Dutch

Netherlands: King May Apologise for Slave Trade, but What Lies Ahead?

King Willem-Alexander is expected to make a formal apology to mark 160 years since the Netherlands abolished slavery. This could nudge European leaders closer to reparations.

For the second time in six months, Amsterdam district counsellor Vayhishta Miskin is braced for a historic occasion that may long have seemed unthinkable to many people of Surinamese descent like her.

After Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte apologised for the tiny country’s slave-trading past and pledged €200 million for educational initiatives in December, King Willem-Alexander is widely expected to follow suit on Saturday, July 1, according to local media.

“What people told me is that they felt emotional about the prime minister’s apology because these were words people were waiting for since 1863,” Miskin told DW‘s Christine Mhundwa in the Dutch capital this week, referring to the date when the Netherlands abolished slavery by law. “It’s a first step in order for us to move forward and heal as a society.”

Prime Minister of the Netherlands- Mark Rutte
Photo: Twitter/@MinPres

July 1 marks 150 years since the de facto end, and 160 years since the official abolition, of Dutch-organised slavery in the Caribbean. The occasion is known as Keti Koti, or Broken Chains Day, in the former colony of Suriname.

Willem-Alexander has not given any indications of exactly what he will say. But in Miskin’s neighbourhood of Amsterdam South-East, where many locals have roots in former colonies like Suriname and the Dutch Antilles, the bigger question for many is what comes after.

In fact, the community has held meetings to discuss precisely that question. “What people told us is that they need the wrongs and the injustice that they experienced in the past and still continue in the present day to be nullified,” Miskin said.

“Even if we receive an apology from the king, what does it mean?” she added. “What people really need is for their children to have a professional education, their children to get a job,” she said, pointing to ongoing inequality in one of the world’s richest countries.

A dark chapter remembered

At the height of its colonial era, the Netherlands presided over a huge global trade network as one of the world’s major imperial powers. Over centuries, the Dutch were responsible for about 5% of the overall transatlantic slave trade, buying and shipping close to 600,000 enslaved people from Africa to Caribbean colonies as well as other European colonies across the Americas.

Enslaved Africans were also forcibly moved to Dutch colonies in the Indian Ocean, like present-day Indonesia, and enslaved Balinese or Javanese were transported to modern-day South Africa.

Overall, 15% of those taken from Africa to the Americas in the transatlantic trade did not survive the abysmal ship conditions of the crossing, not to mention the many, many more who died before they had even left Africa.

The survivors and their descendants faced a brutal plantation life of hard labour and often violent punishment for perceived insubordination. The Dutch were one of the last European nations to end slavery in colonial territories.

Dutch Mauritius and First African slaves from Madagascar in the early 1640s. Photo: Wikimedia Commons/Fenous/CC BY-SA 4.0.

To commemorate this dark chapter, a ceremony involving the King and marking the start of a memorial year is planned in Amsterdam’s Oosterpark. The Keti Koti festival celebrating Surinamese emancipation, anticipated to be larger than usual this year, will be held at Amsterdam’s Museumplein.

Sorry seems to be the hardest word

One person who will be watching the exact wording of Willem-Alexander’s speech closely is Wouter Veraart, a professor of legal philosophy at the Free University of Amsterdam.

“[Prime Minister] Rutte’s speech was well received, but when you look more closely… he seems only to say that in light of the present values, it has been a crime against humanity,” the academic told DW.

This is different from saying it was a crime at the time, he pointed out. “There is this idea of the colonial space as a place in which the civilised laws do not really apply.”

While pressure on Europe’s former colonial powers to atone for past wrongs has mounted in recent years, Willem-Alexander’s royal counterparts in Belgium and the United Kingdom stopped short of offering outright apologies when addressing similar legacies.

Last year, Belgium’s King Philippe offered his “deep regrets” over atrocities committed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In April, Britain’s Charles III spoke of his “personal sorrow” over slavery.

Leaders seem to carefully craft such statements to minimise the risk potential of repercussions, Veraart said. “There is this whole language game within the apology about what exactly is stated [and] what is the legal meaning of the statements, which could or could not have consequences for liability.”

