuation of the structures that have underdeveloped us.” Reparations, in her framing, are not about financial transfers or symbolic recognition, but about repairing education, healthcare, culture, land rights, and resilience across the Caribbean.

𝐄𝐮𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬

Arrindell situated St. Martin's  struggle within the wider conversation about colonial legacies and reparations. She described the Dutch government’s December 19, 2022 apology by then Prime Minister Mark Rutte, followed by King Willem-Alexander’s statement in July 2023 during the 150th anniversary of emancipation. Both apologies, she noted, were framed to serve Dutch memory, focusing on awareness and a €100 million museum in Amsterdam.

France, meanwhile, offered only a vague expression of regret. To Arrindell, both cases reveal the same hypocrisy: Europe parades its commitment to human rights and sovereignty abroad while denying justice to colonized Caribbean peoples at home. “Those of us still living in colonized spaces do not have the luxury to wait for any European state to grant us freedom,” she insisted.

𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐬 𝐚 𝐛𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝

Another key thread in Arrindell’s remarks was the role of language in perpetuating division. She criticized the fractured way St. Martin is labeled, Saint Martin, Sint Maarten, St. Martin, calling it a deliberate colonial tool for commodifying the island and dividing its people.

“We are St. Martin. In our tongue, it is S’maatin—simple, S’maatin,” she said. For Arrindell, reclaiming this linguistic unity is part of the broader project of decolonization. The words used to name the island are not just semantics; they reflect deeper struggles over identity, belonging, and sovereignty.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐲

Arrindell also spoke candidly about the personal and collective costs of resistance. ONE SXM and allied groups often find themselves out-resourced by European cultural agencies that promote colonial agendas. Members and supporters sometimes choose to remain silent or anonymous, wary of backlash.

“Freedom is not free, it comes with a price,” she reminded the audience. For her, militancy is not a matter of temperament but of necessity. Some can work behind the scenes, others speak on platforms, others teach or write, but all must recognize that silence preserves dependency.

She shared that even in her own career, opportunities outside St. Martin have come at the cost of being outspoken at home. “If you are not willing to pay the price, you should not be in the movement,” she said. “It is that simple.”

𝐀 𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐒𝐭. 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞

Throughout her intervention, Arrindell placed St. Martin’s struggle in the context of global and regional dynamics. The panel touched on rising geopolitical tensions in the Caribbean Sea, posturing that risks pitting neighbors against each other. Arrindell added that colonized territories cannot set their own foreign policies, making neutrality an illusion when ultimate decisions are taken in Paris or The Hague.

This is why, she argued, CARICOM has a responsibility to amplify colonized voices and provide material support. Without regional advocacy, she warned, colonial powers will continue to entrench their presence under the guise of modernization or public safety.

𝐌𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧

The call for “more conversation” on colonization and recolonization, raised by a member of the audience, opened one of the most charged exchanges during the panel. Responding first was Dr. Chenzira Davis Kahina, who reflected on how silence around sovereignty has become one of the most dangerous forms of complicity. Kahina acknowledged that some of the hesitation comes from a fear of being branded troublemakers or agitators, particularly in spaces like CARIFESTA that prize unity and cultural celebration. Still, she insisted that the urgency of colonial questions cannot be softened away.

Kahina widened the conversation beyond the Caribbean, pointing to ongoing struggles across the Global South. She reminded the audience that activists and ordinary communities continue to resist in places as far-flung as Sudan, Congo, West Papua, and Palestine. She highlighted the case of Afro-descendant communities in Costa Rica, where residents have been bulldozed off lands they have held for over a century, under the pretext of environmental preservation. “They want to make everything a national park, saying they are protecting whales or snails, while forgetting the people,” she explained. For Kahina, these struggles are interconnected, and the silencing of them in mainstream global networks like CNN only deepens the invisibility.

Instead, she argued, resistance voices are often confined to smaller Black- and Afro-centered media networks that rarely penetrate the global information sphere. Yet these networks are critical lifelines for information-sharing and solidarity. Kahina’s point was that the Caribbean cannot afford to treat its colonial situation as exceptional or isolated, since the same mechanisms of displacement, silence, and marginalization are unfolding worldwide.

Dr. Rhoda Arrindell picked up the thread, agreeing that the international system often sidelines colonized voices. She referenced the United Nations, dismissing it with a skeptical “yeah, right,” noting that the body has allowed leaders like Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu to continue unchecked in Palestine. “Don’t you think Caribbean leaders are also starting to rethink?” she asked, pointing out that events in Palestine, along with growing tensions in the Caribbean basin, are forcing the region to reconsider its place in the global order.

Arrindell cited current developments in Curaçao and the buildup of ships near Venezuela as a reminder of how geopolitical maneuvers affect the Caribbean directly. Yet, she noted, colonies like St. Martin cannot speak with independent voices in these matters. “The prime Minister of Curacao says that territory is neutral, but what does that mean when you’re a colony? Foreign affairs are not in your hands. At the end of the day, it’s not your conversation, not your decision.”

This disconnect, she explained, is why Caribbean colonies often see their carefully expressed positions contradicted at the international level. A decision might be debated and supported within the community, but when the matter reaches the UN, it is the European metropole, The Hague, Paris, or London, that casts the decisive vote. “Our positions don’t hold because we are still colonized,” Arrindell said. For her, this is why the struggle cannot be left to individual islands. It requires sustained solidarity from CARICOM and the wider Caribbean family.

She closed her reflection with a reminder that decolonization is not only about statecraft but about action at every level of society. “We have to do our part, in the classroom, in CARICOM, in the streets,” she said. But she was clear that colonies cannot shoulder the fight alone. “We need the help of our Caribbean brothers and sisters.”

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