THE HAGUE: A Facebook petition supporting a Dutch Christmas character called “Black Pete” yesterday hit a million ‘likes’, revealing the liberal nation’s attachment to a beloved figure the UN has warned may be racist.
Anger over the issue has swept the Netherlands after a UN human rights body said it was assessing whether “Zwarte Piet”, who accompanies Saint Nicholas during a traditional children’s festival before Christmas, is racist.
The character, who arrives on a gift-filled boat from Spain, is typically decked out in a gaudy medieval costume and afro wig, with his face painted black and lips red, prompting criticism of racial stereotyping.
Opponents say the character recalls when Dutch colonists exploited slaves, notably in the Caribbean colonies of Suriname and Curacao, while supporters are offended at the suggestion that a character so central to Dutch culture could be racist.
The debate comes up every year, but now it is particularly bitter after the Jamaican chair of a committee at the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Verene Shepherd, bluntly told Dutch television that “the practice must stop”.
“The working group cannot understand that why it is that people in the Netherlands cannot see that this is a throwback to slavery and that in the 21st century this practice should stop,” she told the Eenvandaag show on Tuesday.
“As a black person, I feel that if I was living in the Netherlands I would object to it,” she said.
Her Geneva-based committee at the UNHCHR sent a letter to the Dutch government after they heard that “the character and image of Black Pete perpetuate a stereotyped image of African people and people of African descent as second-class citizens” and asked for further information, Dutch media reported last week.
AFP
