I choose to define the Sin maaten nation as the people who have in common all or most of the following :

• A territory to protect
• Shared cultural habits including a language,
• The collective consciousness of a common past,
• The common struggles of the day
• And a forseable future together (whatever changing circumstances may occur)          I also choose to include more than exclude.

This definition has nothing to do (yet) with nationalism, less with independance. It is a way of preserving the small fraction of a cultural reality which adds its own stone to the great make up of one humanity. It could be small but no less valuable.

1 – A territory to protect.

The island (french side plus dutch side) is the territory to protect. It is said that we are one people and indeed, indigenous people never considered the frontier as a barrier. The Christmas traditions of guavaberry punch and tart, sweet potatoe puddin and serenades belong to all, and sin maaten english is spoken before french or dutch, and on Easter monday, whether on Galion Beach (in « lamijot bay ») or on mullet bay beach, you cannot distinguish who is from which side, and some authorities from the french side could well be born on the dutch side, and the governor of the dutch side family could well be from the french side… that’s not important for us.

2 – Shared Cultural habits including a language

That should be self explanatory but to be more explicit, here are some habits that have existed and should be perpetuated :

funerals : shops would close their doors on the passage of the « cortège funèbre » as a sign of respect to the deceised and family.
Boxing day : was a day of rest after the new years celebrations. (easter monday and wit monday are also big days)
Local foods : Journey cake, fungi and boil fish, pea soup and dumpling where some of the must haves to eat more that often.

3 – The collective consciousness of a common past.

It is easy to understand that the more the common memories, whether it’s friends or family, the stronger the solidarity. And this goes for a people wanting to go forward together.

But we are faced with the question of where to put the cursor : to 3OOO, 300 or 30 years, or somewhere in between.

I suspect that most of us don’t have ties to the land that dates back to 1718. (300 years ago)

I also know that we suffered a demographic explosion that was in full swing in 1988.(30 years ago)

The question then is how involved have you been in the struggles of those days to claim having a common past :

1990 the customs crisis and all that came there after

1995 Luis and all that came there after

2003 the « consultation populaire » and all that came there after

(to name a few events that concerned the french side only)

Look at yourself and choose your camp accordingly.

4 – The common struggles of the day

In the aftermath of Irma, reconstruction is the order of the day. Some people had fled and are probably waiting on better days to come and reap the efforts of those who survived the storm and the subsequent « stormy days ». Considering the circumstances, we cannot not give respect to those who remained and put shoulder to shoulder with the natives…

5 – a forseable future together.

It goes without saying that most of the indigenous people have an eternal future together.

It sames evident that many non indigenous sin maartiners could claim a legitimate right to be part of this nation, because of the common past that they have on this land, because of the present shared struggles and because of their will to march on together… Their inclusion in the equation might make us stronger.

(My opinion)