News item | 02-06-2023 | 3:35 pm
Minister Dijkgraaf: “We must want to know more”
Use the powers of knowledge and experience to shed more light on a dark period of our shared history. As a result of which we recognize, better recognize and continue to learn for the future. Minister Dijkgraaf (coordinating minister Commemoration Year of Slavery History) made this call today during a speech at the opening symposium Reclaiming The Narrative of the National Institute of Dutch Slavery History and Heritage (NiNsee). The symposium is the kick-off towards the Remembrance Year on 1 July. Dijkgraaf also indicated in his speech that the cabinet will continue the Commemorative Year after 1 July 2024. Finally, the subsidy funds for the Commemoration Year will be increased by at least 4 million euros.
Dijkgraaf: “Knowledge connects people. Sharing events from this dark period and reflecting on the impact of the slavery past is the essence of the Memorial Year for me. Putting more puzzle pieces together and continuing to face what has happened ensures that we as a society understand each other better. In addition to acknowledging, we will therefore be better able to recognize and learn. I am convinced that these lessons will contribute to reducing inequality and discrimination, problems that large groups of people still face every day. We must therefore want to know more.”
Commemoration also after 2024
The Commemoration Year of Slavery Past starts on July 1. In 1863, slavery was legally abolished in Suriname and the Caribbean on this date. A large part of the enslaved had to work on the plantations for another ten years under state supervision. Slave owners were also financially compensated for loss of income. For that reason, for many, slavery did not end until 1873, 150 years ago this year. The commemorative year’s point of departure is the transatlantic slavery past, but there is also room for other underexposed initiatives, such as the perspective of the indigenous population of Suriname, the Maroons, indentured labor and slavery in Asia. Dijkgraaf indicates in his speech that the cabinet will also maintain the Commemorative Year after 2024. Even well beyond 2024, we will have to keep thinking, researching, adding new perspectives and bringing underexposed stories out of the shadows.
More money for Memorial Year Funds
The government is making at least 4 million euros extra available via two National Culture Funds to facilitate cultural, social and educational activities from society for the purpose of the Commemoration Year. This amount comes on top of the previously pledged EUR 2 million, making a total of EUR 6 million available. The focus is on the perspectives of all the different groups and communities that are part of this hitherto underexposed past and who want to commemorate slavery in the then Dutch Kingdom and the period of indentured labour. This concerns dozens of projects, including, for example, Wintertuin Curaçao (literary project/digital platform about the common history of Curaçao and Ghana), the Committee for the Remembrance of Javanese Immigration (book and memorial plaque for Javanese contract workers) and a film about Anton de Kom by IJswater Films/Tulsa Studios.