ACTIVE CITIZENS FOR DEMOCRACY IN SURINAME

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ANTON DE KOM UNIVERSITEIT VAN SURINAME

Institute for Graduate Studies & Research

ACTIVE CITIZENS FOR DEMOCRACY IN

SURINAME

Paper submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Research Methods

Rayah Bhattacharji September, 2013

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PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My application essay for the Masters course in Research Methods centered on the role of curiosity in everyday life, schooling, work and particularly in social research. I wrote: “In our endeavor to create a more democratic and fair society, it is of great importance to first

understand in-depth how groups in our society think and behave. Curiosity and fascination with human behavior and with the drivers of cultural and social change are at the basis of the pursuit of this understanding through research.” It is therefore no small coincidence that the subject of my final paper is ‘active citizens and democracy in Suriname’. I have still only partly satisfied my curiosity on this subject, and hope to have many more opportunities to go more in depth in the future.

My deepest gratitude goes to the special people in my personal life, who forgave my absence and absentmindedness, took care of me, and kept believing in me in times when I stopped believing in myself.

Completing this course was a team effort, for which I thank my fellow students. We kept each other motivated and we supported each other through each challenge we faced.

Thanks go out to all research participants for their willingness to participate in the study, as well as their permission to use the interview data for more than their original intended use.

I also thank my primary employer Projekta for its permission and support using its study data and subject for this paper, as well as granting me flexible working hours so that I could attend classes and do field work, and allowing me and my fellow students the use of the office meeting room for many a weekend and late night study session. Thanks also to colleagues Rachel Groenefelt and Charissa Berrenstein for their support in data collection, transcription and analysis for the preliminary study for this paper.

Final thanks go to my supervisor Jack Menke and reviewer Jaïr Schalkwijk for their swift, critical and constructive feedback.

As a conclusion to this preface and a kick-off to the subject matter at hand, a fitting quote by anthropologist Margaret Mead (1901 - 1978):

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world;

indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

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ABSTRACT

Citizens and civil society organizations fulfill myriad functions in democracy, through the exercise of citizenship: altruistic and socially engaged behavior. Definitions of citizenship range from traditional western notions referring to membership status of a nation-state to notions referring to socially and ecologically holistic vision and action. Previous studies show a low level of active citizenship in Suriname, which is a concern for democracy and the participation of civil society.

This cross-sectional qualitative study, based on a purposive and snowball sample, describes and explains values, knowledge, attitudes and skills of active citizens, focusing on how these were developed, and their enabling factors and challenges.

Results show that the first seeds of active citizenship are often planted in childhood, with parents as central role models. Most active citizens start at an individual level, slowly grow to a grassroots / community level, and in some cases a professional organization (NGO) level.

Core values and attitudes are perseverance and respect, standing up against injustice. Skills and knowledge that participants deem important are continuous fieldwork, investing in relationships, and asking for help. Major support systems for citizenship development are the training and counseling activities of intermediate civil society organizations. Some major obstacles were the patronage and clientelism system, misunderstanding and distrust by

communities and individuals, and shortcomings in government policy design, implementation and monitoring. The study recommends a multi-faceted approach to turn back the tide on the

‘citizenship crisis’, which calls for much more than the often-touted plea “just put it in the school curriculum”.

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INTRODUCTION

‘Democracy’ is a concept with a great theoretical diversity; there is no standard definition, applicable for all social sciences or for all countries. Some writers make a distinction between

‘minimalist’ and ‘maximalist’ definitions (Baviskar & Malone, 2004). Minimalist definitions focus on procedures such as fair elections, respect for human rights, and universal suffrage.

In contrast, maximalist definitions include outputs of these processes, such as equality and social services.

An example of a minimalist and maximalist definition is given in Menke (2003). He refers to political democracy as the political rivalry between people and political parties to gain positions of power within the state apparatus, via regular, free, and fair elections. In contrast, social democracy (a maximalist concept) focuses on moral aspects, and on issues such as social justice, human rights, social and economic equality and the environment. In this article, I refer to social democracy when using the word democracy.

Although the state (government, parliament, and judiciary) has an important role to play in democratic culture, it is mostly those outside the state (called ‘citizens’ in this study) who are the ‘guardians’ of democracy. As derived from the definitions above, a true democratic culture is a culture of (among others) respect for human rights and diversity, meaningful participation by individuals and groups in decisions that affect their lives, and of placing the well-being of the community and the environment next to or above one’s own interests. This is especially relevant in Surinamese society, which is characterized by a strongly centralized government as well as geographic, ethnic, economic, social and gender diversity and

inequality.

Unfortunately, as is indicated in the theoretical review, the current public culture¹ in Suriname (and in many parts of the Caribbean) is characterized by a lack of altruistic behavior and apathy towards participation in decision-making processes. In informal and formal discussions with various intermediate non-government organizations, faith-based organizations, and community organizations, this pattern also emerges: a lack of volunteers in social organizations, a lack of donations by citizens to social work, a lack of community support and input for internal and external development initiatives, et cetera.

1 Public culture is defined as the normative context within which public life takes place. This context includes the ideals, beliefs, values, symbols, stories, and public rituals that bind people together and direct them in common action. This common action emanates from public culture, is a reflection of that culture’s ideals, and reinforces its normative boundaries. Source: website of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, University of Virginia http://iasc- culture.org/publications_surveys.php. Accessed August 28, 2013

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In order to optimally realize the earlier described vision of a truly democratic culture, citizens would need to possess specific (‘civic’) values, attitude, knowledge and skills. The way that they develop these and use them to fulfill their role is not just dependent on personality factors, but also on environmental factors (social, cultural, political and other factors).

A concept that refers to the membership, identity and agency of citizens is ‘citizenship’.

There is no one accepted definition of this concept. Many studies on the concept of citizenship are based on experiences and ideas in North American and European nation- states. In this view, ‘citizenship’ is a political status, and the experience of citizenship is primarily geared towards a smooth interaction between citizens and the state though existing participation mechanisms, within strict borders and limits. Only those who fit in the state structure and borders, have the right to have and to claim citizenship rights. The interests of groups such as women, youth, ethnic minorities and indigenous peoples were often excluded from theories on citizenship and on the relationship between citizens and the state. In recent years more and more critical and indigenous scholars and thinkers have added on to

traditional citizenship theory, developing models and philosophies such as activist citizenship, and global or planetary (‘Gaian’) citizenship. These and other notions of citizenship are described in the chapter ‘Theoretical Review’.

