Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Monday formally apologized on behalf of the Netherlands for his country’s slavery past.
However, he said the apologies to the descendants of slaves in Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles was only “a comma, not a full stop,” in acknowledging the horrendous suffering inflicted on generations of enslaved people.
During his speech at the National Archives in The Hague, Rutte also paid tribute to a number of freedom fighters in the former colonies.
“Today, I honour with respect the names of Tula in Curaçao, Jolicoeur, Boni and Baron in Suriname, One-Tété-Lohkay in Sint Maarten and we remember all those unnamed women and men who heroically sought freedom over the centuries and were often punished in the most horrific way,” he said.
“For centuries, the Dutch state and its representatives have enabled, encouraged, maintained and benefited from slavery. For centuries, people have been made commodities, exploited and abused in the name of the Dutch state. For centuries, under Dutch state authority, human dignity has been trampled in the most horrible way. And too few successive Dutch governments after 1863 have seen and recognized that the slavery past had and still has a negative impact. For this, I apologize on behalf of the Dutch government. Today, I apologize. Awe mi ta pidi diskulpa. Tide mi wani taki excuse me.
“Today, on behalf of the Dutch government, I apologize for the actions of the Dutch state in the past — posthumously to all enslaved people worldwide who have suffered from that action, to their daughters and sons, and to all their descendants to the present day. We’re not doing this to clean up. Not to close the past and leave it behind. We are doing this and we are doing this now, standing on the threshold of an important year of commemoration, to find the way forward together. We share not only the past, but also the future,” the prime minister continued.
Rutte said the healing process must now start.
He announced that King Willem-Alexander will be present at the ceremonies in Amsterdam on July 1, 2023, to commemorate the abolition of slavery in the former Dutch colonies.
He said the conversation about the slavery past must be conducted as widely as possible, not only in the Netherlands, but also on the places where it happened, with everyone who is involved or feels involved.
Mark Rutte told the gathering that the Dutch government wants to work more intensively on more knowledge about the slave past, in consultation with all groups and people from all countries with which this past is shared.
“The book of our shared history has many pages that fill us with bewilderment, horror and deep shame in the 21st century,” he said as he said there was need for a process of awareness, recognition and understanding.
He said that process will take time and work will have to be done on the way to next July’s historic commemoration.
Mark Rutte characterized slavery as “a criminal system that has brought untold amounts of suffering and great suffering to untold numbers of people worldwide, and that continues to affect the lives of people here and now.”
“And we in the Netherlands must face our share in that past,” he added.
“Until 1814, more than 600,000 enslaved African women, men and children were shipped to the American continent under appalling conditions by Dutch slave traders—most to Suriname, but also to Curaçao, Sint Eustatius and other places. They were taken from their families, dehumanized, transported and treated like cattle.”
CMC/
