Words but not yet symbolic acts. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte presented the government’s official apology in The Hague on Monday for the role of the Dutch state in 250 years of slavery, which he described as a “crime against humanity”.
The apology was hailed as a “turning point in the history of the Dutch kingdom”. But the lack of concrete action on the part of the government was deplored in Suriname, and the Prime Minister of Sint Maarten castigated the lack of dialogue on the part of the Netherlands.
“Today I apologize on behalf of the Dutch government for the actions of the Dutch state in the past: posthumously to all slaves around the world who suffered from this act. To their daughters and sons and all their descendants,” said Mark Rutte. “We can only recognize and condemn slavery in the clearest terms as a crime against humanity,” he said.
“People have been turned into commodities”
At the same time, several of his ministers were present in seven former colonies, in Suriname and in the Caribbean, to discuss the issue with the inhabitants. “People have been turned into commodities. Human dignity has been trampled on, in a horrific way,” added Mark Rutte, before saying “I’m sorry” in English, Sranan (Suranamese Creole) and Papiamento (Netherlands Antilles Creole).
“I don’t notice much about the actions of the Netherlands and it’s a shame,” reacted to AFP Iwan Wijngaarde, president of the Federation of Afro-Surinamese in Paramaribo. “What was completely missing in this speech was responsibility and accountability,” Armand Zunder, president of the National Reparations Commission of Suriname, told AFP, while noting that the recognition was clear there.
The government has promised several major commemorative events from next year, and announced a fund of 200 million euros for social initiatives. “We believe that eventually there should be a fund that will be counted in terms of billions,” said Armand Zunder.
Controversy and Compensation
Evelyn Wever-Croes, Prime Minister of Aruba, a small island in the Netherlands Antilles, hailed a “turning point in the history of the kingdom” to the Dutch press agency ANP.
But the government’s desire to apologize on Monday, which had leaked in the Dutch press, had been the subject of intense controversy in the Netherlands and overseas for several weeks. Slavery commemoration organizations wanted the apology to come on July 1, 2023, the date marking 150 years since the end of slavery. Some are also asking for compensation.
The Prime Minister of Sint Maarten, Silveria Jacobs regretted this Monday “forced apologies” but invited the Netherlands to dialogue. “We are not at the stage where we can accept or reject statements/apologies,” she told public broadcaster NOS. “I think an apology should be made to Suriname,” also reacted Sangita Kalloe, a teacher in Paramaribo.
« Siècle d’or »
Slavery helped fund the Dutch ‘Golden Age’, a period of prosperity through maritime trade in the 16th and 17th centuries. The country trafficked about 600,000 Africans, mostly to South America and the Caribbean.
At the height of its colonial empire, the United Provinces, known today as the Netherlands, had colonies such as Suriname, the Caribbean island of Curacao, South Africa and Indonesia, where the Dutch East India Company was based in the 17th century.
Slavery was formally abolished in Suriname and other Dutch-held territories on July 1, 1863, but only really ended in 1873 after a 10-year “transition” period. Dutch ministers were on Monday in the Caribbean islands: Bonaire, Sint Maarten, Aruba, Curaçao, Saba and Saint-Eustache, and in Suriname.
A collective awareness
In recent years, the Netherlands has begun to come to terms with its role in slavery. The cities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague have officially apologized.
Mark Rutte has long had reservations about issuing a formal apology, saying in the past that the era of slavery was too old and that an apology would stoke tensions in a country where the far right remains strong.
“I was wrong,” he admitted on Monday, although according to a recent poll barely 38% of the adult population was in favor of an official apology. “Centuries of oppression and exploitation affect the present, in racist stereotypes, discrimination and social inequality,” he added.