With this study, I hope to gain insight in the applicability of these models and approaches in Suriname. This study also contributes to the existing body of knowledge on democracy, citizenship and participation in Suriname, building on the results of previous studies and reflections.

This is not only relevant on an individual and a group level, but is also relevant for a better understanding of civil society in Suriname.

Civil society is also a concept which has multifarious definitions. Most of them are formulated to state what civil society is not, i.e. not the State and not the private sector. A detailed definition is given by the World Bank: “the term civil society refers to the wide array of non-governmental and not-for-profit organizations that have a presence in public life, expressing the interests and values of their members or others, based on ethical, cultural, political, scientific, religious or philanthropic considerations. Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) therefore refer to a wide of array of organizations: community groups, non-

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governmental organizations (NGO’s), labor unions, indigenous groups, charitable organizations, faith-based organizations, professional associations, and foundations”².

In a broad sense of the word, civil society is regarded as ‘everything that is non-state, non- commercial and non-family, and is established around common interests or values’ (Projekta, 2008: 4). A common characteristic is voluntary action by citizens working together in an organized manner (Projekta, 2008). The existence of active citizens and a culture of active citizenship are therefore crucial to the existence of civil society in general.

With the results of this study, civil society organizations can develop policy and projects to encourage active citizenship. This will contribute in turn to a stronger civil society, to counterbalance the dimensions of the State and the Economy. Government could also gain more insight in the barriers to citizens’ experience of and participation in policy making, although this is not a main point of the study.

The overall research objective of the study is to gain insight in the meaning and practice of altruistic and socially engaged behavior by individuals and groups involved in non-

governmental social and development work and (non-party-)political participation.

In order to achieve the research objective, the following questions and/or issues are examined in this study:

- What values, attitudes, knowledge and skills do altruistic citizens in Suriname possess?

- How do they express and apply these values, attitudes, knowledge and skills?

- What enabling factors contributed to the development and expression of these values, attitudes, knowledge and skills?

- What challenges do they face to the expression of these values, attitudes, knowledge and skills?

- What recommendations can be made to promote active citizenship in Suriname?

2 Source:

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/CSO/0,,contentMDK:20101499~menuPK:244752~pagePK:2205 03~piPK:220476~theSitePK:228717,00.html. Accessed: June 06, 2013

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The relevance of the study lies in the concern of Surinamese civil society organizations for the future of civil society in Suriname, but also in a general concern about the type of society we could become.

This study is an expansion of a study done for Stichting Projekta, a non-governmental organization active in the field of governance, participation and gender equality, for the 5^th annual Democracy Month in November 2012. The original study was not published academically, although a summary of results was given in the State of our Democracy Newsletter (Projekta, 2012) and a short video report was created (Projekta, 2012). The original study had a more limited theoretical framework. This study expands on the theoretical framework, and seeks to provide a more in-depth analysis of the data.

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CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL REVIEW

In this chapter, I discuss various notions of citizenship, ranging from the traditional

‘membership’ approaches to the current expanded notions. Next, the link between citizenship and democracy is described, as well as some increasing concerns about a possible crisis in citizenship and voluntary action in the world.

I then move on to a review of various characteristics often attributed to active citizens and the modes for transfer and development of active citizenship. These sections form the key

framework for data analysis.

1.1 Notions of citizenship

For years, the concepts of citizenship, nationalism, democracy and the sovereign, territorial nation-state were inextricably linked. Citizenship was tied to the rights and duties of members of a nation-state. This nation-state was also considered the source for citizens’ common identity and nationalism.

In the last two decades, this notion of common and national identity has been increasingly criticized. The meaning and the application of citizenship around the world have been challenged by various factors: grassroots movements for popular empowerment, increasing transnational economic exchange and communication, and high levels of migration, cultural and social interactions (Leydet, 2011). Many of these factors or phenomena can be clustered under the heading of globalization: a set of processes for social change, including

deterritorialization, extension and intensification of human activities and relations, and a growing awareness of living in a single global space (Monnier, 2010). In this study, I examine how these factors contributed to participants’ civic action, focusing on the rise of grassroots movements.

Worldwide, grassroots movements for popular empowerment arose in response to growing awareness that citizenship as a political membership has never been a neutral or all-inclusive condition; its privileges have not always applied to all persons equally (Belton & Morales, 2008). The nation-states capacity to deal with economic, social and environmental problems was also called into question (Leydet, 2011).

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At the same time, international organizations and international agreements have increasingly been the grantees of rights and privileges, even if states’ national legislation does not provide for these rights and privileges. These international networks often consist of governments and voluntary associations coalescing around a common ideology or conception of the good (Leydet, 2011).

An example of contestation of the meaning of citizenship from within and from without the state is the rise of transnational indigenous peoples movements in the 1980’s and 1990’s, described by authors such as Belton & Morales (2008).

This process has been studied extensively in Latin America. Yashar (2004) describes an ‘arc’

in citizenship regimes in Latin America, moving from corporatist citizenship regimes towards neoliberal ones. Corporatist citizenship regimes were based on (among others) the formal establishment of civil and social rights. Illustrative are land reform programs that provided land titles and material resources for the peasantry. Intermediation with the state was tightly structured, and based on class (e.g. formal unions, peasant associations). Social policies extended social rights through the provision of health care, education, subsidies, and the like.

Because Latin American states had such an uneven capacity and could often not penetrate and control the wide expanse of national territory, this had unintended consequences and thus provided conditions for indigenous movements to rise up. Indigenous peoples enjoyed the basic rights granted to them (albeit unevenly), but were often out of the reach of state control, and could thus maintain their local decision making structures. This strengthened their

community autonomy and collective identity.

However, economic constraints and pressure from economic elites soon eroded the corporatist regimes in favor of neoliberal citizenship regimes. The class-based model of interaction was replaced with more individual forms of state-society relations. Indigenous autonomy was further challenged by cutbacks in social programs, liberalization of land markets, and increased natural resource exploitation in the Amazon. As a consequence, indigenous movements were further spurred on to advocate for community rights, using the organizational capacity provided by extensive national and international networks, churches, NGO’s, and others. In some countries, such as in Bolivia, political association space also enabled indigenous movements to gain political power.

