On Wednesday, December 21 at 19:30 GMT:
The Netherlands has formally apologised for the 250 years it used slave labour, exploiting greater than 600,000 individuals of African and Asian descent in its former colonies.
“For hundreds of years, the Dutch state and its representatives have enabled and stimulated slavery and have profited from it,” Prime Minister Mark Rutte stated in a nationally televised speech on Monday.
“It’s true that no one alive as we speak bears any private guilt for slavery … [however] the Dutch state bears accountability for the immense struggling that has been finished to people who have been enslaved and their descendants.”
In an effort to heal the injuries of the previous, the federal government additionally plans to open a slavery museum and set up a fund to advertise consciousness in regards to the Netherlands’ position within the slave commerce.
The transfer comes at a time when extra European establishments are trying to reckon with the colonial previous and their roles within the transatlantic slave commerce. Because the unfold of Black Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020, mayors of main Dutch cities together with Amsterdam have apologised and acknowledged how their establishments have benefitted from slavery.
However critics are involved that a proper apology could have little real-world impression and say the Dutch authorities’s plan is flawed as a result of descendants of enslaved individuals haven’t been consulted within the course of.
On this episode of The Stream, we’ll take a look at the problems and challenges surrounding formal apologies for slavery.
On this episode of The Stream, we communicate with:
Linda Nooitmeer, @lindanooitmeer
Chair, Dutch Institute for the Examine of Slavery (NiNsee)
Quinsy Gario, @quinsyg
Poet & artist
Almaz Teffera, @AlmazTeffera
Racism in Europe researcher, Human Rights Watch