Meerderen in België maken zich zorgen over de relatie tussen de overheid en de religies/levensbeschouwingen in hun land.
Ten aanzien van de erkende erediensten in België stelt de Belgische staat zich welwillend neutraal op. De staat erkent bepaalde erediensten en niet-confessionele organisaties. Die erkenning gaat gepaard met bijvoorbeeld de financiering van de wedden van de bedienaren van de eredienst en het waarborgen van het recht op religieuze of morele opvoeding in de scholen. Het onderwijs mag vrij georganiseerd worden.
De welwillende opstelling van de Belgische staat maakt het mogelijk dat het fundamentele mensenrecht van godsdienstvrijheid in België actief beleefd kan worden. Voor bepaalde groepen volstaat dat blijkbaar niet langer en daarin schuilt er een groot gevaar.
Art. 19 van de Belgische grondwet gaat over de vrijheid van religie. Dit artikel is door Kamer en Senaat voor herziening opengesteld. Een van de mogelijke toekomstscenario’s kan zijn dat religie wordt teruggedrongen tot de privésfeer.
Religie maakt deel uit van de beleving en cultuur van een mens en van vele volkeren. Wat ook de godsdienstbeleving mag zijn moet deze gevrijwaard blijven en moet elk individu vrij kunnen bepalen welke godsdienst zij of hij wil beleven.
Er zijn groepen in België die het klaarblijkelijk niet op godsdienstigen (van welke strekking ook) hebben en zich tot doel gesteld hebben het begrip “laïciteit” in de grondwet op te nemen en ‘geestelijke’ of ‘religieuze vorming’ buiten het onderwijs te houden. Sinds 2000 werden reeds verschillende wetsvoorstellen ingediend om de Grondwet in die richting te herzien. Andere wetsvoorstellen hadden tot doel de financiering van de erediensten af te schaffen en het godsdienstonderwijs buiten de lesuren te verbannen. In de voorbije maanden werden opnieuw wetsvoorstellen in die zin ingediend. De wetsvoorstellen beogen de laïciteit van de Belgische staat in de grondwet te verankeren en de voorrang van het positief recht op elke religieuze of levensbeschouwelijke overtuiging te versterken.
Het concept laïciteit zo als die bepaalde partijen het zien zet de welwillende neutraliteit van de Belgische staat op de tocht en buigt en de grote evenwichten tussen “kerk en staat” om, waarbij schoolpact en godsdienstonderwijs enzovoort op de helling worden gezet.
Verschillende prominente Joodse stemmen hebben daarom in april een open brief mee ondertekend waarin ze hun bezorgdheid uiten over het debat over laïciteit en geloof. De denktank Logia is de initiatiefnemer achter de open brief die gericht is aan de volksvertegenwoordigers. Een kopie van de brief werd verzonden naar de voorzitters van de Kamer en de Senaat.
De Joodse ondertekenaars zijn de voorzitters van joodse verenigingen zoals het Centraal Israëlitisch consistorie van België, het Forum der Joodse Organisaties en de Stichting van het Jodendom van België evenals de gemeenschappen Machsike Hadass. Ook N-VA politicus Michael Freilich is één van de ondertekenaars.
In de brief vragen ze om niet te raken aan de grondwettelijke vrijheden en om de levensbeschouwelijke vrijheden te vrijwaren. Want sommige groepen in de samenleving willen de Grondwet aanpassen en onder andere de financiering van de godsdienst en van het godsdienstonderwijs afschaffen of het begrip laïciteit een hogere plaats geven dan geloof.
“In Europa en de andere Westerse landen zijn tussen Kerk en Staat evenwichten tot stand gekomen die het resultaat zijn van een duizendjarig proces van spanning en compromis”,
schrijven ze.
Uit dat eeuwenlange zoeken naar evenwicht zijn samenlevingen ontstaan met hun concepten van fundamentele vrijheden, maatschappelijke
ordening en constitutionele rechtsorde. Waarom dat op de helling zetten?
Volgens onder meer Saskia Van den Kieboom is het niet mogelijk religie van het publieke toneel te laten verdwijnen. Saskia is pastoraal medewerker van ‘t Vlot, een project voor dak- en thuislozen in Antwerpen.
The oh so Catholic Poland now begins for many years later than our country to feel the consequences of the wrong attitude of the Catholic Church towards priests who abused young people.
New research shows that church attendance starts going down very quickly now. The Polish church also for the first time has to pay compensation to a victim of abuse.