As described above, concepts of citizenship and citizenship movements have slowly been expanding from the grassroots to the national and then to the international level, where

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boundaries between nation-states and membership of nation-states have become increasingly irrelevant. This study will examine if that process has occurred in Suriname, and if there is a difference in the development and experience of citizenship between urban and rural-interior areas.

For Carolan (2006), the notion of citizenship has expanded to such an extent, that we can now speak of ‘planetary citizens’ or ‘Gaian citizens’, those who are socially pluralistic and

ecologically holistic in vision and action. A central concept in the rethinking of ideas of citizenship is dharma. The anthropologist Gary Snyder (1995, in Carolan, 2006) coined the term ‘dharma citizenship’. Originating in the Sanskrit, dharma is a manifold term implying law or living in accordance with principles of justice. This concept therefore has a strong emphasis on rights.

Andrzejewski (1998:7) even defines global citizenship as ‘knowledge and skills for social and environmental justice’. Within this concept of citizenship, citizens understand their responsibilities to others, to society and to the environment, and understand ethical behavior in personal, professional and public life.

A final notion of citizenship to be described here, is that of Universal Citizenship, ‘a model of universe-referent citizenship that places the universe, and all living and non-living life forces, as the primary value, source of existence and destiny for human existence’ (Arabena, 2006:

42). This indigenous citizenship model combines a threefold indigenous epistemology (mind, body and spirit), the five ontological spheres of the universe (land, water, air, life and mind), and four wisdoms (wisdom of indigenous people, women, science, and classical traditions).

Within this model, the universal citizen is to have a capacity for nurturing, to be intrinsic to (and not dominant over) universal processes, to bring spirituality to the fore, to understand the fourfold wisdoms, and increase unity of physical systems of the earth. Although this model is less of a practically applicable model, and is meant more as an exploration of the

‘development of alternative understandings of all peoples social realities’ (Arabena 2006:

36), certain elements may be recognized in the participants experiences of citizenship.

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1.2 Citizenship & democracy

The expanding notion of citizenship is also linked to an expanding notion of democracy.

As stated in the introduction, democracy is more than political democracy based on (among others) free and secret national elections; it also means that people can fully exercise their civil and political rights, that they can participate in matters that affect their lives, that government(s) is/are accountable and transparent, and that there is an equal distribution of power. In practice, the distance to this ideal is determined by the degree of political participation, the public awareness of policy formulation processes and of the impact of policies, the strength of the (party-political) opposition, the nature of community

organizations, and the distribution of power in a country.

Democracy does not work if there are no active and engaged citizens at the basis of society.

Citizenship implies that people act together to address issues of common interest, in order to maintain a democratic culture and to improve society. Truly democratic citizenship is therefore more than just voting for representatives.

Kueck (in Mehra, Singh & Kueck, 2003) links democracy, freedom and growth to processes of development and of supporting people to become self-confident and self-reliant as well as to strengthen their dignity and make them active in the service of their own interests and of the interests of their fellow citizens. Participation and self-help through voluntarism are considered two key elements for democracy.

Citizens act as the guardians of democracy, because they report abuses and hold policy makers accountable. They can do this individually or communally, through civil society organizations, advocacy groups, and other types of social organizations. Forbrig (2002) suggests five ways in which civil society can contribute to strengthening democracy: control of state power, interest mediation, social integration, political socialization, and service provision.

In discussing the role of individual citizens, Isin (2009) distinguishes ‘active’ citizenship from ‘activist’ citizenship. Active citizens are considered subjects, filling of the ‘container’ of the state. Active citizens commit routinized and institutionalized social actions, such as

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voting and taxpaying. By contract, activist citizens commit acts of citizenship. For Isin, acts make a difference; they break routines, understandings and practices. “We can define acts of citizenship as those acts that transform forms (orientations, strategies, technologies) and modes (citizens, strangers, outsiders, aliens) of being political by bringing into being new actors as activist citizens (that is, claimants of rights) through creating or transforming sites and stretching scales.” In this study, particular emphasis is placed on acts of citizenship, although the term ‘active citizens’ is used to denote active and activist citizens.

1.3 Citizenship and volunteerism in crisis?

As stated in the introduction and as will be illustrated in the following chapter, Suriname is experiencing a deficit of altruistic and activist citizens. Various authors describe this same phenomenon in other countries, and have analyzed possible causes.

Goldfarb (1991, in London, s.d.) describes an increasing cynicism, as a result of increasing individualism. Kelman (1992, in London, s.d., s.p.) cites an overly competitive and

adversarial institutional model as a factor. He cites a ‘political system [that] is designed to foster self-interest rather than cooperation’.

When describing this phenomenon in India, Samuel (in Mehra, Singh & Kueck, 2003: 71) points to the so-called ‘institutionalization of social action’. Social action signifies ‘a spectrum of voluntary action initiatives that seek to address social, political, economic, ecological and ethical issues in society’ (ibid.). He mentions major sociological shifts that propelled the institutionalization of social action, such as an accelerated urbanization process, the erosion of social spaces necessary to create enabling conditions for larger movement, and the explosion of individualistic careerism among the middle class. New institutional

formations rose to occupy the spaces for social action that were previously occupied by individuals and small discussion groups.

Samuel (ibid.: 72) explains this phenomenon by stating that ‘when there are relatively fewer people who are committed to a cause, institutional formations give more sense of continuity, efficiency and political security.’ He also describes the prevalence of highly individualistic leadership in many of these institutional formations, a phenomenon which possibly occurs in Surinamese civil society organizations as well. The next phase in the development of these

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formations came as these institutions became successful in negotiating the macro-political arena and were increasingly funded by donor agencies.

Samuel (in Mehra, Singh & Kueck, 2003) also analyzes ideological shifts in the meaning of voluntarism and social action, and distinguishes four phases. The first starts out with

voluntarism and social action based on ideological issues and searches for alternatives, then moving to a phase with a focus on concrete social issues and a sectoral approach, in which dealing with symptoms becomes more important than analyzing the cause. In this phase, experts and professionals are preferred over the ideological type.

