Antifascist Former Resistance Fighters Netherlands (AFVN)
In Europe, there is an increasing trend towards Western Europe being colonised by the United States. This is because the measures taken against Russia in particular are having increasingly severe consequences for the economies of those countries. But this does not answer the question of why the leaders of Western Europe are doing this. The real reason is not that they are being colonised, but that they are junior imperialist partners compared to the United States. The leaders in Western Europe also strive for maximum profit; they too are faced with declining profit margins and economic problems, and for them, anti-imperialist countries are also an obstacle to solving these economic problems and realising maximum profit. However, they are militarily dependent on the US to achieve these goals and, within the framework of that dependence, they have to conclude agreements that are disadvantageous to them. This dependence became particularly clear after the Second World War. Without the economic support of the US through the Marshall Plan and loans from the IMF, the Netherlands would never have been able to wage its criminal colonial war in Indonesia.
Though the various imperialists are partners in the oppression and plundering of the oppressed countries, they all want the largest part of the pie and are therefore in conflict with each other. This has been at the heart of the wars between them since the rise of European colonialism in the fifteenth century and the reason for the various dominant powers that have existed since then. First Spain and Portugal, then the so-called “Golden Age” of the Netherlands, followed by the British and, since the Second World War, the United States as the dominant power. Even though they have been at war with each other since the fifteenth century, they also help each other to conquer other countries militarily. The Netherlands, tiny as it is, would have never been able to establish the world’s third largest colonial empire in 1899 without that help.
Colonies still exist in the world
To say that Western Europe is being colonised does not reflect the actual state of affairs in the world. A large proportion of multinationals are still based in Western Europe. They still ensure that the vast majority of the world mainly supplies raw materials and cheap labour, while the imperialists themselves manufacture and export high-quality technological goods.
When Marx wrote Capital, he already showed that countries are being turned into suppliers of raw materials. And this is happening with a great deal of violence. We should not view the genocide in Palestine in isolation from the countless genocides committed by the European ruling classes since the fifteenth century. Even now, the Netherlands is still involved in military occupations such as in Iraq and trains and finances military proxies such as the United Arab Emirates in Sudan.
In addition, it is sometimes forgotten that, despite the heroic struggle for independence in the past, colonies still exist. The Netherlands still owns them, and policy on the islands of Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius and Sint Maarten is determined from the Netherlands.
Bolivar and Curaçao
Many revolutionaries who fought alongside Bolivar against Spanish rule and slavery were based in Curaçao. This is not surprising, as the island is only 65 kilometres from the coast of Venezuela. When the struggle was won in 1821 and slavery was abolished, many enslaved people fled by boat from Curaçao to the province of Coro in Venezuela. The European powers would only abolish slavery in their colonies later. The Netherlands did so in 1860 in Indonesia and in 1863 in the Caribbean. Officially, that is, because slavery actually continued in other ways.
Imperialist plundering of Venezuelan oil
When the imperialist phase began at the end of the nineteenth century, numerous multinationals were established. One of the largest today is Shell, which has its roots in the plundering of oil in Indonesia. But it was active worldwide and in the Caribbean it was able to set up a large oil industry in Aruba and Curaçao. So large that in 1940 Curaçao had the largest oil refinery in the world. It is sometimes said in the Netherlands that without this oil, the Second World War could not have been won. The oil came from Venezuela, where Shell began drilling for oil around 1910. In order to process this oil, numerous workers were brought from Venezuela to the Dutch colonies. Together with other workers on Curaçao, they joined hands to resist the many injustices.
Dutch army in the colonies
Contradictions between the Netherlands and Venezuela have existed for a long time. It is therefore no surprise that the Netherlands immediately took issue with Chávez’s government when he nationalised oil after winning the elections. Since then, the Dutch media has been spreading propaganda against Venezuela. It is also claimed that there is a threat that Venezuela will take over the Dutch colonies. This is one of the reasons given to justify the presence of the Dutch army on the islands. Another excuse is the so-called war on drugs, and there are regular reports in the news that the army has seized some drugs. This is particularly hypocritical when you realise that the Netherlands became rich partly through the opium trade. It is also important to note that it is not just the Dutch army that is there, but that there is also a NATO base on Aruba and Curaçao, where the US is also active. The real reason is, of course, different. The army helps to intimidate and crush uprisings in the region and on the islands. In 2020, workers revolted after the Netherlands decided that workers in its colonies would have to take a 12.5% pay cut under the guise of austerity measures in the fight against COVID-19. The army was sent in to restore order. This was not the first time. The 2020 uprising began in a place where an even larger uprising of workers employed by Shell had begun in 1969. At that time, two people were killed and several were injured, including its union leader.
Demands
Little known in this history is that notably Dutch workers showed solidarity among other things by staging protests and demonstrations demanding that Dutch soldiers return home. Understandably, this was led by the CPN.
Fidel Castro had already mentioned that military bases in Latin America are used for coups and military interventions, also mentioning those in Aruba and Curaçao. Currently, there is a military build-up directed against Venezuela, with the argument that Maduro would be a drug dealer. In the recent past, the allies of the imperialists have been the biggest drug dealers, and this was made possible in part by the secret services of those same imperialists. What its really about, of course, is the overthrow of a government that supports anti-imperialist forces in the region and worldwide. In addition, as we have seen, the oil must not remain under the control and in the service of the Venezuelan people, but must be in the hands of Western multinationals. With military bases on the islands of Aruba and Curaçao, the spreading of lies about Maduro’s government, support for the Venezuelan opposition, economic sanctions via the EU and close cooperation with the US, the Netherlands is directly involved in this aggression.
We condemn the aggression of the Dutch government, demand the withdrawal of Dutch troops from the colonies, support the people on the islands who criticise the colonial relationship and want independence, and if there is a military conflict with Venezuela, we hope that the government led by Maduro wins. In the Netherlands, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, Sint Eustatius, Sint Maarten and Venezuela, the Dutch imperialists are the enemy.
Long live international solidarity!