Black Pete Racist? 'Zwarte Piet' Controversy Leads To 90 Arrests In Netherlands

[microrobert]

Black Pete Racist? 'Zwarte Piet' Controversy Leads To 90 Arrests In Netherlands

Protesters disrupted a pre-Christmas celebration Saturday in the Netherlands that uses “Black Petes” to accompany St. Nicholas, leading to 90 arrests in the Dutch town of Gouda, the Associated Press reported. The Black Petes, known locally as "Zwarte Piet" and usually in blackface, wear jesters’ costumes and have accentuated red lips in what opponents say is a racist display.

http://www.ibtimes.com/black-pete-ra...rlands-1724362

[Hong Key]

Black Peter is the companion of Saint Nicholas in the folklore of the Low Countries. The character first appeared in its current form in an 1850 book by Jan Schenkman.

[Kamal900]

Are you fucking kidding me? I know many Afrikanners who celebrate the holiday here in this country, and people didnt got offended by it. Hell, even my black friends liked the holiday very much too. Whats going on with the western world?

[Kamal900]

Black Peter is the companion of Saint Nicholas in the folklore of the Low Countries. The character first appeared in its current form in an 1850 book by Jan Schenkman.

My Afrikaner friend once dressed like that in college during the holiday here in this country, and people found it both funny and interesting. Even blacks here found the holiday both cute and entertaining. Being PC is a mental illness, and its all thanks to the same people that Hitler warned the world about, and now, the world is paying for not listening to that man.

[European Knight]

[TheBlondeSalad]

This is a blatantly racist tradition that can only be justified with astounding mental pirouettes and childish rationalizations.

It's the product of a white society that has had little experience with immigration and now has to struggle with the realities of globalization. It’s a problem the Dutch share with other European countries.

This has serious consequences for the concept of Citizenship. The Dutch define nationality ethnically and there is no real sense that the son of an immigrant born in Netherlands is really Dutch. He keeps being referred to as an ‘allochtoon’, a foreigner, and he certainly has no right to criticize the society he partakes in. If he does, he will invariably hear things like: “if you don’t like it here, why don’t you leave to you own country”. (I've personally been told this by an expat).

The situation has grown considerably worse after 9/11 and the murder of the right wing populist Pim Fortuyn.

[Dandelion]

Are you fucking kidding me? I know many Afrikanners who celebrate the holiday here in this country, and people didnt got offended by it. Hell, even my black friends liked the holiday very much too. Whats going on with the western world?

I didn't know Afrikaners also had Zwarte Piet. Never tought other ethnicities in South Africa to be this open minded and understanding (especially not since there's also Anglo influence there from which the current wave of political correctness and incomprehension comes from).
What I do know is that they celebrate it in the Antilles and that the controversy hasn't reached that region yet neither.

Currently the overwhelming majority supports this Zwarte Piet tradition still. However, as the world seems to hate it, I wonder how long it would last. Either the Dutch will tell the world to 'fuck off', or the Dutch would reluctantly change this tradition (and abandon all established folklore that has developed around Zwarte Piet).
While in its origin probably less innocent, Zwarte Piet isn't a slave. And children also view Zwarte Piet as their hero though next to the boring Sinterklaas.

[Dandelion]

This is a blatantly racist tradition that can only be justified with astounding mental pirouettes and childish rationalizations.

It's the product of a white society that has had little experience with immigration and now has to struggle with the realities of globalization. It’s a problem the Dutch share with other European countries.

This has serious consequences for the concept of Citizenship. The Dutch define nationality ethnically and there is no real sense that the son of an immigrant born in Netherlands is really Dutch. He keeps being referred to as an ‘allochtoon’, a foreigner, and he certainly has no right to criticize the society he partakes in. If he does, he will invariably hear things like: “if you don’t like it here, why don’t you leave to you own country”. (I've personally been told this by an expat).

The situation has grown considerably worse after 9/11 and the murder of the right wing populist Pim Fortuyn.

I think it makes the Dutch more realist about ethnicity, though not necessarily more racist. Being born in a country and still raised in a foreign culture still makes you 'foreign' in a way. We also have the word 'autochtoniseren' when a foreigner is raised in our culture. We're not exclusivist. You can become Dutch if you act it.

(note: us Flemish also use the word 'allochtoon' and allochtonen also identify themselves as allochtoon next to their own ethnicity and they also often identify as 'Dutch' next to that! See it as a Venn diagram! We are the same as Dutch in this specific regard. Probably it's more of a language thing than a culture thing, though.)

Actually we're not that much different from other Europeans. People also speak about 'second generation' or 'third generation immigrants' for people who are born in Europe! Nothing wrong with giving the child a name. Allochtoon is almost the same as the word 'gaijin' in Japan (except that they use it for tourists too). It's non-derogatory.

But I'm sure cultural marxists will ban it one day.

By the way: this diagram must be taken with a pinch of salt.



It's too much simplified. People can become Dutch, even non-Whites. Usually when someone has foreign traditions he's an allochtoon. Azalea probably has little problems calling herself an allochtoon, next to a Turk. By the way, she doesn't mind it when I call her a 'Dutch Turk'.

[Äijä]

This is a blatantly racist tradition that can only be justified with astounding mental pirouettes and childish rationalizations.

It's the product of a white society that has had little experience with immigration and now has to struggle with the realities of globalization. It’s a problem the Dutch share with other European countries.

This has serious consequences for the concept of Citizenship. The Dutch define nationality ethnically and there is no real sense that the son of an immigrant born in Netherlands is really Dutch. He keeps being referred to as an ‘allochtoon’, a foreigner, and he certainly has no right to criticize the society he partakes in. If he does, he will invariably hear things like: “if you don’t like it here, why don’t you leave to you own country”. (I've personally been told this by an expat).

The situation has grown considerably worse after 9/11 and the murder of the right wing populist Pim Fortuyn.

Why should the Dutch ban any tradition to appease anyone, they really should get the fuck out of Netherlands if offended.

Dutch nationality is having the citizenship that comes with the same rights and duties as presented to the ethnically Dutch people.

Dutch are the indigenous peoples there, they should have the right for their ethnicity.

[Mars06]

Xenophobic holidays or generally holidays with some sort of anti-foreign sentiment, are present in most cultures. There's probably some African tribal celebration somewhere where a white scarecrow or something is ritually decapitated. What's the big deal?