In the following phase, the focus shifts from broad issues to concrete geography (urban versus rural, micro versus macro level), and in the final phase attention is given to ‘how’ to achieve social action through operationally effective and efficient social action organizations.

The growing institutionalization of voluntary work in the form of NGO’s, as well as the increase in financial flows to these organizations, also raised some serious questions about the legitimacy of these organizations, their accountability to citizens they claim to work on behalf of, and their true measure of independence of local and donor government(s). Some organizations rely heavily on government funding, often through (inter)national NGO’s, or provide services to government, often working almost like consultancy firms (Paffenholz &

Spurk 2006). In a sense, social action has been increasingly commoditized.

In this study, participants’ views on the ‘citizenship crisis’ and the institutionalization of social action, are described and analyzed.

1.4 Characteristics of active citizens

Citizenship is often associated with specific values, attitudes, knowledge and skills (Carolan 2006, Andrzejewski & Alessio 1998, Howe & Marshall 1999, Geissel 2008, Schulz et.al.

2008, and others). In this study, I describe these in a number of active citizens in Suriname.

Definitions and descriptions below are compiled from the sources above.

Values are an indication of how people think things should be, or how people should behave.

They indicate the worth or importance we attach to certain qualities, such as honesty. Values

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that are often associated with citizenship are caring about others (especially those who are less fortunate), respect for others, respect for human rights, tolerance, belief in change (efficacy), belief in justice and seeing problems as challenges and not as a threat. The planetary concept of citizenship often seems at odds with Western notions of individualism (Capra, in Carolan 2006). Capra sees the solution in re-imagining ones role as a citizen, by understanding oneself as part of a network, locally and globally. Important here is an appreciation for the personal responsibility of being somebody and being somewhere.

An attitude shows how people express their beliefs and values through words and behavior.

It is a fixed pattern of dealing with people and situations, based on the assumptions that people have. The words that people use to express their views are an expression of underlying values. In this study, there are some dimensions of ‘civic attitude’ that can be explored³. The first is the ‘political dimension’, for which research participants’ views on the role of

government and of citizens in a democratic society, their views on the rights and duties of citizens, and their degree of confidence in government institutions, social organizations, and the media, as well as their views on the relationship between citizens and government are examined.

The ‘community’ dimension contains research participants’ experiences with defending common interests, their views and experiences with social work / community work, their experiences with and attitudes on participating in community and national dialogue processes, and their views on social equality (concern for others who have less).

The final dimension is the ‘individual’ dimension, where the extent and manner in which citizens are informed about political and social developments, their experiences with discussions about politics (at home, among friends, at school, at work, etc.), their views on the possibility for change (efficacy), and how participatory the person behaves at home, can all be subject of study.

Various skills are considered typical of active citizens, such as the ability to search for knowledge / information about political and social developments (reading, comprehension, etc.), the ability to make rational analyses and judgments based on this

knowledge/information, and the ability to work in a structured and methodical manner. Other basic skills are those needed to organize / lobby (letter writing, public speaking, activity-

3 This is my own classification, based on literature study of documents mentioned on the previous page.

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planning, working in teams). On a more emotional level, important skills are the ability to handle conflicts (in families, neighborhoods, etc.), the ability to bring diverse people together for a common purpose and a common interest, to set clear and realistic goals and

requirements, to find creative solutions to problems, or to empathize with the situation of others and to assess their needs without being judgmental.

Civic knowledge refers to knowledge on civic and democratic principles and institutions (Toney-Purta et.al., in Schulz, 2008). Howe & Marshall (1999) emphasize the role of

knowledge and knowledge creation in empowerment. People who are well-informed are less likely to depend on the opinions of others. In the Caribbean context, Howe & Marshall (ibid.) emphasize the importance of knowing about the colonial past and the struggle for self-

realization by Caribbean peoples. They further cite Engle and Ochoa (1998), who list specific type of knowledge important to active citizenship. Some types of knowledge relevant in the context of this paper are:

- Knowledge of the existence and workings of social institutions, such as family, religious institutions, legal systems, and government;

- Knowledge of cultural differences in society and the world;

- Knowledge history and the struggles of civilizations;

- Knowledge of the major problems that confront society.

In many cases, knowledge and skills operate in tandem. For example, knowing how an institution works is closely linked to the skill to access information from that institution.

1.5 Transfer of active citizenship

Active citizenship is imparted by upbringing, education, exposure to politics, public life and everyday experiences.

In the socialization at home (upbringing), there are some factors that may contribute to

‘raising’ of active citizens (Nieves, 2011, Schulz et.al, 2008):

- If parents or guardians talk to their children about what is right and what is wrong in society, and discuss current political and social developments;

- If parents / guardians themselves often follow the news (radio / TV), especially together with their children;

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- If parents or guardians also ask children their opinion;

- If parents / guardians themselves volunteer, are politically active, or otherwise socially active, and especially if they bring their children along with them to activities;

- If parents / guardians communicate openly and honestly with children;

- If parents / guardians treat children with respect.

Within education, citizenship is transmitted in different ways, not just by special subjects such as social studies or government studies. Each teacher would encourage citizenship by engaging students in discussions about social problems, teaching students to think

independently and express social criticism responsibly, encouraging students to actively participate in improving communities, recognizing students as capable citizens, developing a democratic / participatory classroom, and viewing knowledge as tentative, biased, and incomplete (Engle & Ochoa, in Grelle & Metzger 1996 & 2004).

This study examines the extent to which participants had teachers with these qualities and, if so, how they experienced this, and what lessons they carried with them. Other studies (among others Claes, 2011) also found that a higher level of education is often associated with

increased citizenship activity.

Transfer of citizenship values, attitudes and skills in public life can occur through

participation in church activities, neighborhood organizations, youth organizations, sports clubs, social organizations, etc. An important aspect of this participation is the specific function of an individual within the organization (as a 'listener' or active). Other ways that public life can impart citizenship ‘lessons’ is through the presence of role models who act as mentors, and participation in hearings and other forms of policy dialogue.

The data analysis will show whether the participants had these (or other) experiences that could potentially have played a role in the development of their citizenship.

