The Dumont-Huiswoud Foundation is the international bureau of the Dutch political party BIJ1. Our mission is to contact and build relationships with other (political) groups sharing our dream of a new world based on radical equality. We organize political development and educational activities with these partners based on reciprocity and learning from each other.
Our name is based on the Afro-Caribbean activist couple Hermina Dumont-Huiswoud and Otto Huiswoud. They were active in the communist party in New York, international Black politics, and the Surinamese diasporic organization “Vereniging Ons Suriname” in Amsterdam. We are inspired by Hermina and Otto’s drive to connection, intersectional analysis, and international fight against colonialism and capitalism. In our logo, made by Fré Calmes & BUROBRAAK, the butterfly reflects their hope for transformation, while the star represents the connection with Suriname and socialism.
Our Ideology
We fight for an anticolonial, anti-imperialist, and emancipated world of equality. We need to dream and fantasize of a different world, and actively work towards a livable planet for all. If we want to reimagine how our world operates, we need to center the voices of those on the frontlines in this fight. We approach this through international solidarity based on global justice, intersectionality, and decolonization and anti-imperialism.
Global Justice
A different world is necessary and possible. The Earth is becoming increasingly unlivable for humans and other organisms, our societies are getting more polarized, and money and violence rule the world. The international and national struggles are intimately tied together, and global justice starts from the realization that the effects of capitalism, racism, colonialism, and the climate crisis are not felt equally. We operate from a sense of shared responsibility: the idea that injustice anywhere is a problem for all of us.
Intersectionality
We stand for an intersectional politics fighting against all forms of oppression and exclusion: sexism, racism, homophobia, heteronormativity, xenophobia, antisemitism, Islamophobia, validism, and all other forms of oppression. These different forms of discrimination intersect and compound on each other. Intersectionality, as part of Black feminism, means that we need to fight discrimination and inequality by addressing all systems of oppression simultaneously from the roots up. We need to address this both on the abstract – the systems of the world – and the most concrete levels, in our interpersonal relations.
Decolonization and Anti-Imperialism
Our world is built on colonialism, capitalism, and racism. Colonialism and modern forms of imperialism continue to shape the world today. The Netherlands has a colonial debt: our relative wealth has been accumulated over the backs of oppressed peoples in Dutch colonies. Many of the problems in the Netherlands (like racism) and former colonies are rooted in the era of colonialism. Modern imperialism continues to be fought against in multiple countries around the world. The fight against racism and colonialism is therefore directly related to the anti-imperialist struggle. We work towards collaboration to actively dismantle the structures of colonialism and imperialism, and to realize a truly decolonized world.
Our Approach
Our approach is to be working globally to create and activate awareness, focus on collaboration and reciprocity, and emphasize our collective needs for public education. It is always our goal to connect local, international, and global communities with each other, and strengthen these. We want to collaborate, on equal footing, towards building a different world, always keeping in mind the colonial patterns we need to dismantle.
Activating Awareness:
Black feminism and decolonization theory teach us that knowledge brings hope, and that it is a revolutionary tool. Creating and activating awareness on different forms of oppression are therefore central in our approach. We want to activate awareness, make it possible to fantasize about different worlds, and combine this with concrete action. Once you know more about the way the world works today, you’ve made a first step towards change. Only then, it would be possible to create connections and think collectively about different ways of shaping our societies.
Collaboration and Reciprocity:
Systems of oppression have a global structure and to dismantle these, we need to collaborate globally too. We therefore strive for collaboration and knowledge exchange with organizations outside of the Netherlands to realize the changes we – as international bureau and our partner organizations – want to see happen globally. This means that we need to give space to and listen to the ideas of others whose voice is often ignored in the international context because of oppression, marginalization, hatred, and other forms of systemic injustice.
Public Education:
One of our central tasks is to connect with organizations able to share steps we could take in the Netherlands, Europe, and globally, and have been ignored so far. The exchange of knowledge and ideas is paramount in this, and it is our explicit goal to approach our partners abroad as experts.
Hermina and Otto
Early lives and Meeting in New York
Hermina Dumont Huiswoud and Otto Huiswoud were two remarkable revolutionary figures in the history of Afro-Caribbean and international labor organizations and Black liberation movements. Their activism and contributions have had a deep influence on the fight for equality, anti-imperialism, anticolonialism, and antiracism.
Otto was born on October 28, 1893 in Paramaribo, Suriname. After finishing secondary school, he was trained in book printing, but he wanted to see more of the world. In January 1910, Otto decided to travel to the Netherlands by boat; however, the labor circumstances on board were so bad that he decided, together with his friends, to jump ship at a scheduled stop in New York. In Brooklyn and Harlem, Otto became exposed to leftist political movements, shaping his path towards activism. In 1916, he became a member of the socialist party of America, and was one of the only Black charter members part of establishing the Community Party of the United States (CPUSA).
Hermina was born on October 8, 1905, in New Amsterdam, Guyana. In 1919, when she was 14, she moved from British Guyana to New York with her mother. In New York, she worked with the local office of the Black American civil rights organization NAACP. Hermina and Otto met each other in New York, and were married in 1926. Hermina can be seen as an early advocate for intersectional Black feminism: she combined the fight for the working class without losing sight of gender oppression and racism. As part of this, she organized activities and wrote articles for racial publications.
Foto: Hermina and Otto in Santiago de Cuba. March 1930.
Hermina and Otto
International Lives
Hermina and Otto recognized that the Caribbean fight against oppression was connected with those of other oppressed groups all over the world, and lived in many different places, among others: Guyana, New York, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Paris, Moscow. They were international activists for liberation movements, for instance through the Communist International and by founding the organization “International Trade Union Committee of Negro Workers” in Hamburg with the Trinidadian activist George Padmore in July 1930. As an example, they used their network to get an English version of Anton de Kom’s We Slaves of Suriname published after the Dutch version was suppressed.
Their activism also meant that they were under surveillance by intelligence agencies, including the FBI. The Dutch intelligence agency also had a report that Anton de Kom had contact with Otto. In 1933, George Padmore was arrested and expelled from Germany. Afterwards, Hermina and Otto took over his tasks from Copenhagen under the pseudonyms Helen Davis and Charles Woodson as employees of “Crusader News Agency.” In September 1934, they were discovered and arrested. After a couple of days of imprisonment, they were expelled to the Netherlands where they continued their work.
They resided between Europe and the United States until they decided to move to Suriname in 1941. On January 31, 1941, Otto was arrested and interned at the internment camp Copieweg as a communist propagandist. He was released on September 24, 1942.
After the Second World War, they returned to the Netherlands and lived in Amsterdam. Here, they were intimately involved in the organization Vereniging Ons Suriname. During the period of Otto’s presidency, the organization changed from an organization for social contacts to one focused on cultural and political activities, centering anti-colonialism.
Hermina and Otto in Santiago de Cuba. March 1930.