In reality, chances for claims for compensation for crimes against humanity in either Dutch or international courts are extremely low, according to the scholar. “You can go to court, but the chance of winning is still really, really slim.”

“You must prove in court that you have a direct interest in the injustice of the past. There are statutes of limitation,” he elaborated. “Then there is this problem of causality. Is there proof of a direct relation between the history of colonial slavery and the problems that you have right now?”

From apology to reparations?

What Willem-Alexander says will be closely watched on a political level, not just for descendant communities in the Netherlands, but in the Caribbean and far beyond.

For Mia McMorris, a research fellow at the University of the West Indies Center for Reparations Research, it is very clear what a proper apology for slavery should look like, and where it should lead.

“An apology should have three dimensions, the first being taking responsibility, which hopefully means that you understand what you’ve done wrong and admit fault,” the researcher said. Second comes dealing with the present-day legacy – “continuing colonial narratives, racial profiling, anything that promotes a racial inequality,” McMorris highlighted – and, third and finally, making amends.

“In Jamaica, we had the largest figure of persons brought to Jamaica. Something like 1 million. And at the end of slavery, there were only about 300,000 enslaved persons on the island,” she stressed. ” When you understand those figures and the historical implications, how can you deny that an apology is necessary, that reparation is necessary?”

Founded in 2013 by Caribbean heads of government, the Caricom Reparations Commission drew up a 10-point plan. The first step is an apology. Other demands include funding for public history and tackling massive health and education problems, as well as the right to development through knowledge transfer and debt cancellation. To date, only the Dutch have given a partial response to reparations demands, McMorris said.

Scant precedent for compensation

As Veraart points out, there are very few real-world examples of reparations. A key one would be the 1952 negotiations between the post-Nazi Western German state, Israel and the Claims Conference (a Jewish diaspora umbrella body) in the wake of the Holocaust. “The reparations offered and negotiated between West Germany and Israel were not based on counting how much profit was made or all the losses, but on what was needed in Israel at that moment,” he explained.

Last year, Germany officially acknowledged its early 20th-century genocide in Namibia and promised around €1 billion in development aid as a form of reparation.

“If you really want to face this history and no longer ignore it, then why shouldn’t you enter into a dialogue with Suriname, for example, about what reparations could mean?” Veraart said.

Willem-Alexander’s expected speech on Saturday may well be relatively ambitious, at least compared to Belgium’s Philippe, and could even spur on others, the scholar said.

Researcher McMorris sees a lot to be done, but also grounds for optimism. “We’re in a changing world right now,” she said, pointing to a number of recent moves by non-state institutions to investigate their own links to slavery, like the British newspaper The Guardian.

“People are rebelling,” she said. “They’re saying this isn’t right. And that’s the heart of the reparation movement, understanding that these things are not right, and we need to repair that injustice.”

This article was originally published on DW.

Dutch Publisher Recalls Discredited Book on Anne Frank’s Betrayal

The book, “The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation”, has named a Jewish notary as the main suspect in exposing the family’s hideout.

Amsterdam: The Dutch publisher of a discredited cold case investigation into the betrayal of teenage Jewish diarist Anne Frank on Tuesday, March 22, said it was recalling the book following a critical report on its findings.

“The Betrayal of Anne Frank: A Cold Case Investigation,” by Canadian best-selling author Rosemary Sullivan has been widely dismissed by experts since its release in January.

The book named a Jewish notary, Arnold van den Bergh, as the main suspect in exposing the family’s hideout to the Nazis.

There was a backlash by Jewish groups, historians and independent researchers who subsequently criticised the cold case team’s conclusion.

Last month, the main umbrella group for Europe’s national Jewish communities urged HarperCollins to pull the English edition, saying it had tarnished Anne Frank’s memory and the dignity of Holocaust survivors.

On Tuesday, a counter-report by World War Two experts and historians was released in the Netherlands, saying the conclusions of the cold case team, led by a retired U.S. FBI investigator, did not withstand professional scrutiny.

“It is without exception very weak, sometimes based on an evidently erroneous reading of the sources, fabricated additions to sources, and has not in any way been subjected to a critical assessment,” the report concluded.

“There is not any serious evidence for this grave accusation,” the experts found.