In 1980, more than half of Poles regularly went to church, in 1986 it had dropped to a third. Nowhere in the world is church attendance decreasing so massive, the Pew Research Center concludes.
From the 28th of September the film “Kler” from the director Wojciech Smarzowski entered in cinemas. He says
I’m just a director. But I would like the church financing system to be open, paedophile priests to be sent to prison and that the Polish Church should finally take responsibility for the victims.
Wojciech Smarzowski – born in 1963. Director of the films ‘Wesele’, ‘Dom zły’, ‘Róża’, ‘Drogówka’, ‘Pod Mocnym Aniołem’. His previous film, “Wołyń” (2016), the president of TVP Jacek Kurski, awarded a special prize at the Gdynia festival.
Initially the team believed that they were following the story of one priest who was moved around several times, but soon they came to understand it was a systematic system of the church hierarchy to cover up several sexual abuses of children by Catholic priests in Massachusetts.
For Poland Wojciech Smarzowski believes:
It’s a different situation. It must be remembered that in no country has the Church itself purified itself of the fault. There had to be state help, secular institutions. Anyway, “Kler” is not just a movie about paedophilia. It was important for me to make a movie about people who only distinguish themselves by wearing cassocks. There are three vectors that drive this story: the lust for money – greed, lust for power, and sexual desire.
And since we’ve started from it, let’s take care of this sin. Studies in Germany, which were carried out by secular commissions commissioned by the episcopate, showed that there are 4 percent of priests. paedophiles. But the episcopate provided archives to the commissions. In Australia, the episcopate made available all church archives and it turned out that it was 7 percent. Of course, we did not have any research, but even if only – as in 2014, Pope Francis said – 2 percent. all priests are paedophiles, and so more or less 600 pedophiles in cassocks walk each day between our children.
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A few years ago, three Catholic priests’ fates were joined together by a tragic event. Their lives were miraculously saved. Now, on every anniversary the clergymen meet to celebrate their survival. Each took a different path.
Lisowski is moving up the ladder in the church administration in a big city, dreaming about the Vatican. Standing in his way is the Archbishop, a luxury-loving dignitary who uses political influence to build the largest sanctuary in Poland…
The second priest, Trybus is a rural pastor. Serving in a place full of poverty, he slowly succumbs to human weaknesses.
Kukula is not very successful, either, and despite his fervent faith, loses the trust of his parishioners overnight.
Soon, the clergymen’s paths will cross again, and the events that will take place will have an impact on the life of each of them.
Tragically, the simple words “Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8) have been grossly misunderstood as meaning that Christ died instead of us.
There are a number of connections between Romans 5 and 1 Cor. 15 (e.g. v. 12 = 1 Cor. 15:21; v. 17 = 1 Cor. 15:22). “Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8) is matched by “Christ died for our sins” (1 Cor. 15:3). His death was in order to make a way whereby we can gain forgiveness of our sins; it was in this sense that “Christ died for us”. The word “for” does not necessarily mean ‘instead of’; Christ died “for our sins”, not ‘instead of’ them. Because of this, Christ can “make intercession” for us (Heb. 7:25) – not ‘instead of’ us. Neither does “for” mean ‘instead of’ in Heb. 10:12 and Gal. 1:4.
In this contemporary world with many refugees coming into our regions from Muslim countries, lots of people become afraid their culture may take over ours. Undoubtedly the last ten years we have seen the dresses of many women changing to less colourful hip fashionable dresses into monotone long dresses which are associated with Muslim faith.
Habillement modeste pour des musulmans et des non-musulmans (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
With the knowledge that observing hijab and covering the woman’s face in front of men would be established in the saheeh Sunnah that explains the Book of Allah according certain groups of Muslims. We should know that not all groups or denominations of the Islam do restrict women with strict dress codes which seem to limit their freedom, according our Western view.
It seems that certain Muslim women are convinced that the words
“and to draw their veils all over Juyoobihinna (i.e. their bodies, faces, necks and bosoms)”
mean that this covering the face came from the Prophet, because he was there and they asked him about everything that they did not understand about their religion.
When we want to live in a free democratic state we should allow to everybody the right to live according to their faith. This means that we also should respect those women who do want to cover their face with a veil, like they consider their religion wanting this from them.
The recent attacks on Niqab wearing female bring up some earlier discussions I had last year and this year with different people of different religions. in Belgium burka’s may be forbidden but not much is done against those who still wear it. The regional government of Ticino has introduced fines of up to $13,000 for women (or presumably men too) wearing a burka or niqab in public.
