A comma, not a full stop. Prime Minister Mark Rutte (VVD) promised in December that apologies for the slavery past would not be the final piece, but the beginning of more awareness. The cabinet wanted to continue “in consultation, listening and with the sole intention of doing justice to the past and healing in the present.”
Now, exactly six months later, descendants and involved organizations of the affected communities see that the government’s attitude and intentions are all right. At the same time, there is dissatisfaction with the lack of concrete policy and the, according to some, wrong priorities.
The attitude of the cabinet is different from last autumn. Action groups, as well as Suriname and the Caribbean islands, felt insufficiently involved in the decision and elaboration of the apology, which led to great irritation and anger.
In a recent conversation with a cabinet delegation at the South Holland provincial house in The Hague, according to Linda Nooitmeer, chair of the National Institute of the Dutch Slavery History and Legacy (NiNsee), “a good cross-section of the community” was at the table. Never again sees that the cabinet “makes great effort to bring those two worlds, The Hague and that of the community, together”.
Even after the apology, Suriname still felt insufficiently involved, but the appointment of a special envoy on slavery history at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has led to improvement, according to those involved.
Read also: The long road to apologies for the slavery past
The organizations and action groups think it is positive that various ministries are now dealing with the slavery past and that five ministers have joined the provincial government: in addition to Minister of the Interior Hanke Bruins Slot (CDA), Ministers Wopke Hoekstra (Foreign Affairs, CDA) and Robbert, among others. Dijkgraaf (Education D66), who is also responsible for emancipation policy.
‘Essence of the Comma’
Dagmar Oudshoorn, chairman of the advisory board for the history of slavery dialogue group, sees that cabinet members really wonder “what the essence of the comma should be”. “It is very good that the cabinet continues to test that, they really try to listen, they also radiate that very much.”
Interlocutors praise the government’s decision to release an extra 4 million euros for projects during the commemoration year of the abolition of slavery, which officially starts on 1 July. The number of applications exceeded expectations, so the budget has tripled from 2 to 6 million euros.
Nooitmeer is happy with the commitment to the commemoration year, but at the same time warns that the focus should not be too much on “one-off projects with a festive character”. “It’s about the sustainability and impact you want to have.”
For the somewhat longer term, the cabinet has already announced an awareness fund of 200 million euros, which, according to a letter sent to parliament on Friday, should become “low-threshold and widely accessible”. The governments and organizations from Suriname and the islands can also receive money from this fund for, for example, educational and social projects or the placement of statues and monuments.
Oudshoorn hopes that local needs will be taken into account. “There will now be a subsidy fund, with all kinds of rules. We have to be careful that it does not get stuck on mechanisms of the bubble in The Hague.”
1 billion euros
According to the parties involved, the government is strongly focusing on the awareness fund, while the communities want more attention for the impact of the slavery past on the present. This is reflected, for example, in the economic lagging behind of Suriname and the islands.
In Suriname we think that there is not much to celebrate on July 1
Armand Zunder National Repair Commission Suriname
For this reason, the National Repair Commission of Suriname has argued in talks with the cabinet for an amount of 1 billion euros from the Netherlands for education in the former colonies. “That should go for 50 percent to Suriname and 50 percent to the islands,” says Armand Zunder, chairman of the committee. According to the letter to parliament, that money is not yet available, but the Netherlands wants to assist Suriname with “knowledge and expertise” when it comes to education.
In the Netherlands, too, more attention is needed for the effect, says Nooitmeer. And not just through more scientific research. “You can zoom in even more, and that’s fine, but that doesn’t help the most vulnerable offspring.” Oudshoorn says that the communities see much more in policies to combat socio-economic disadvantages and discrimination and racism. “A large part of the victims of the benefits scandal come from the black community, you have to fix that. History lessons must be adapted, ethnic profiling must come to an end. There is still so much to do.”
National holiday?
From the summer of 2024, a memorial committee that has yet to be set up will consider a Kingdom-wide commemoration of July 1 in the future. The committee is also considering whether July 1, Keti Koti, should become a national holiday. This is a sensitive issue in the Dutch government coalition: Minister Dijkgraaf recently called it “an interesting thought” on television, and VVD MP Pim van Strien immediately spoke of it as “a bad plan”.
There are also different views on this within the communities. Zunder says that Keti Koti is on the one hand “a day of hope,” but “also a day of sorrow.” “In Suriname we think that there is not much to celebrate on July 1, you can only commemorate.”
Keti Koti has traditionally been a day of commemoration for the Surinamese community, the Antillean and other communities have their own commemorative moments. Oudshoorn hopes that the majority of communities, and the Netherlands as a country, can agree on July 1 as a national day of remembrance for everyone. “This agreement is very important. And it should certainly not only be a celebration, but also an annual moment of commemoration and reflection.”
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of June 26, 2023.