Also Read: GN Devy’s ‘Mahabharata’ Is an Act of Moral Courage in These Times

In response, Dutch publisher Ambo Anthos said: “Based on the conclusions of this report, we have decided that effective immediately, the book will no longer be available. We will call upon bookstores to return their stock.”

The English edition of the book was published by HarperCollins. HarperCollins did not respond to a request for comment.

Anne‘s diary about life in hiding has been translated into 60 languages.

She and seven other Jews were discovered in August 1944 after they had evaded capture for nearly two years in a secret annex above a canalside warehouse in Amsterdam. All were deported and Anne died in the Bergen Belsen camp at age 15.

(Reuters)

Dutch Streets Deserted As Snap Christmas COVID-19 Lockdown Starts

Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced the shutdown on Saturday evening, ordering the closure of all but essential stores.

Amsterdam: Dutch urban centres were largely deserted on Sunday as the country began a snap lockdown that, aimed at stemming an expected COVID-19 surge caused by the fast-spreading Omicron variant, left people’s Christmas plans in disarray.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte announced the shutdown on Saturday evening, ordering the closure of all but essential stores, as well as restaurants, hairdressers, gyms, museums and other public places from Sunday until at least January 14.

In Rotterdam, police used a water cannon to disperse a group of around 1,000 people who had gathered outside the city’s main soccer stadium, ahead of a clash between local team Feyenoord and bitter rivals Ajax Amsterdam.

“Several people were held as fireworks and bottles were thrown at police and at the Ajax team bus,” news agency ANP said.

Spectators have been barred from Dutch sporting events since the end of November.

Also read: Under Fire, UK PM Apologises For Staff Joking About Christmas Lockdown Party

The new curbs, which also include a ban on gatherings outside of more than two people, were unexpected, and many people rushed out on Saturday to stock up on presents or get a last-minute festive haircut.

Hospitality workers demanded compensation for lost income over the holiday season.

“Closing all bars and restaurants in such an important month is incredibly painful and dramatic. We need compensation and an exit strategy,” the Dutch association for hospitality services said.

Dutch coronavirus infections have dropped from record levels after a night-time lockdown came into force last month. But Omicron cases are increasing rapidly and the variant is expected to become dominant before the end of the year.

Hospitals have already been cancelling regular operations for weeks as they try to avoid running out of beds due to high numbers of COVID-19 patients.

The government also said on Saturday that it would accelerate its booster vaccine programme. More than 85% of Dutch adults are double-vaccinated, fewer than 9% have had a booster shot, one of the lowest rates in western Europe.

The Netherlands: Protests Against COVID-19 Lockdown Turn Violent, Police Detain Over 300

The first curfew since World War II in the country followed a warning by the National Institute for Health over a new wave of infections.

Amsterdam: Dutch police detained more than 180 people in a third night of unrest in cities across the Netherlands, where roaming groups of rioters set fires, threw rocks and looted stores in violence triggered by a night curfew aimed at curbing the coronavirus.

The first curfew since World War II followed a warning by the National Institute for Health (RIVM) over a new wave of infections due to the “British variant” of the virus, and was imposed on Saturday despite weeks of declines in new infections.

Burning objects are seen amid COVID-19 curfew protests in Rotterdam. Photo: @IMADBENOFFICIAL via REUTERS

“We have had riots in the past, but it’s rare to have this for several nights across the entire country,” said National Police spokeswoman Suzanne van de Graaf. “It’s not only in known problem areas, but much more widespread.”

Riot police with shields and batons were called out in more than 10 cities, many of which had issued emergency ordnance to provide officers with greater powers to conduct searches.

Police scuffled with rioters in several cities late into the night, chasing them down narrow streets with vans or on foot as helicopters hovered overhead.

In the capital Amsterdam, groups of youths threw fireworks, broke store windows and attacked a police truck, but were broken up by massive police presence.

Ten police were injured in Rotterdam, where 60 rioters were detained overnight after widespread looting and destruction in the city centre, a police spokeswoman said. Supermarkets in the port city were emptied, while rubbish bins and vehicles were set ablaze.

Two photographers were hurt after being targeted by rock-throwing gangs, one in Amsterdam and another in the nearby town of Haarlem, police said.