With the many Muslim refugees coming into Europe and with Muslim terrorists having become more active in our own regions people have become more afraid for those women and perhaps also men who are dressed so that we can not recognise who is behind the clothes.
Under Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the previous Canadian government had hoped to persuade the Supreme Court of Canada to hear its case for striking down lower-court rulings that allowed women to wear the niqab — a face covering used by some Muslim women — at citizenship ceremonies. He was floundering in the polls until he turned the niqab into a hot-button issue. Some say he’s distracting voters from his poor management of the economy, his war on the environment and his anti-refugee policy.
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Interim Conservative leader Rona Ambrose, who was a member of the Tory government that filed the leave to appeal, issued a statement Monday following the Liberals’ announcement.
“The new government is entitled to end this appeal,”
she said.
But Ambrose added:
“As a woman who has advocated for women’s rights around the world my entire adult life, I do not believe the niqab affirms the equality rights of women and girls, nor does it reflect the values of an open, tolerant society. This is a matter for which the government must now answer.” {Liberals drop legal bid to ban niqab at citizenship ceremonies}
The hatred shown to women who wear a veil should have many to rethink how those shouting awful words are educated.
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Be careful when you want to watch this video: the language used in this video is awful and can be shocking
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People also should see that there is a big difference in the outer garments and that in the 1950ies women in our regions also wore veils and head scarf and this should still be possible today by all women, not only Muslim women and had nothing to do with giving women no rights.
In a 2014 discussion with Meditating Muslimah about the Muslim faith and some articles I wrote on the Ottoman Empire plus about the hijab to be or not to be a religious obligation she wrote:
First let me say that I think on most things we actually agree– i.e. religion should be separate from state, and no state should be dictating to its citizens what they have to do or believe when it is a matter of personal faith and choice. Our disagreement is over what the Ottoman empire and Turkish government do/ have done on this subject.
My knowledge on this subject comes from being married to a Turk, but also more than that because I have many Turkish friends; one of whom, a very good friend of mine, also happens to be a Turkish historian specializing in the Ottoman Empire and history of the early Turkish republic.
My definition of religious freedom is being able to freely practice the tenants of one’s faith without interference from the government (as long as doing so does not harm anyone else). By this definition, the fact of the matter is that under the Ottoman Empire there was religious freedom in that anyone of any faith was free to live out their faith. Yes, the empire was strongly intertwined with Islam. But they did not prevent people of other faiths, namely Christians and Jews, from living out their faith freely. No one was forced to wear anything. No one was forced to be Muslim. Christians and Jews lived peacefully and freely alongside Muslims in the Ottoman Empire for centuries.I believe what you are thinking of when you speak is about modern day Saudi Arabia. Personally, I disagree with their forcing everyone to abide by their version of sharia law; not only is it un-Islamic to force people to live by sharia, but many of the rules in their version of ‘sharia’ have no basis in the Quran or hadith.
In those articles on different platforms and on her site I also discussed the ‘Islamic Hijab (Veil)’ and wondered about the responsibility both men and women have in applying Hijab, as well as addressing the doubts one may have, and logically explaining ‘Why Hijab?’.
In my historical articles I looked at woman in the previous centuries, deprived of her human values and transposed to a material thing used by men for enjoyment or sometimes used as a slave and how the danger exist certain groups are willing to come to such a situation again. The fact remains that the exploitation of a woman and deprivation of her rights, the confiscation of her humanity reached a point where it became difficult for modern man to imagine, but we at present time can imagine how certain groups again try to push women in a certain corner and do not want them to show their own self to others.
For those who are upset by certain Muslim traditions and views I would like to bring to the attention a remark from Discovering Anthropology
In line with the specification, we were told to discuss the disadvantages that women face in the developing world and then discuss whether the West has helped the developing world to lessen the disadvantage faced by women living there.
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I thought about the law in France that introduced the banning of the Burka in public. The aim of the law was, at least in part, to enable the integration of all sections of society by reducing perceived pressures on women to conform to what was thought of as male oppression in certain communities. In this example, it seems, the women who it effected most were consulted the least, thereby possibly subjecting many of them to alienation or a different form of oppression.
