Features
Engaging with a controversial celebration Kees van Ruitenbeek and Boris Prickarts on the thorny issue of the Zwarte Piet tradition In November 2012 a number of parents and teachers started a campaign at the Amsterdam International Community School (AICS), with the aim of removing every representation of Zwarte Piet (Black Pete) in the building. Books from the library with Zwarte Piet stories were not returned and got ‘lost’, pages with Zwarte Piet images were ripped out, Zwarte Piet posters were taken down and put back up, and heated discussions took place on a daily basis among fervent groups of Zwarte Piet protagonists and antagonists. One year later, a way forward was found through dialogue. The Sinterklaas celebration Saint Nicholas (Sinterklaas) is the main figure in an annual, European celebration on 5 December (as in the Netherlands) and 6 December (as in Belgium). According to the tradition, he is a third century bishop from Myra (Turkey) who celebrates his birthday with children by giving presents and sweets. He is represented as an old man with a long, white beard and he is dressed in a long, red bishop’s cloak and a mitre. In the Netherlands he arrives by boat and he travels on the back of a white horse, accompanied by – traditionally – black helpers or Zwarte Pieten. The Zwarte Piet was initially an obedient helper whose main job it was to scare and punish children who had been naughty. Zwarte Pieten are dressed in puffed sleeves and trousers and wear a feathered hat. In the Netherlands, the figure of Zwarte Piet has been meeting with an increasing amount of opposition over the
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past few years. Since 2014 a Dutch Minister has facilitated talks at government level between people who represent immigrants from Surinam and the Dutch Antilles, people who are involved with the Sinterklaas celebrations in the big cities, and the Society of Saint Nicholas. In 2014 a Dutch Christian lobby group called Civitas Christiana collected 200,000 signatures in support of Zwarte Piet. In 2015 the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination wrote to the Dutch government that ‘[as] even a deeply-rooted cultural tradition does not justify discriminatory practices and stereotypes, the Committee recommends that the State party actively promote the elimination of those features of the character of Black Pete which reflect negative stereotypes and are experienced by many people of African descent as a vestige of slavery. The Committee recommends that the State party find a reasonable balance, such as a different portrayal of Black Pete, and ensure respect for human dignity and human rights of all inhabitants of the State.’ (CERD, 2015) In September 2016, the National Ombudsman for Children in the Netherlands concluded that Zwarte Piet is in violation of Dutch law and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child because it contributes to bullying, exclusion and discrimination. Defenders of the Zwarte Piet tradition reacted by saying that it is impossible for a traditional celebration to satisfy everyone, and that Zwarte Piet is being ‘misunderstood’ by a ‘dictatorship of the minority’.
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