Van de Graaf said much of the aggression had been targeted at police officers. More than 470 people have been arrested during three days of unrest, with riot police deploying water cannon and officers on horseback to restore order in several places.

Schools and non-essential shops across the Netherlands have been shut since mid-December, after bars and restaurants were closed two months earlier.

The country’s death toll stands at 13,579, with 952,950 infections to date.

(Reuters)

Dutch Police Find 25 Migrants in Refrigerated Container on UK-Bound Ferry

The origin of the migrants is unknown.

Authorities in the Netherlands discovered 25 migrants hidden inside a truck aboard a cargo ferry en route to Britain shortly after it left the country on Tuesday.

The Britannia Seaways ferry quickly turned back to the port of Vlaardingen, just outside of Rotterdam, emergency services said.

The origins of the migrants are not yet known. The ferry is owned by Danish operator DFDS and had planned to embark across the North Sea to Felixstowe, in southern England.

Also Read: Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh Refusing to Go Back Is a Good Thing

Gert Jakobsen, a spokesman for DFDS, told the DPA news agency that the migrants had to return to the Dutch port.

Most of the migrants are reportedly male. Two of them were taken to hospital for treatment and the other 23 received medical assessments in the port before police took them in for questioning, according to a report posted by regional emergency services.

Driver detained

Police told Dutch national broadcaster NOS that they had detained the driver for questioning over whether he involved in human trafficking. The truck has been confiscated.

Sniffer dogs searched the premises of the vessel on its return to Vlaardingen in case there were any further persons.

The discovery of the 25 migrants comes nearly a month after 39 bodies were found in the back of a refrigerated freight truck close to London in October. The lorry had originally left mainland Europe on a ferry from the port town of Zeebrugge, in Belgium. So far, two people have been charged in Britain and eight in Vietnam over the deaths.

This article was originally published in DW. You can read it here.

Of Surat’s Neglected Colonial Cemeteries and the Grandiose Dreams of the Nabobs

For the early Europeans who came to India to trade, the Moghuls were an inspiration in the most unusual way.

They were not royalty, but they did have grandiose ambitions. Perhaps they were inspired by the Moghuls. Many of the officers of the East India Company who came to Hindustan to trade, became fabulously rich, often by doing business on the side. They lived in style.

Back home, in Britain, they were sneeringly called ‘nabobs’, pretend aristocracy who were actually quite common. Some of them tried to break into the British upper classes and even influence the political process.

A few, buccaneers like Robert Clive, who after looting a huge fortune in India, came to grief in Britain. But many others lived and died in India and were buried here. What they left behind gives an indication of not just their status but also their aspirations.

To get an idea of how Company officials saw themselves, one just has to head to the English cemetery in Surat. Obelisks, cupolas, pillars, many of them clearly inspired by Moghul architecture-they are all here, 250 years after they were erected by fond relatives and friends to commemorate the great and the good of the East India Company.

There is no dearth of graveyards of the British in different parts of India – from Park Street in Kolkata to Sewri in Mumbai and many other places where the British were based. Many of the graves have elaborate statuary and fancy memorials in graveyards, but hardly anything rivals the large and ornamental mausoleums of Surat. It is as if, like the great Pharaohs of Egypt, the officials, especially based here in the 17th century, wanted to leave behind structures that would inspire awe and wonder for centuries.

But as Shelley wrote about Ozymandias, King of Kings, it was a delusion. Today, the English cemeteries lie forlorn and neglected, the once important names obliterated – literally – and long forgotten, all the hubris and the pride gone.

Situated in Katargam, an old part of Surat, the cemetery remains neglected, with a sole caretaker from the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) manning the place. Only architecture students and tapophiles (tombstone tourists) visit the cemeteries and, very occasionally, someone from abroad tracing their genealogy comes by. But for anyone interested in colonial history, it can be very rewarding.

Surat was where the early British arrivals settled after Jehangir gave them a permit to trade in India in 1613. They set up a ‘factory’ – a trading post – and began conducting business. It was a tough existence – the British had to contend with hostile Portuguese, other Mughals, especially the young crown prince Khurram (Shah Jehan), Jesuits, and of course local traders.

