Under pressure for years to apologize for its genocidal role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the Dutch cabinet on Monday mustered enough courage to formally say it is sorry that the nation had built its wealth on free African labor. However, even as it did so, nearly half of the local population still remains opposed to any national remorse.
Representing the Netherlands, with its colonial-era reputation as being among the most brutal of the European slave traders, Prime Minister Mark Rutte delivered a brief speech from the national archive on Monday, saying the time had basically come for the nation to atone for the sins of slavery. It is unclear, however, whether the Dutch move will now increase pressure on the United Kingdom and others to do likewise in keeping with demands from rights groups and governments.
Rutte had visited the former Dutch Caribbean Community country of Suriname in September to proverbially “sniff the air” about a possible apology. He did so just weeks after a multiparty delegation of Dutch lawmakers had also done so weeks earlier and after they had strongly recommended an apology from the Hague. Monday’s apology was also directed to Dutch Caribbean territories such as St. Maarten, Curacao and others that the lawmaker delegation had visited. It is also among the first such actions by a European nation.
“Today I apologize,” Rutte said, noting that the country must own up to its past. “The healing process must now begin and we will write the program for this together. 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. Often under the government authority of the West India Company.”
From all appearances, Rutte had little choice but to apologize because several Dutch cities and institutions have already done so in recent months. These include Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and the Hague, in addition to corporate entities such as the Dutch Central Bank and ABN Amro.
A recent survey by broadcaster NOS indicated that nearly 50% of the population had said that no apology should have been given. Some parties in the local parliament have also outrightly opposed such a move.
In Suriname, meanwhile, several Afro and other rights groups say they are unhappy that the Netherlands did not consult them enough on this issue. Many prefer that the apology be made mid-next year, when the 150th anniversary of abolition will be observed. They think this would be a better and more meaningful date.
Recalling the horrors of the trade, Rutte noted the gruesome “treatments and punishments. We read of flogging and torture to death, of people having their limbs cut off, of branding in the face. The fate of one person is more terrible than the other; injustice and more injustice on every page. And as Anton de Kom described it for Suriname, it also happened elsewhere, under the same Dutch government authority. We read it, we know it and yet the horrible fate of enslaved people is hard to comprehend.”
The Dutch move will most likely now bolster the case of Caricom governments, which are putting together a historical and detailed document about the trade as they fight to make Europe pay reparations. They have already hired a British law firm that has had financial success on behalf of genocide victims and have also asked Europe for a summit to civilly discuss the issue.
In initial reactions from Suriname, Armand Zunder, the local reparations commission chief, said he is disappointed that no real mention was made of reparations because the Dutch cannot escape from this.
“If you acknowledge something, then you also have to bear responsibility for it. Human lives cannot be expressed in money, but reparations must be made,” he said, demanding a fund in the billions. “That needs to be talked about. The Netherlands calls slavery a crime against humanity and it must bear responsibility for it. Also, nothing was said in the speech about the Indigenous people, who are the first inhabitants of Suriname. They have been enslaved,” he argued.
Dutch involvement in the trade dates back to a period near the end of the 1500s and ran for more than 250 years.
The apology follows a 2018 apology from Denmark to Ghana, where the trade ran for nearly 200 years: one from King Philippe of Belgium to the Congo, and one from the pope for the role of the church.