It seems to me most things we talk about in our society are linked to some core values that we hold. We are, I think, often unaware of how much our Western values shapes the way we think and how that can result in us imposing what we believe to be helpful measures that can dis-empower people from various minorities or from other parts of the world. {Cultural Bias}
When women who want to live according to their faith are feeling no t at ease to wear a headscarf in public our society is at risk to bring discrimination under its citizens. when women (or men) feel that anything they say or do is perceived as representing Islam, even if it is not correct, and they get the feeling always to be walking on eggshells and when they do not like being labeled and therefore have to abandon that what they would love to do, we are in big problem. {Why we stopped wearing the hijab – Canadian Muslim women reveal their reasons for removing the headscarf in public –}
Women wearing hijab
No objections should be made for women in the West wearing a headscarf, a hijab, a shayla, a khimar or wearing a al-amira or the more closed chador. Concerning the niqab there may be many debates and controversy, but in the West we should reject when it leaves only some place for the eyes and does not see the whole face. The use of a burka should be prohibited for security reasons and for the possible restrictions for the person wearing it, that may be behind it. though we must recognise there are also many differences in sorts of burkas. The burka worn throughout Middle Eastern nations and most Muslim nations around the world, with a few liberal or democratic governments being less strict about its use can leave just a small line open in front of the eyes or can show more of the eyes..
According to me Islam may be a religion of balance, moderation, and modesty that places a strong emphasis on the maintenance of proper boundaries, whether social or moral. The practice of hijab among Muslim women is grounded in religious human doctrine, yet the Qurʾan does not require it. To cover their faces is according to me a man-made religious ordinance and not a Low from Allah, but in case women would like to wear a head scarf this they should be able to do. Concerning the burka, that is a whole different matter and this should not be allowed for the reasons said above.
Meditating Muslimah reacted
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It doesn’t matter whether or not YOU believe hijab to be a religious obligation. Many Muslim women (including myself) read the Quran and decide for themselves that it IS a religious obligation, or at least that they believe it is an important part of their faith, something that God wants them to do as a part of being modest. This is their opinion, and their right to decide. They have a right to live their faith how they feel they are supposed to. However, I do want to point out that there is a flaw in your understanding of the Quran verse you quoted. The flaw is in the translation of the original Arabic word: “they should draw their veils over their bosoms.” The word ‘veil’ here is ‘khimar’. It means a garment/ scarf / veil that covers the head (and possibly also face). So the implication is that the head covering should also cover the chest (there is some disagreement as to what exactly a khimar was, but most agree it was a shawl type garment that covered the head. This is why some such as myself do not feel it obligatory to cover the head). There is also another verse that discusses covering, again using the word ‘jelabib’ in Arabic: “O (most illustrious) Prophet! Tell your wives and your daughters, as well as the women (wives and daughters) of the believers, to draw over themselves some part of their outer garments (when outside their homes and when before men whom they are not forbidden to marry because of blood relation). This is better and more convenient for them to be recognized (and respected for their decency and decorum) and not harassed.
God is indeed All-Forgiving, All-Compassionate” (Quran 33:59). The word “outer garment” here is actually the word ‘jelabib.’ There is of course some disagreement between Muslims regarding what exactly a jilbab/ jelabib is, but most agree that it means a loose outer garment that also covers the head. But because neither of these verses are clear, many, including myself, understand when Muslim women choose not to cover their heads.
Those who insist that covering completely in niqab (covering the face, i think this is what you mean by burka) or even insist on telling Muslim women that they MUST were hijab are wrong in forcing their beliefs on others, however, it does not mean they misinterpret the Quran or that they say there is something there that is not — who are we to judge who is right or wrong in the interpretation of something that is not clear today?
It is however considered a historical fact, and discussed throughout authentic hadiths, that the wives of the Prophet Muhammad were required to cover their whole bodies and faces (in order to protect themselves and the Prophet from rumors of adultery). Some of the believing women may have chosen to follow their example in that time. I believe there is nothing wrong if someone chooses to follow this example too in modern society, though personally it is not my preference. For more on the definitions of khimar and jilabib you can see here: http://www.al-islam.org/hijab-muslim-womens-dress-islamic-or-cultural-sayyid-muhammad-rizvi/quran-and-hijab
How would Anne Frank look at the silly situation which happens so many decades after she saw the horror which came into existence because certain people became too serious about a pure race and typical morphology of the Caucasians.
Instead of seeing a “butterfly effect“ the Low Countries may have a Big Black Book or should I say a Big Red Book slammed in their face.