In the 17th century, Surat was a bustling entrepôt, trading with Southeast Asia, Arab countries, Africa and beyond. Ships called at its harbour in large numbers, coming laden with imported goods and leaving with silks, spices and precious stones. The Portuguese had already been busy here since the 16^th century, much before the East India Company was formed in 1600-now the English, and soon, the Dutch and others wanted some of the action. That meant competition and in the early years, things were difficult for the English company. But many of them did make money and some rose to become important officials of the Company.

A vintage photo of the tombs of early English settlers in Surat. Credit: Wikipedia Creative Commons

Many of those are buried here, including George Oxenden, the first Company governor of Bombay Presidency, his brother Christopher, and the second governor successor Gerald Aungier, said to be the man who laid the institutional foundations of the seven islands to transform the area into a town. The tomb is unmarked, but most historians now agree it is his. Both are handsome structures, with a dome and staircases leading to an upper level.

There are several others, the marble plaques faded, and quite a few unmarked, small graves, totalling over 400. The graves of those who died in the 19th century are far more modest – by this time the Company had moved its headquarters to Bombay,

The Dutch too had come to Surat, setting up a directorate there in 1616. They were traders and established a small base in the town. There was competition between the two European trading powers and rivalry also in building grand tombs.

The Dutch cemetery is walking distance from the English one; it is smaller but has no dearth of large mausoleums, the biggest one being that of Hendrik Adrian Baron Van Reede, a director of the Dutch East India Company who died in December 1691. “His grandiose mausoleum was intended to rival and eclipse that of his rivals the Oxendens,” says a board in the graveyard. It has a cupola and a gallery above supported by “handsome” columns below. The tomb was adorned with escutcheons and paintings, which have long since gone, though the walls and roof still retain floral designs.

In a small portion of the Dutch cemetery lie many stone plaques that are the graves of the handful of Armenians who lived here at one time, as traders. The caretaker says occasionally someone will come and specifically ask to see Armenian graves.

British graves in India are said to number in their hundreds, though in several places these have been vandalised or built over. The British Association of Cemetries in South Asia has recorded the inscriptions on many graves and tries to ensure their upkeep. The ASI has so far ensured that the Surat cemeteries are kept intact.

But is anyone really interested in knowing about history, especially much reviled colonial history? Around the graveyards, are new residential buildings, small businesses and a busy flyover; how long before the inevitable pressures of the modern world once and for all wipe out this vestige of another time?

Photos by Wire Staff

India’s Data Protection Regime Must Be Built Through an Inclusive and Truly Co-Regulatory Approach

We must move India past its existing consultative processes for rule-making, which often prompts stakeholders to take adversarial and extremely one-sided positions.

Among democratic regimes with a significant data-driven market, India is extremely late in arriving at a data protection law. Credit: Reuters

Earlier this week, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology released a white paper by a “committee of experts” appointed a few months back led by former Supreme Court judge, Justice B.N. Srikrishna, on a data protection framework for India. The other members of the committee are Aruna Sundararajan, Ajay Bhushan Pandey, Ajay Kumar, Rajat Moona, Gulshan Rai, Rishikesha Krishnan, Arghya Sengupta and Rama Vedashree.

With the exception of Justice Srikrishna and Krishnan, the rest of the committee members are either part of the government or part of organisations that have worked closely with the government on separate issues relating to technology, with some of them also having taken positions against the fundamental right to privacy.

Refreshingly, the committee and the ministry has opted for a consultative process outlining the issues they felt relevant to a data protection law, and espousing provisional views on each of the issues and seeking public responses on them. The paper states that on the basis of the response received, the committee will conduct public consultations with citizens and stakeholders. Legitimate concerns were raised earlier about the constitution of the committee and the lack of inclusion of different voices on it. However, if the committee follows an inclusive, transparent and consultative process in the drafting of the data protection legislation, it would go a long way in addressing these concerns.

The paper seeks response to as many as 231 questions covering a broad spectrum of issues relating to data protection – including definitions of terms such as personal data, sensitive personal data, processing, data controller and processor – the purposes for which exemptions should be available, cross border flow of data, data localisation and the right to be forgotten.

