‘I don’t look away. I’ll make myself heard. Whoa. I’ll make myself heard. Whoa.’ And now the crowd is singing along just as loudly. ‘Whoa. Whoa. Whoa.’ The crowd listens to a Kurdish lullaby sung on stage that mothers in Iran sing at the grave of their dead child. And when a spiritual director directs everyone from the stage to face the east, they all join in, while in the distance the bells of the Grote Kerk in The Hague sound, introducing the two minutes of silence from 7:45 p.m.
Mixing old traditions with new ones. But Tessa Terpstra could not have imagined that new ones would arise so quickly. She stands next to the stage and sees, yes, what will it be, one, two, three thousand people listening attentively to the Alternative National Commemoration on the Lange Voorhout in The Hague, which she co-organized, just like last year.
The program is the same as last year, but the speakers are different. Jaap Hamburger of Another Jewish Sound emphasizes tonight that the Alternative National Commemoration certainly does not want to “abolish the traditional, but wants to supplement it.” But it must be more international and more current, “to remain sustainable for the future.” And so the next speaker, Ahmed Abu Artema, a Palestinian refugee who speaks about the death of his own son and the screams after October 7, 2023, of wounded people in the hospital.
Time for innovation
The audience is young, old and predominantly white. A few wear one keffiyeh. A Palestinian flag rests against a tree, but a father and child holding up a Peace Now sign are asked to lower it. This is a commemoration, not a demonstration, Terpstra explains. “We want the widest possible audience.”
We also did that at the time, creating distance
But the core is clear: don’t look away anymore. Because according to all speakers, that already happens enough. “We are hiding behind our curtains,” says journalist Naeeda Aurangzeb. “We grab the remote control and zap to B&B Full of Love.” Because speaking out and doing something is much more difficult. “We call it complicated and hide behind words and analyses. We also did create distance at the time.”
As far as Hamburger is concerned, commemoration of the victims of the Second World War is still “the moral starting point”. But to remain relevant, he believes it is time for innovation. “Why still the central role for the royal family, and all those uniforms?” According to organizer Terpstra, this alternative commemoration is intended for “all victims of war, persecution and genocide”. Afterwards, people can hang a flower on a string stretched between the trees. But no wreath laying. “And certainly not by people you hear talking about depopulation the next day.”
French-Lebanese trumpeter
Terpstra worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs until December 2023, for 21 years. She quit for reasons of principle and since then she has been part of a group of former officials and diplomats who know each other from sit-ins in Gaza. The organization of the Alternative Commemoration, “with eight of us”, was an unexpected success last year, partly due to the media attention. There was then contact with the National Committee 4 and 5 May about how to bridge the differences, but little came of this. “They are bound by agreements and sponsors. There is little room for maneuver.”
The Alternative National Commemoration on the Lange Voorhout.
Photos Sammy Jo Muller
On Monday she was again frequently approached by the media, but mainly with the question what she thinks about the defacement of the monument on Dam Square. “Do you understand or do you condemn it?” was the question. But she doesn’t want to get dragged into it. “Let me say: we are trying to provide space in a different way.”
And then it’s time for the national tattoo, played by a former trumpet player of the Dutch Police Orchestra. And the silence, at the stroke of eight o’clock, is still traditional. After which a song by the French-Lebanese trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf quietly swells. ‘Beirut’.