How people perceive and process all these forms of 'political socialization' depends on their attitude and their personality (motivation, interest, etc.). International studies (Claes, 2011) show that gender also plays a role: during childhood, men and women have just as much interest in "politics", but at a certain age women’s interest stagnates, while that of men continues to rise. However, the difference in political knowledge between men and women remains small.

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The exercise of active citizenship is not an individual process, but is pre-eminently done together with others. The values, attitudes, knowledge and skills of other people surrounding the active citizen, also determine how citizenship is experienced. Culture and social and political structures and systems form the frameworks within which citizens express

themselves. This study therefore also examines the external challenges and enabling factors that active citizens experience in exercising their citizenship.

Systems such as colonialism, patriarchy, racism, nepotism, clientelism and capitalism determine the distribution of power and the inequalities in ‘starting position’ that individuals and groups face when claiming their citizenship rights (Howe & Marshal 1999, de Munter &

Salman 2009, Belton & Morales 2007).

To conclude this chapter, I include an illustration of the most important research concepts and how these concepts relate to each other. This illustration was developed during and after data analysis, when some of these concepts (such as ‘catalyst events’) were distinguished. This structure is therefore also used to present the research findings in Chapter 3.

Figure 1.1 Structure of key concepts and research results (schematic overview)

Geography

Citizenship notions & “citizenship crisis”

Role of politics & government

Values Attitude Skills & Knowledge Acts & Strategies

Formative experiences in citizenship development

Enabling Factors Challenges Catalyst events

Public Life

School

Home

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CHAPTER 2: ACTIVE CITIZENS IN SURINAME

Suriname has always known people who stood up against injustice and the status quo: from indigenous peoples who fought tooth and nail against colonial rule, to rebellious (ex-)slaves (such as Boston Band), to the indentured laborers who rose up against the cruel plantation owner James Mavor in Mariënburg, to Louis Doedel (often called the ‘father of Surinamese unions’).

However, up until a certain period, many actions were often the actions of individuals, and not of organizations. Taking part in social and public life as part of civil society (i.e.

organized citizenry) was long a ‘privilege’ of the elites, before and after emancipation. Slaves and indentured laborers had very little ‘social space’ (Schalkwijk in Menke 2004). Religion- related organizations were some of the first civil society organizations. At the beginning of the 21^stcentury, many civil society organizations were primarily social-economic, such as funeral and savings funds, cooperatives, trade unions and professional associations

(Schalkwijk 1986). As time passed, these organizations became more and more differentiated, ranging from social service organizations, to educational and cultural

organizations, sports organizations and religious organizations. Starting around 1900, there was an increase in the number of organizations being established annually, from 9 per year between 1900 and 1945 to 48 per year between 1963 and 1984 (Schalkwijk 1986).

According to Martin (2001), the growth of civil society in Suriname was stunted several times in the eighties and early nineties, due to the arrest and murder of sixteen civil society leaders in 1982, and due to various economic developments. Martin contended that an

economic slump in the early nineties forced many people to take on two or more jobs to make ends meet, leaving little time for volunteer activities. He also refers to brain drain among especially young people and professionals as having a negative impact on civil society organizations membership.

Despite these obstacles, more and more civil society organizations were founded. There are little data on the number of civil society organizations in the last twenty years, as the legal registration commonly used for civil society organizations (‘Stichtingen’ and ‘Verenigingen’) were increasingly used by foreign nationals (often in order to purchase or obtain land),

government agencies, consultancy firms, and commercial businesses, and not just by citizens groups. More than 23.000 ‘Stichtingen’ and ‘Verenigingen’ are legally registered, as of

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August 2013⁴. Other attempts by government and civil society organizations to do an NGO or civil society registration have unfortunately not been very successful.

The growth in the number of ‘Stichtingen’ and ‘Verenigingen’ was in part possibly due to the willingness of foreign donors to channel funding through non-government channels (Projekta 2008). It was in the late 70’s and the mid-80’s that NGO’s in Suriname first came to be financed externally, many by “donor NGO’s” in the Netherlands, through the

‘Medefinancieringsprogramma’ (Pardi, 1993). External financing only increased in the 1990’s. A 2008 study by Projekta showed that the majority of organizations founded since 1990 also reacted to the overall decline in the socio-economic situation in Suriname, focusing on aspects of poverty alleviation, as well as access to services such as education and health.

Although a body of work exists on NGO’s in Suriname, there haven’t been many (published) studies on citizens’ participation in social life.

Kruijer (in Schalkwijk, 1986: 130) claimed that in Suriname the participation level in civil society organizations ‘was not really high’.

Martin (2001: 174) echoed this sentiment, stating that civic participation “has traditionally been low because of the long history of dependence on the Netherlands, and partly because of economic and political factors. On the economic side, citizen involvement is more difficult for persons with lower incomes due to the costs of membership in certain organizations and the costs of transportation necessary to participate in certain activities. In tight economic times, volunteer work becomes more difficult. On the political side, some citizens have the

impression that there is nothing they can do to change government and therefore,

participation is useless. Though many citizens have strong opinions, few are active in seeking change. Many may belong to groups, but few actually participate actively.”

One recent study that did include aspects of citizenship is the AmericasBarometer: a multi- country, regularly conducted survey of democratic values and behaviors in the Americas, an initiative of the Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP) of Vanderbilt University⁵.

4 This information was provided by the Stichtingenregister of the Kamer van Koophandel en Fabrieken. (Telephone interview, August 13, 2013).

5 For more information, see: www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/history/php

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Suriname participated for the first time in 2010 and again in 2012, with a 2012 sample size of 1,492 individuals from all districts.

In this survey, community participation was measured by examining the frequency of attendance of meetings of religious organizations, parents’ associations, and community improvement committees or associations (Menke et.al. 2013). The answers to these questions were combined in a scale from 0 - 100, with 100 meaning very frequent participation in all types of organizations. The average score for Suriname was 18.0, lower than in most other countries in the Americas, as indicated in Figure 2.1 below.

Figure 2.1: Scores for Community Participation in Latin America and the Caribbean

The LAPOP study also showed that women participate more in community groups than men, but that the same percentage as men have a leadership role in the organization. Another notable trend is that higher educated respondents seem to participate slightly more in community groups than persons with a lower educational background. Of the respondents

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that participated in community organizations, 12.9% said that they had a leadership role within the organization. This percentage is higher than in other countries in the Americas.

