Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in September 2021 that the past of slavery has been so long that he has personally struggled to find excuses. But today, a year later, during his visit to Suriname, he reported that that period was not very far off.
“Between us in the present and in that moment, after all, there are no more than a few generations,” Rutte told the Surinamese parliament. The Prime Minister has a deep understanding that the descendants of slaves, contract workers and the indigenous inhabitants of Suriname experience the past of slavery as a “living history”.
The prime minister also said in his speech that there should be a recognition of the suffering of enslaved people. According to the cabinet, the same applies to the acknowledgment that slavery has passed working Now. “Because recognition is the beginning of healing.”
The ruling is notable, because in 2020 Rutte said an apology for the past of slavery would lead to a dichotomy in Dutch society. He was therefore not in favor of an apology on behalf of the state at the time.
A year later, the prime minister said in a debate with then MP Rob Jetten (D66) that he personally still struggled to apologize for Dutch slavery misdeeds. “The past of slavery is so terrible, but it’s also been so long that it’s hard for me to just say ‘yes’,” were Rutte’s words at the time.
An apology for the Dutch slavery past is approaching
- In 2020, the government was not in favor of apologizing for the Dutch slavery past. This would lead to polarization in society, Rutte said at the time.
- Since 2021 Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, the banks and the province of North Holland have apologized for the slavery.
- During the national commemoration of slavery in 2022, Minister Franc Weerwind (legal protection) said: “2023 will be the year in which we will permanently anchor the change that we have been working on for so long.”
- Weerwind also promised that the government will respond to the Chains of the Past report before 2023. In it, the Advisory Board Dialogue Group on Slavery History asks the Dutch state to apologize for its Dutch slavery past.
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Rutte promises Suriname commemoration year in 2023
In his speech to the Surinamese parliament, Rutte repeated a precedent pronounce by Minister Franc Weerwind (Legal protection). During the national commemoration of slavery that took place in Amsterdam in July, he said that 2023 should be dominated by the recognition of the sufferings of slavery.
In 2023 it will be exactly 150 years ago that the enslaved inhabitants of the former Dutch colony were truly free. The Netherlands had that freedom through so-called state surveillance managed to extend ten years until 1873.
During his working visit to Suriname, Rutte has talks with the authorities dealing with the past of slavery, in preparation for possibly apologizing on behalf of the state.
Also beware of slave ‘substitutes’
The Prime Minister also paid attention to the original inhabitants of Suriname and the contract workers from China, Indonesia, India and Pakistan, among others. The Netherlands had made it arrive by boat from 1858.
Our country has seen the end of slavery coming. The heavy work on the plantations would eventually no longer be done for free by the slaves.
After their arrival, the contract workers were exploited, abused and (racistically) humiliated on Suriname plantations. Thousands of them died during the period that lasted until 1930.
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