![Aai-, dear, dear Steven, My esteem and respect for you, since the days when I visited you when you still studied so incredibly hard in the U.S. of A. and to which I even devoted a radio story, is boundlessly great. Your statement about suspending parliament in Suriname to save the country in various areas is in principle good and interesting. But now that I try to think about it further and deeper, I believe that other solutions must be found and sought after. 01) After the Second World War, the IMF, as an offshoot of Bretton Woods, saved Western Europe from ruin and poverty with good and respectful management of the money. So your comment that they are good for nothing is not entirely correct. I really understand very well that times have changed, but still. The distribution of wealth, albeit in fits and starts in Europe, is much better now in 2023 than elsewhere. And some countries prosper. 02) However, suspending parliament for five years is a very big question mark. Plans to return power to parliament after a certain time – such as the five years you are talking about – have already been tried and implemented in various countries. It is true: the economy could flourish again and achieve growth. But: [ what could be the results and at what human costs ] That’s why social history is so interesting. On our own continent: 01) Brazil 1964 with Marshal Castelo Branco and his successors lasted until 1989, the generals also had the plan to make it only five years. I was able to shake the hand of the last general in question Joao Figueiredo and still have a sore arm left. It is true that the economy has grown enormously and Brazil has been able to join the so-called BRIC countries thanks to a great variety of factors, mainly from the private sector and has quickly overtaken us in Suriname. But the better distribution of wealth was not due to the generals, but to an economist and president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who inspired Lula to better distribute the proceeds of taxes and all other incomes and, in return, demanded that the poor had to send their children to school and feed them well. ( And training of teachers, of course ) In this way, 38 million people have been lifted out of severe poverty.](https://antonfoek.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Suspending-parliament-in-Suriname-1024x768.jpg)
Aai-, dear, dear Steven, My esteem and respect for you, since the days when I visited you when you still studied so incredibly hard in the U.S. of A. and to which I even devoted a radio story, is boundlessly great. Your statement about suspending parliament in Suriname to save the country in various areas…
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Stanley Brouwn [ Paramaribo 1935 – Amsterdam 2017] antonfoek Amsterdam, January 28, 2023– Perhaps it would have been better if there had been no obituary by Stanley Brouwn here. Or if nothing at all is said about the artist, who died in Amsterdam on May 18, in this obituary. If even his birthplace and year…
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antonjiesamfoek© Washington DC / Amsterdam, December 29, 2022— He was born nearly 64 years ago in Dangogo on the Saramacca River. Of course reading and writing didn’t end up there in the woods then. But what would it be? Who wants to learn to read and write when you already have everything you could want…
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On Thursday, March 24, Karwan Fatah-Black, associate professor of colonial history, Alicia Schrikker, associate professor of general history, and Carl Haarnack, founder of Buku – Bibliotheca Surinamica, will be guests in the online book salon of University Libraries Leiden (UBL). Chief Curator Garrelt Verhoeven will talk to them about the books ‘Slavernij en beschaving Kleine…
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Economics Hans Stegeman Amsterdam, February 12, 2022– Progressive thinking is pretty much the mainstream – the most important – belief of our time. The main symbol of this in the economy is economic progress, translated flat into economic growth. Always more and more and better. And preferably also more expensive. Economic laws are largely based…
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