The report gives no explanation for this regional difference, but does ascertain that higher wealth and higher education more often correspond with leadership roles.

The survey also looked at participation in political protests, citing previous LAPOP findings that “individuals who protest are generally more interested in politics and likely to engage in community-level activities, seemingly supplementing traditional forms of participation with protest” (Moseley, 2010 in Menke et.al., 2013). In recent years, Suriname experienced few political protests; it was thus no surprise that only 3.8% of respondents had participated in a demonstration or protest march in the last 12 months.

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

In this chapter, I describe the nature of the study, the definition of the population, the

sampling process, the methods and instruments used, as well as the process of data reduction and analysis.

The study is explorative and descriptive, using a qualitative strategy and a cross-sectional design, using data from 15 semi-structured interviews that were taken at a single point in time (November 2012), using a multi-stage (purposive and snowball) sample of active citizens.

Because of the nature of the study, there can be no statistical generalization of the findings, thus the prevalence of findings from the sample cannot be held to be equally true of the population from which the sample is drawn. Representational generalization is possible, but not absolute; it is not implausible that the phenomena found in the sample would not be found in the population, or that additional phenomena could be found in the population which are not present in the study sample. Although sampling, data collection and analysis methods aimed at descriptive or data saturation (more on that later in this chapter), one can never be fully sure that full saturation has been achieved.

The choice for qualitative research is a conscious decision, based on various philosophical assumptions and positions. The first is the ontological assumption that the study participants themselves are the only ones who can create and define their (subjective) ‘reality’ of being an active citizen. This assumption is closely related to an interpretivist epistemological position, with emphasis on understanding human behavior and ‘the subjective meanings of social action’ (Bryman, 2008: 16). This position led me to choose a flexible research design, using a method which allows me to continually adapt to new topics arising in the field.

The methods used are literature study and re-analysis of transcripts of fifteen face-to-face semi-structured qualitative interviews (taken with the use of a topic guide) that were part of a Projekta study on active citizens. I conducted five of these interviews myself, while the others were conducted by junior colleagues and field workers. The topic guide is included in Annex 1.

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Some topics of discussion are:

- Childhood role models

- ‘Social work’ and related activities by parents, siblings, and others - Motives for starting social work

- Skills and knowledge - Obstacles and challenges - Relationship with government - Reflection

The research population is ‘active citizens living in Suriname’, i.e. those citizens who are relatively well-known at community, regional or national level for their commitment to serving the interests of marginalized persons or groups or to human (and animal) rights and the environment in general. This choice reflects the broader notions of citizenship, in which citizens are not only responsible for each other and for the state, but also for other life forms and the wellbeing of the planet. As stated in the introduction, citizens are those outside the state and the (party-)political arena. Civil servants who do altruistic work as part of

government mandate (as opposed to civil society) are therefore excluded from the study.

Political party workers often do altruistic work as a part of political party propaganda, and are therefore also excluded. Not all civil servants and political party members are automatically excluded. Civil servants and political party members doing altruistic work which is not related to their government job or party work are included in the population. The unit of observation and analysis is the individual citizen, although in many cases the work of the individual participants can hardly be separated from the work of the organization they are a part of.

Because there is no sampling frame of this population, a first purposive sample was drawn using my own knowledge of the civil society sector in Suriname. I then expanded the sample using a snowball method, by asking some of these individuals as well as directors and field workers of various NGO’s that I work with to provide names of other potential participants.

Although there are no clear-cut criteria for potential participants to be considered ‘active’ or well-known, participants’ fit was assessed by looking at (among others) their role in

organizations, the amount of time spent doing voluntary work, their visibility in traditional press and social media, their reputation (as assessed by their peers), and the scope and impact of their work.

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A conscious effort was made to have the sample include participants from various districts, various types and sizes of organizations, and various types of voluntary work, as well as participants working individually (not as part of an organization). Although efforts were made to have the sample as inclusive as possible, the sample cannot be considered fully inclusive (symbolically representative) of the full diversity of all groups in the population.

The purposive and snowball sampling process resulted in an initial list of 40 organizations and individuals, of which 20 later turned out to be not part of the population as defined earlier, either because they were not as active as outsiders had deemed them to be, because they were civil servants working in their official capacity, or because most of their activities were undertaken as part of political party propaganda.

The final sample size of 15 participants is a result of two main factors. On the one hand, some potential participants were not available during the data collection period. This access failure was due to either illness, travel abroad or travel to the interior. On the other hand, a certain descriptive saturation in the data is noted: no new themes or concepts emerged after a certain number of interviews. I speak explicitly of descriptive saturation (also called data saturation), as opposed to theoretical saturation.

Theoretical saturation is a term coined by Glaser and Strauss explicitly for use in classical grounded theory research. In this view, saturation indicates theoretical (conceptual) stability, i.e. that a theory has been created that can cope with changing situations, and where the core category accounts for as much variation in data as possible (Baker & Edwards, s.d.;

Breckenridge & Jones, 2009). As my study follows a template analysis approach, I am more concerned with descriptive or data saturation, which occurs ‘when information occurs so repeatedly that the researcher can anticipate it and whereby the collection of more data appears to have no additional interpretative worth” (Sandelowski in Onwuegbuzie 2009;

Saumure & Given in Onwuegbuzie 2009).

The final sample consisted of 10 women and 5 men, ranging in age from mid-forties to mid- sixties. Efforts to identify younger participants - either from my own network or those of colleagues and participants - were not successful. Most participants were founders or leaders of civil society organizations, which may account for the lack of younger participants.

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Three participants are from and work with indigenous and maroon communities in the interior, four in rural areas (a.o. Wanica, Nickerie), and the other eight are from and work mainly in Paramaribo (the capital city).

The data collection process itself went smoothly. Other than the few cases of access failure mentioned above, there was little or no hesitation by participants to permit interviewers to interview them.

All interviews were recorded using either a digital voice recorder or the ‘Voice Notes’

function of Blackberry telephones, and transcribed into Word files. All participants were asked permission for the use of their transcripts for this paper; permission was granted. Some participants granted permission on condition of anonymity. Therefore, no names are used in this paper, and specific details which could be used to identify participants are adjusted.