While a thorough analysis of all the issues up for discussion would require a more detailed evaluation, at this point, the process of rule-making and the kind of governance model envisaged in this paper are extremely important issues to consider.

In part IV of the paper on ‘Regulation and Enforcement’, there is a discussion on a co-regulatory approach for the governance of data protection in India. The paper goes so far as to provisionally take a view that it may be appropriate to pursue a co-regulatory approach which involves “a spectrum of frameworks involving varying levels of government involvement and industry participation”.

However, the discussion on co-regulation in the white paper is limited to the section on regulation and enforcement. A truly inclusive and co-regulatory approach ought to involve active participation from non-governmental stakeholders in the rule-making process itself. In India, unfortunately, we lack a strong tradition of lawmakers engaging in public consultations and participation of other stakeholders in the process of drafting laws and regulation. One notable exception has been the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), which periodically seeks public responses on consultation papers it releases and also holds open houses occasionally. It is heartening to see the committee of experts and the ministry follow a similar process in this case.

However, these are essentially examples of ‘notice and comment’ rulemaking where the government actors stand as neutral arbiters who must decide on written briefs submitted to it in response to consultation papers or draft regulations that it notifies to the public.

This process is, by its very nature, adversarial, and often means that different stakeholders do not reveal their true priorities but must take extreme one-sided positions, as parties tend to at the beginning of a negotiation.This also prevents the stakeholders from sharing an honest assessment of the actual regulatory challenge they may face, lest it undermine their position.

The discussion on co-regulation in the white paper is limited to the section on regulation and enforcement. Credit: Reuters

This often pits industry and public interest proponents against each other, sometimes also leading to different kinds of industry actors in adversarial positions. An excellent example of this kind of posturing, also relevant to this paper, is visible in the responses submitted to the TRAI on the its recent consultation paper on ‘Privacy, Security and Ownership of data in Telecom Sector’. One of the more contentious issue raised by the TRAI was about the adequacy of the existing data protection framework under the license agreement with telecom companies, and if there was a need to bring about greater parity in regulation between telecom companies and over-the-top (OTT) service providers. Rather than facilitating an actual discussion on what is a complex regulatory issues, and the real practical challenges it poses for the stakeholders, this form of consultation simply led to the telecom companies and OTT services providers submitting contrasting extreme positions without much scope for engagement between two polar arguments.

A truly co-regulatory approach which also extends to rulemaking would involve collaborative processes which are far less adversarial in their design and facilitate joint problem solving through multiple face to face meetings. Such processes are also more likely to lead to better rule making by using the more specialised knowledge of the different stakeholders about technology, domain-specific issues, industry realities and low cost solutions. Further, by bringing the regulated parties into the rulemaking process, the ownership of the policy is shared, often leading to better compliance.

Within the domain of data protection law itself, we have a few existing models of robust co-regulation which entail the involvement of stakeholders not just at the level of enforcement but also at the level of drafting. The oldest and most developed form of this kind of privacy governance can be seen in the study of the Dutch privacy statute. It involved a central privacy legislations with broad principles, sectoral industry-drafted “codes of conduct”, government evaluations and certifications of these codes; and a legal safe harbour for those companies that follow the approved code for their sector. Over a period of 20 years, the Dutch experience saw the approval of 20 sectoral codes across a variety of sectors such as banking, insurance, pharmaceuticals, recruitment and medical research.

Other examples of policies espousing this approach include two documents from the US – first, a draft bill titled ‘Commercial Privacy Bill of Rights Act of 2011’ introduced before the Congress by John McCain and John Kerry, and second, a White House Paper titled ‘Consumer Data Privacy In A Networked World: A Framework For Protecting Privacy And Promoting Innovation In The Global Digital Economy’ released by the Obama administration. Neither of these documents have so far led to a concrete policy. Both of these policies envisioned broadly worded privacy requirements to be passed by the Congress, followed by the detailed rules to be drafted. The Obama administration white paper is more inclusive in mandating that ‘multi-stakeholder groups’ draft the codes that include not only industry representatives but also privacy advocates, consumer groups, crime victims, academics, international partners, federal and state civil and criminal law enforcement representatives and other relevant groups.

