The Hypocrisy Behind the Beach Facelift Controversy
October 8, 2024
I wasn’t planning to write these days or in the coming weeks, as I'm focused on significant matters—my children and family. But the uproar surrounding the "facelift" of the beaches at Lagun and Jeremi caught me off guard. I shared a few thoughts on LinkedIn and Face-book, which Antilliaans Dagblad then picked up as articles. I didn't seek that attention, but it happened.
Suddenly, the response is overwhelming, widespread, and emo-tional. But here's what surprises me the most: I’ve been discussing this issue for a while now. On April 8, 2023, I wrote about the degra-dation, particularly in Bandabou, where the neglect was most visible. Yet, back then, the feedback I received was more about the structure of my argument than the actual concern I was raising. It was even pub-lished in Caribisch Uitzicht.
Now, I find it hard to process that some people who contributed to the destruction of Lagun are portraying themselves as champions of sustainable development. In my 2023 piece, I already described the dramatic changes:
Wat mijn raakt is dat er mensen die Lagoen al hebben vernie-tigd zich nu opwerpen verdediger van duurzame ontwikkeling. In 2023 schreef ik al: "Even verder rijden wij de toeristische stad La-goen binnen. Tussen alle appartementencomplexen begeven wij ons naar het strand waar er nauwelijk nog een plek is om te parke-ren. Voorbij de kerk van Lagoen is waar te nemen dat de ooit rus-tieke wikènt-huizen zijn vervangen door enorme betonnen dozen die het zicht op de zee ontnemen. Ik vergeet helemaal om naar het sportveld uit te kijken. Langs Jeremi zijn er twee of drie poorten van niet gelukte resorts. Over de slechte weg met drie heuvels be-geven wij ons naar Knip. Klein Knip laten wij links liggen. Over de nieuwe weg begeven wij ons naar de nieuwe parkeerplaats, die wel wat natuur heeft gekost. Ook hier is het overbevolkt. Ik kijk met verbazing hoe het monster van Knip ― die trap die het hele aange-zicht en uitzicht van de baai verminkte ― netjes is opgeruimd.
You can read the full article here .
What truly bothers me, though, is hypocrisy. How can people who helped destroy nature now position themselves as its protectors? On top of that, politicians are jumping on the bandwagon. They should have been the ones addressing this from the start. Yet, even now, they fail to grasp the core issue. They speak of development in vague terms— “development is fine as long as it's done with resident input and respects authenticity.”
That is not the point. The point is simple: keep your hands off na-ture. But no debate or explanation will change anything if you can't understand.
Meanwhile, torrential rains wash away homes and infrastructure, and people still don't understand.
Miguel Goede
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