On August 17th, Rotterdam commemorated Dia di Lucha pa Libertad, the day that takes us back to the 1795 slave uprising on Curaçao led by Tula. This uprising is not just a Curaçaoan story, but a Caribbean and global story of struggle for freedom and dignity.
This year, Fausia S. Abdul, interdisciplinary researcher and founder of Our HERitage, was asked by the Gedeeld Verleden, Gezamelijke Toekomst Foundation to deliver the annual Tula lecture. In her speech, she emphasized the importance of including female voices of resistance in this collective memory:
“I wasn’t born in Curaçao, but I am a daughter of the Caribbean. My roots lie in a different corner of that sea, and perhaps that is precisely why I always seek the connections between our islands, our communities, and our stories.”
Women in the Resistance
The lecture emphasized the women around Tula: names like Sablika, mentioned in tambú songs as a fighter at his side, or Diana, who is even seen in oral tradition as a leading figure of the uprising. Klara and many other women, often nameless in the archives, also supported the struggle by passing on messages, caring for the wounded, and spreading courage.
Their stories show that resistance doesn't have just one form. Sometimes it's a fist in the air, sometimes a song still recognized centuries later, sometimes a caring hand or a whisper that keeps hope alive.
"If women aren't mentioned, it doesn't mean they weren't there. It means no one was listening. Their strength lived in silence, but without that strength, the uprising could never have existed."
Solidarity as the key
What Our HERitage learns from countless portraits and stories is that resistance has many faces. All equally valuable. Fausia summarized this with the words:
“Every choice for solidarity over division, every voice of a woman alongside a man, is a step in Tula’s struggle, which we continue today.”
Solidarity means carrying each other’s stories, even where archives are suppressed and women’s voices are still too often missing.
Remembering and continuing
This year’s Day of Freedom (Papiamento: Dia di Lucha) was a celebration of the power of women, of communities, and of the legacy of Tula. A reminder that the struggle for freedom, equality, and solidarity is never just the past, but also the future.
Long ago
I was born a rebel.
Tell everyone to rebel except myself.
For how can you fight emptiness?
Yet surrender will never be victory,
for I am the reincarnation of Tula,
locked for years in my human form.
Though it seems calm, a battle rages deep inside.
Refuse to categorize my dreams, to tie my will
to anything within a framework. I prefer to be frameless.
It's still about the right balance between
space and time. No longer bound,
but also free in the mind.
Still a bearer of the message,
telling stories from long before they forced us
on the boat.
Still distancing ourselves from the false gods
and the testaments we have
granted them.
Surrender will never be victory.
I prefer confrontation. Stand with me.
I prefer demonstration.
An afternoon full of power
The lecture was followed by a powerful performance by Gershwin Bonevacia, poet and former city poet of Amsterdam. With his poetry, he managed to both silence and move the audience. His words captured the essence of the afternoon's theme: memory, struggle, and hope.
Musician Matt Bonilla then provided a musical interlude that uplifted the audience, and the afternoon concluded festively with a beautiful Dia di Tula cake by Dolores Hart of the History Matters010 foundation and program, the first piece of which was auctioned off for Our HERitage!
Maak jouw eigen website met JouwWeb