Performing Workers Rights in the Dutch Caribbean

In 1915 the Royal Dutch Shell established the Isla refinery in Willemstad, on the Caribbean island of Curaçao. In 1912, Shell had acquired a concession to search for oil in Venezuela, east of Lake Maracaibo. Initially, the oil discoveries were modest, and Shell decided to build a small storage facility on Curaçao. In 1915, oil production increased significantly, making a refinery possible. For decades, the company was the largest employer. In 1985, for the symbolic sum of four guilders, the Dutch multinational transferred ownership to the island’s government. Until 2019, the plant was owned by the government of Curaçao but run by Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA). 

Artists Quinsy Gario and Glenda Martinus in their performance Whiskey In A Crate address resource extraction within the Dutch Caribbean through its repercussions for social justice. The performance centralizes the labour strike on May 30th 1969, later known as Trinta di Mei, as a spatial reenactment. A small maquette of the Isla refinery and the route of the protesters, made up of union members, labourers and their following accompanies a personal retelling of the events that day. By highlighting its spatial segregations, such as a supermarket for the elite, a neighborhood solely for Dutch employees, Martinus and Gario intertwine witness accounts with commentary on social and racial hierarchies in relation to the company structure of Shell and its long life on Curaçao. 

Quinsy Gario: “After a brief occupation of Curaçao by the English, the Kingdom of the Netherlands—formed in 1812—took control of the islands in 1814, and they officially remained a colony until 1954. During this period, centralized authority from the Netherlands set the tone, and in 1915, Shell was granted permission to shape the island to its liking. Historically, the island's administration has had a tendency to hand over control of the island to companies and investors.”