Data were further processed using Atlas.ti 5.5 and manual coding. An initial list of (primarily descriptive) codes was developed, using a template approach, with the theoretical review and topic guide as starting points. For each code, descriptive criteria were developed, to aid in the data reduction process. Codes were also added during the coding process itself. A list of codes is included in Annex 2.

After the initial data reduction, I moved on to a phase of pattern coding (where appropriate), defined by Miles and Huberman (1994: 69) as ‘grouping summaries of data segments into a smaller number of sets, themes or constructs’. For example, after initially sorting text into the code ‘value’, I extracted key words reflecting ‘values’ into a separate list. It then became apparent that there were two broad categories of values, values referring to the individual and his/her personality, and values referring to the social, organizational, national, or political context. The pattern codes were then used to structure the presentation of research findings.

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CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

This chapter gives an overview of the research results. The structure of the research results (and key research concepts) was illustrated earlier in Figure 1.1.

In the first section,I describe formative experiences in participants’ childhood, youth and young adult life which they felt had contributed in some way to the development of their citizenship values, attitude, knowledge and skills. The next section (deals with the acts and strategies of citizenship that the participants undertake, as well as the values, attitudes, knowledge and skills that they deem important to the expression of these acts. The third section discusses enabling factors to citizenship acts, as well as challenges that the

participants encounter. The fourth section discusses participants’ views on the role of politics and government, and the fifth section discusses citizenship notions and participants’

experiences and views with the ‘citizenship crisis’. The final section provides a short illustration of the differences between participants from and working in urban and rural- interior areas.

4.1 Formative experiences

4.1.1 Citizenship transfer and development at home

For many participants, childhood was the period when they first saw or experienced

citizenship acts. This occurred the most in the home, with parents or other family members.

Core values were instilled in them by their parents, older siblings, or other relatives.

Most participants came from two-parent families. As described by participants, there was a significant difference in the roles of mothers and fathers.

Mothers made the most impression by displaying qualities and behavior such as friendliness, helpfulness, working hard, providing food to others in need, putting the needs of others first, and helping people with their problems. These qualities had less to do with public acts of citizenship, but more with general values. Although not mentioned in the theoretical framework, all participants mentioned this as an important factor in their development.

“My biggest motivator was actually my dad. They don’t like me saying that it was my father, but she [my mother] was really a quiet woman. We were always active: we helped our dad, and he motivated

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us to go to school and to learn a trade. My mother usually helped the neighbors, she could help; you could come and get food. She liked to give and give and didn’t worry. And I now see that I have the

same thing.”

Female youth worker

A few mothers were not only housewives, but were also part of women’s groups or did social work in the church or in their husbands’ organizations. Besides being an example and role model, they actively engaged children in their activities. This was done in various ways, such as taking them to meetings and activities of social associations or having them participate in clubs such as the Scouts, dance and music groups, or crafts clubs. The lessons learned from these mothers were slightly different than the lessons learned from those mothers that stayed at home, as shown in the following quote.

“My mother was very social. She went to schools and collected items. She fundraised, and often took me along. So I learnt what it was, social work.”

Chairman of a neighborhood organization

"I know that my mom was an active and industrious woman, even up to now. She was also in groups. I remember, in [the village] you had a club where women could enroll to learn modern things. And she took us with her. She said: I learned this and this from a foundation, and it's really good if you join

such things, because you can learn a lot. "

Chairwoman of a village organization

In that sense, the mode of transfer of citizenship skills from this group of socially active mothers was closer to the experience that most participants had with their fathers. Qualities most associated with their fathers were authority and respect from the community, strictness, discipline and self-confidence. Many fathers were leaders of neighborhood organizations or village councils. They often involved their children actively in their work, taking them to public activities and meetings, and teaching them important skills, such as note taking, handling money, or marketing.

In general, both parents were known for their hard work, social engagement, and problem solving ability. A lesson they also imparted on their children was the importance of education, and ‘always doing your best’.

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Besides parents, grandparents also played a role in the transfer of citizenship. This was especially the case for participants from the interior and from rural areas. This may have to do with a more tightly-knit social and family structure in smaller communities and tribal communities in particular. Grandparents were most mentioned for the respect they commanded in the community, as well as their eloquence and helpfulness.

"My grandfather was chief of the village. That man would wake up in the morning, (...) he made his rounds through the village: goes to greet all the old people first, ask how they slept, and then we had the flag parade or morning prayers. And he stood there and after our morning prayer, he made sure:

the children are at school, he goes back home.

Only then will he have breakfast, and only then to his farmland. And at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the old men come to him to talk about matters of the village. When the man then went to church on Sunday morning, he had always 5 minutes after the pastor’s sermon, where he spoke to his people. So he really did that, and you had respect for that man, in awe of that man. When the chief had spoken at

a meeting, that was that. Those were the good things I held on to. "

Maroon Peoples advocate

Other family members were seldom mentioned, except for a few cases where participants described the influence their brothers had had on their lives. In these cases, the brothers were also active in social organizations or in doing volunteer work (such as helping the neighbors fill in government forms and write letters). They also taught specific skills to their younger siblings, usually involving some form of studying.

Most participants remembered this as an exciting and dynamic period in their lives. Many expressed feelings of awe at being able to take part in the ‘big kids’ clubs or in ‘grown-up activities’. For some girls and young women, it was a chance to learn and experience things that not all women were accustomed to doing, such as playing draughts or attending political party meetings.

The theoretical review mentions other modes of transfer at home, such as discussions with children on social and political issues, asking children’s opinions, and communicating openly and with respect. In reality, participants’ experiences on the level of interaction and

discussion in the home during their childhood varied. Most participants had seldom heard the

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family speak about politics or social issues at home, except for households with politically active family members. Even then, children were often not allowed to take part in

discussions. Even though they were not allowed to speak, they would sometimes listen to the conversations.

The final mode of transfer at home mentioned in the theoretical review, was watching the news and listening to the radio. This did seem to be the case for some participants. In these households the radio was often on (and especially tuned to the news).

In short, most of the factors mentioned in the theoretical review regarding socialization at home, also occurred in the study participants’ childhoods. The strongest defining factor seems to be the social engagement of parents.