Photo of Jonathan G. Meath portraying Santa Claus.(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
In many countries all over the world it is a tradition to come up every year with a very big lie for the children. All over the world we can find a ‘children festival’ were parents lie about the presents the children receive. In some countries it are the ‘Bells of Rome‘, in others it are ‘the eggs of Spring’ or the ‘Easter Bunnies‘,in others it are Saint Martin, Saint Nicholasthe Santa, or even the elfs from High up North.
Best, naturally, we would not tell such lies to our children, but as people living in a democratic state we should allow such stories to stay alive and have people amusing themselves with fairy tales and traditional songs and feasts.
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Trying to be over politically correct is not doing good to society. We should know what happen in the past, be aware of differences and changes, and allow traditional fun to those who want to have such fun.
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We may have certain countries around us which may have a very philistine tradition and who are afraid to change things. Others do think they have to advance so much that they better get rid of all the past, like it never happened? We may find everywhere anti-intellectual groups which prefer to be a-theoretical an which to stay pragmatic. But we may encounter those people who seem to be much more afraid, instead of being sure of themselves and of their society where they live in. In case the Dutch people were sure enough they are liberal and free they should not make such a fuss about the old children songs and the tradition of Saint Nicholas, whilst they find nobody may touch Christmas because that is holy fro them, forgetting that it has nothing to do at all with the birth of Christ (who was born in October) in Palestine, where there are no fur trees and at that time no snow and certainly no elfs and flying Nordic men. Though the lie for the children about the man and his servants worries them so much that even shopkeepers become afraid to sell certain products which may relate to the servant of Saint Nicholas.
In the Netherlands the far right movement has won a lot of people. Is it not that we may find a lot of Right-wing liberals who are libertarians, who are fanatically pro-market and pro-United States, who would like to leave the European Union and join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and would therefore really just swap one federation for another? They also will feel happy with the many fundamentalist evangelicals who consider the white race the better and chosen people by their god Christ, who according to them was a white man and not a Palestinian nor a Jew. The others were lots of Dutch people are getting afraid for are those sympathetic to the far Right. Because both being against coloured people others think they have to defend the coloured in such a way, as if they can not speak for themselves, that anything which shows up a placing of such a coloured person should be considered as discrimination. They even do not want to take in consideration where the tradition came from or what it really meant, having a person becoming black because in the chimneys the soot made the servants black.
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Black Pete or Zwarte Piet may be a caricature of nineteenth century house slaves, in servant’s uniform, with big red lips and golden earrings, in the Netherlands even speaking with a supposedly Surinamese accent, and in Belgium with a French/Spanish or Afrikaans accent. If we have to going to erase all sorts of caricature we shall have a lot of work, like Kitty in her article also rightly points out. But the Dutch, Belgians and French shall have to seriously consider what they are going to do with all their rebellious old popular songs and even with their national hymns. With Austrian, French, British, Spanish, Dutch, coming to fight on our grounds and terrorising people in the past, the very young Belgium has lots of songs where is being mocked with those people. When protests against such lyrics will come up and children will have to adapt and re-adapt the songs they learned in childhood it shall only contribute of many forgetting all those songs and the old culture, having them at last no ground to be proud of to belong to such or such people. At last Europe seems to find a way to have the people loose all connection with their birth-ground and their nation. And in the mean time nobody worries about all the lies which are told by parents and politicians.
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Related articles
The Missing Education on Black Hair (exquisitemag.com)
Tiffany Bryan, a 27-year-old cancer survivor from New York, was fired from her job for wearing an Afro. This event is not the first: Within the last 12 months soldiers in the military, grade school students, university students and hard-working members of society have been discriminated against because of their hairstyle. These women wore their hair in Afros, twist, dreadlocks and braids not because of some hair fad, but because these styles are essential for their texture of hair. Each of these events, created by a lack of fundamental knowledge on Black hair, offers an opportunity for us to talk openly about the hair of women of color. If the people that committed these acts of discrimination understood that the morphological differences of Afro-textured hair requires a different type of hair care and hairstyles than other ethnic groups, future events of discrimination can be avoided.
Edward Said must have one of the worst cases of “I can’t believe I still have to keep reminding you people of this shit” in history, considering “Orientalism” came out in the 70s.
Rather than learning anything, popular culture in the west seems intent on constantly forgetting as much of anything it accidentally learned about the middle east as possible.
Renewing the Radical Right (counter-currents.com)
everything’s material; all people are equal; all lives are equally important; tragedy is largely fictional; “grin and bear it.”