The principles that emerge out this consultative process are likely to guide the data protection law in India for a long time to come. Among democratic regimes with a significant data-driven market, India is extremely late in arriving at a data protection law. The least that it can do at this point is to learn from the international experience and scholarship which has shown that merits of a co-regulatory approach which entails active participation of the government, industry, civil society and academia in the drafting and enforcement of a robust data protection law.

Amber Sinha is a lawyer and works at the Centre for Internet and Society.

Dutch Elections Will Test Public Opinion on Anti-Islam Sentiments, Turkish Dispute

Unlike the US or French presidential elections, there will be no outright Dutch winner, with up to 15 parties having a realistic chance of winning a seat in parliament.

Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders of the PVV party attends a debate in The Hague, Netherlands, March 14, 2017. Credit: Reuters/Phil Nijhuis/Pool

Amsterdam: The Dutch go to the polls on Wednesday in an election seen as a test of anti-immigrant and nationalist feeling magnified by a deepening dispute with Turkey.

The centre-right VVD party of Prime Minister Mark Rutte, 50, will vie with the PVV (Party for Freedom) of anti-Islam and anti-EU firebrand Geert Wilders, 53, to form the biggest party in parliament.

Wilders, who has vowed to “de-Islamicise” the Netherlands, has virtually no chance of forming a government given that all the leading parties have ruled out working with him, but a PVV win would still send shockwaves across Europe.

The vote is the first of three this year seen as a test of anti-establishment sentiment in the EU and the bloc’s chances of survival after the surprise victory of EU-sceptic Donald Trump in the US and Britain’s 2016 vote to exit the union.

France chooses its next president, with far-right Marine Le Pen set to make the second-round run-off in May, while in September right-wing eurosceptic party Alternative for Germany, which has attacked Chancellor Angela Merkel’s open-door refugee policy, will probably win its first lower house seats.

In the Netherlands, opinion polls indicated a three percentage point lead for Rutte’s party over Wilders’, although these did not fully take into account a rupture of diplomatic relations with Ankara after the Dutch banned Turkish ministers from addressing rallies of overseas Turks.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused the Dutch of behaving like Nazis.

Early indications are that the dispute may have helped both.

No clear winner, weeks of bargaining

Unlike the US or French presidential elections, there will be no outright Dutch winner, with up to 15 parties having a realistic chance of winning a seat in parliament and none set to gain even 20% of the vote.

Rutte’s last government was a two-party coalition with the Labour Party, but at least four parties may now be needed to secure a majority in parliament. It would be the first such multi-party alliance since three in the 1970s. Two of those fell apart within 12 months.

Political risk consultants Eurasia Group said government formation was likely to be lengthy and could result in a weak coalition that would determine EU policy at a critical time for the bloc.

Rutte, who is hoping Dutch economic recovery will win him backing, has been insistent on one thing – that he will neither accept the PVV as a coalition partner nor rely on Wilders to support a minority government, as was the case in 2010-2012.

The prime minister accuses Wilders of treachery for withdrawing support and creating a political crisis at a time of deep economic troubles.

“I will not work with such a party, Mr. Wilders, not in a cabinet nor with you supporting from outside. Not, never, not,” Rutte told Wilders in the only TV debate between the two, which was watched on Monday by 2.28 million viewers, the most for any election event.

(Reuters)

Suffused with Racism – Black Pete in Dutch Winter Festivities

After decades of activism, the scales are finally tipping against the St Nicholas Day tradition of Black Pete.

The Dutch celebreation of St Nicholas day, celebrated by colouring faces with dark colours. Credit:Francois Lenoir/Reuters/Files

Every year in November and December, thousands of Dutch people paint themselves black or dark brown and proceed through towns to celebrate the feast of Saint Nicholas. After decades of activism against this tradition, the scales are finally tipping. Within a few years, opinion has shifted from an utter failure to understand the protests, to attempts at change. But how did the Dutch manage to be blind to the offensive character of this tradition for so long? Is Dutch culture perhaps more racist than its progressive reputation suggests?