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4.1.2 Citizenship development & transfer in school

Although theories suggest that education plays a key role in transfer of citizenship - either through special subjects or teaching methods - this seems to be less the case in Suriname.

Less than a handful of participants mention that they had a teacher or teachers with a certain exemplary attitude that they try to emulate. Some examples mentioned were teachers who were sincere, who had perseverance, were dedicated, taught with passion, or who interacted fairly with all students.

“And the teachers, they compelled respect, they were my example. I wanted to be like them when I grew up. Just the way they talked, behaved, taught classes, compelled respect.”

Community worker

Although positive qualities, none of these deal specifically with civic participation or citizenship development.

One participant remembers vividly hearing about Nelson Mandela during History class, and how Mandela’s story fascinated him, and continues to fascinate him to this day.

Besides the curriculum itself, the larger school context played a role for some. A male participant mentions school, and especially recess, as a place where he first experienced bullying and injustice or unfairness. He would defend the weaker students and get into fights with the bullies. This same participant later became a student leader and mobilized students to protest against poor social and economic conditions.

For a female participant from the interior, the school context had an even deeper impact.

Because there were so few teachers in the village, children from higher grades would help teach children from the first and second grades. She was one of those chosen to teach. She felt that this experience molded her leadership qualities, as well as pressuring her to excel in her studies.

Claes (2011) and others found that in many countries, a higher level of education is often associated with increased citizenship activity. The LAPOP study found the same result for Suriname. Although this study is not numerical in nature, it is noteworthy that eleven of the fifteen participants had had some college or university education, of which at least four had

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also studied abroad. The participants with no higher education did have a middle school degree. This focus on studies and school was the same for participants from urban areas, rural areas, and the interior. Participants from rural and interior areas faced an extra challenge, as they had to move to Paramaribo to continue their studies after primary school level.

4.1.3 Transfer and development of citizenship in public life

For the participants whose first contact with citizenship values came at an early age from parents or the school, this was often concurrent with citizenship contact in public life. They would participate in social organizations together with parents or siblings.

For others, the contact came at a slightly later age, and solely from public life. Some

participants were members of the boy scouts, the church choir, or other small recreational or cultural organizations that their parents and siblings were not a part of. In most cases, participants ‘eyes were opened’ when they came into contact with strong role models from theater, unions or politics. In some cases, this happened when studying in Europe in the sixties and seventies, but in most cases this was in Suriname. This contact often encouraged participants to join political parties or unions.

"I came into contact with many union leaders, and female union leaders like Mrs. […]. I really thought: those women ... they're on stage like that, with hundreds of people around them and those

women stood there and held a speech and moved everyone and said things that hit home... I was blown away by those women. I thought: I would also like to be a woman like that, to interpret the

interests of people in such a good way. And back then it was only about people, so it was really pure, from their hearts. "

Womens rights advocate

In other cases, strong role models came from local NGO’s working in rural areas and the interior.

Sometimes these first experiences or role models were closer to home. One participant told the story of meeting her husband, and only after marriage realizing how dedicated he was to a certain cause, and what his level of involvement was. She then started to help him with the cause, and she soon became the founder and public leader of an organization. Another participant first learnt of the work of social organizations when taking her children to various classes, sports and recreation activities.

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4.1.4 Catalysts for citizenship development

Besides having been exposed to altruistic citizenship practices from an early age, some participants had events or experiences that served a catalytic function, i.e. it spurred them to take significant steps. In some cases, these events or experiences were intensely personal (depression, a religious revelation), as illustrated in the following quote.

“When my little sister was three, they said that she would die of her handicap, but she lived until she was 25. But those were 25 tough years for my parents and me. And that made me smarter and more

independent quickly, and I could see processes in society, and see what I didn’t want for me.”

Community worker

In other cases the catalyst was social (an injustice done to them or someone close to them), as shown in this quote:

“We saw when the big companies from Asia came and just violated our rights. Creeks were closed off, agriculture plots were bulldozered away. And then we said: hey, they can’t do that!”

Maroon rights advocate

In a majority of cases, especially for participants from rural areas and the interior, the catalysts were regional or national-scale events such as the civil war (and the subsequent influx of refugees in Paramaribo) or mass layoffs by farms or plantations in rural districts.

“My village and my house were ransacked. My parents’ house was burned down. We lost everything.

And that’s when the political thing started. Being active. I didn’t know anything about organizing, but I thought: I have to do something.”

Indigenous rights advocate

These were defining moments for the participants: events that happened to them, and made them rethink life. Important fact is that it was always an event that they had experienced themselves or felt the impact themselves, not just heard about on the radio or seen on TV or in the newspaper.

An interesting trend is that women often started their activities at a later age, when they were between relationships or after relationships ended, or when their children had already grown

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older. Many of these women shared a view that - in retrospect - they wished that they had started earlier, so that they would have achieved more by now.

The significant steps that participants took after a catalyst event were often not large in scope, but were significant in the meaning they had for the participants. Examples of some first steps that participants took were starting after-school youth counseling in the street they lived in, taking in a stray animal, or acting in a theater play. The next section describes the acts, behaviors and strategies used by the study participants.

The results regarding transfer and development of citizenship are summarized in Figure 4.1.

Figure 4.1 Summary of findings on citizenship transfer and development

Modes of

transfer More by seeing & doing Less by listening & tallking

Gender roles

Mothers: general values, reflective of reproductive gender roles & ‘femininity

Fathers: specific citizenship qualities reflective of productive & community

gender roles and ‘masculinity’

Family systems

Interior/rural areas: greater role for extended family, esp. grandparents

Urban areas: little or no role for extended family

First contact mostly with parents

Otherwise: unions, politics, NGO’s, theater (strong role models)

PUBLIC LIFE

Personal

Urban areas:

mostly personal or social injustice

CATALYST EVENTS Regional / national events Social injustice Types

Rural/interior areas: mostly social injustice or regional/national events Geography

SCHOOL (least mentioned)

Mostly: general positive qualities of teachers (no specific citizenship actions)

HOME (most mentioned)

Little or no transfer through curriculum or school activities

Education level may play a role (most participants have tertiary education)

ACTIVE CITIZENS FOR DEMOCRACY IN SURINAME

ANTON DE KOM UNIVERSITEIT VAN SURINAME