Well seems to be a whole lot of freedom haters in the land of wooden shoes.
WTF is the fuss about?
Discuss.
ready?
GO!
THE REAL DIRT ON BLACK PETE
MARCO VISSCHER
JOURNALIST
The Dutch tradition of Black Pete is not racist; it’s just a bit of fun.
Just as we, the Dutch, can be fairly sure we’ll always be disappointed at the World Cup, there’s something else we can count on in life. As soon as the trees start shedding their leaves, someone will try to start a national discussion about Saint Nicholas’ Eve, a children’s celebration on 5 December where presents and sweets are enjoyed by all. Yet the impulse for this annual debate doesn’t come from anti-consumerists or anti-sugar zealots; it comes from anti-racists.
You see, Saint Nicholas – a slim version of Santa Claus, but dressed more like the Pope – is invariably accompanied by an army of ‘Black Petes’. With their black-painted faces, red lips and big curly Afro wigs, the Petes make for a rather uncomfortable sight, evoking a long-gone era when the Dutch were more into murder, theft and the slave trade than playing football or building bike lanes. And while the tall Saint Nicholas figure acts like an elderly statesman, elegantly waving his hand at the cheering crowd from atop his white horse, the Black Petes form a happy bunch of clumsy helpers who just dance and jump around, handing out sweets.
Now, for anyone from outside the Netherlands, Saint Nicholas’ Eve, complete with Black Petes, may sound like the silliest thing ever. It probably is. Our tradition has been ridiculed quite a bit by foreigners, and some of them, like American comedian David Sedaris, have done a fine (if pretty inaccurate) job at doing just that. To most outsiders, our traditional children’s celebration comes across as, well, racist. And if you were to trace back the origin of the characters, I don’t doubt they arose from a racist worldview. Yet, for millions of well-meaning Dutch people, Saint Nicholas’ Eve really is no more than a traditional children’s celebration.
Still, every year we hear a minority of people say: ‘Black Pete is a sign of racism. Let’s either change his colour, or cancel the party.’ And usually, the majority of Dutch counter: ‘Hands off our tradition!’ But this year, these arguments have got completely out of hand. Now officials from the United Nations alongside longstanding campaigners complain that Saint Nicholas’ Eve is racist, while the majority of the Dutch have become so fed up with these party poopers that they’re saying things which make you wonder whether they’re well-meaning at all.
http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/the_real_dirt_on_black_pete/14219#.UnVlCPkQbg8