Dutch society is certainly suffused with racism – as is Western culture generally. Yet most racism – “everyday racism” – is not committed deliberately, which in many ways makes it harder to challenge. It often takes the shape of casual remarks or unconscious judgements. In the Netherlands, one of the forms this everyday racism has taken is Black Pete, Zwarte Piet.

Black Pete is part and parcel of the feast of Saint Nicholas. Nicholas of Myra, Roman Catholic patron saint of children, sailors and prostitutes, has in some Protestant countries metamorphosed into Santa Claus and Father Christmas. In the partly Protestant Netherlands, his feast, which has medieval roots, continues to be celebrated separately.

It is the country’s largest annual celebration, eliciting more eager anticipation and mobilising more public and commercial institutions than King’s Day and Liberation Day put together. The festival peaks on December 5 but officially starts halfway through November, taking possession of the shops as early as late summer. It is primarily aimed at children and the experiences it inspires are among the fondest childhood memories many Dutch people have.

The festivities have moral overtones of reward and punishment. Black Pete’s role has never been fixed, but during the last few decades it has been Pete who mediates between the anxious child and the godlike figure of Saint Nicholas. Whereas the latter evokes a degree of fear, Pete is approachable and loveable. This explains part of the attachment many Dutch feel towards Pete.

Depicting Pete

But clearly depicting Black Pete is no innocent business. The figure has a dual ancestry as both servant to and antagonist of the saint. In many parts of Europe, performances of Nicholas have long been accompanied by an anti-saint or devil, in order to ensure that both reward and punishment remain on the minds of their audiences. Sometimes, this devil carries a chain as a sign of his final submission to the power of good.

The chain returns gruesomely in the more recent tradition, beginning in the 19th century, that portrays Pete as an African man in the service of a European saint. Although dark-skinned servants in the Netherlands could not technically be enslaved in that period, slavery did very much exist in the overseas territories of the Dutch empire. It is this history that most activists point to as being silenced by the uncritical acceptance of Pete in his existing shape. To aggravate matters, in the 20th century Pete merged with the Sambo caricature, the stereotypically lazy and docile plantation slave with his red lips, golden earrings and infantile behaviour that could be found in many (children’s) books.

The endurance of Black Pete always comes as a shock to those unfamiliar with the Dutch custom, particularly those from English-speaking countries. Anti-racism activists in the Netherlands have made grateful use of this cultural disjunction between the Anglophone and the Germanic world (blacking up also occurs in countries such as Belgium and Germany) by confronting their compatriots with the judgement of international experts, or through use of the British vox pop.

This approach, coupled with demonstrations and judicial action, seems to be taking effect. Although there have been protests since the 1960s, these were never picked up by the mainstream media or in national politics on the scale we are seeing now. This year, an unprecedented number of Dutch intellectuals and celebrities spoke out against the stereotype; national politicians have taken a stance and sellers of seasonal sweets and decorations have deemed it wise to change their marketing strategy.

Innocence

So why has Pete been able to pose as innocent for so long?

Lacking a civil rights movement like the one in the US, including subsequent educational reforms, the Dutch have not learnt to recognise the racist Sambo character. Various academic studies have also noted a second factor: the cherished Dutch self-image of being an open and fair society.

A large part of the Dutch public, as well as the political establishment, including prime minister Mark Rutte, have responded to criticism with outright denial. They refuse to let their fond memories be tinged with the hateful epithet of racism. Anger at the suggestion that their childhood friend might be a racist fantasy has been running so high that riot police had to be on stand-by for this year’s opening of the festive season.

Still, because much of the critique has focused on blackface in the narrow sense, there is now a tendency to erase representations of people of African descent altogether. In children’s books, for instance, Pete is increasingly pale, and a large Dutch internet company has even completely eliminated Pete from its adverts, now only showing the old white saint.

These steps run the risk of replacing a racism of ridicule with a racism of marginalisation. Surely it is not Pete’s colour which is racist, but the servile and subhuman features of Nicholas’s “cheerful little help” that existing depictions have associated with that colour for so long. Possibly, existing celebrations elsewhere might offer inspiration. This winter in racist Europe, I encountered a popular representation of a dark-skinned man, not as a slave or servant, but as a king.

Anna P.H. Geurts is a teacher and researcher in history and Dutch Studies at the University of Sheffield

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.