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I believe human inequality is the basis of life, but also the basis of morality, because I believe inequality is a moral force. The real division between the Left and Right is not about people who support socialized medicine or even much more harsh measures, if you like, or divisive measures like ethnicity or abortion or whatever. The real division, philosophically, is those who believe that equality, enforced or otherwise, is a moral good (broadly the general Left) and those who believe—and are often are too frightened to say so—that inequality is a moral good, which is what the philosophical Right really believes in.
Renewing the Radical Right (therebel.org)
ere a reaction against the tendentious propositions that liberalism enfolds: everything’s material; all people are equal; all lives are equally important; tragedy is largely fictional; “grin and bear it.” Do you remember the Panglossian sort of attitude that you get in Voltaire’s Candide? You know, everything’s always for the best and this sort of utterly trivial and, in one sense, irreligious attitude towards life just sort of nauseated and appalled me. I thought that there has to be something better than this.
Sinterklaas is not really ‘the Dutch version of Father Christmas’. The festival is on 6 December (and mainly on 5 December, the evening before 5 December), remembering the Christian Saint Nicholas, a fourth-century bishop in what is today Turkey. Father Christmas, or Santa Claus, was derived from Sinterklaas later in the USA, and connected to Christmas, not 5 or 6 December.
The sun did not yet go under for the Summer 2014 or Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas), Sancta Claus, the Santa, and all Winter presents were already to be found in the shops. In Flanders in May we had already a garden centre which presented a huge Christmas show, with all the new decoration gadgets for December 2014. That month there was also lots of protest having to be confronted as consumer with the Christmas period, whilst Summer had yet to start.
Sinterklaas and his servants in Amsterdam
In the Low countries we for centuries do have a children festival where on the night of 5 December presents are brought by a so called saint Nicolas and his servants who are called “zwarte pieten” “black guys” (often translated in English as Black Peters or “Black Pete“, thinking a Piet is the name of a Peter or Pete instead of the slang for a worker or guy, a toff, a bigwig or “Johnnie”). This labourer who helps to make, transport and delivers the presents by going through the chimneys, by which he becomes so black, has been the dispute already since 2012, but got in real high discussion last year. We thought we had seen it all, but this year many communities bear the consequences from the zwarte Piet” (“Black Pete”). They are afraid to have black persons standing next to Sinterklaas on the ship or on the road, on horses close to Sinterklaas risking to receive a fine or to be put in jail. Those against the colour of the ‘black petes’ have clearly forgotten that the white bishop had worked in Turkey and brought his helpers from there en from Spain, where he found Moors or Moroccan people who were willing to help him to bring goods to the poor and need, plus to the small children who could be made happy with a surprise.
Amsterdam Mayor Eberhard van der Laan had to hear in July that the Amsterdam District Court found the character of Zwarte Piet a racist caricature.. He was advised to reconsider his licensing of the annual Sinterklaas parade where the Saint enters the city on a boat with several balck sevants on the deck. In August van der Laan got back to them and said that the character of Zwarte Piet would change over the next four years; the black paint, red lips and afro wigs would be ‘toned down’.
On television several shopkeepers declared even not willing to sell black greasepaint these months, because it could be associated with them liking a Black Pete, and as such being ‘discriminating black people’. What those people against the black Pete do not want to see is that the blackness of the person has nothing to do with discrimination or by preferring black slaves. Zwarte Piet or Black Pete is a helper and not a slave of Saint Nicholas. Either on the 5th of December (in Holland) or the 6th of December (Holland and Belgium -except some parts of Flanders, Holland, North France and German districts, where they have Sint Maarten on the 11th of November in) several children in the Low Countries look forward for SaintNicholas’Day (6 December) where they can have a day where they can play freely with their presents of ‘the holy man’.
The whole situations seems to get out of hand when we do hear that even people are receiving death treats on both camps. In August the judicial advisor to the anti-Zwarte Piet movement, Frank King, removed himself from the judicial process around the issue after receiving several death threats, the Algemeen Dagblad reported. In an interview with the AD, King says that his heart is still in the case, and that he may get involved again some time.
Every one should have to have the right to have a defence layer or professional advisor, not having to mean that this adviser totally agrees with the person he talks for. from Leiden is done. Frank King believes that there is some kind of schism between what he thinks he is doing, and what others think he’s doing.
“I seem myself as lawyer of the counter-movement against Zwarte Piet. But the supporters see that differently. They now see me as the face of the counter-movement. And are directing their anger at me.”
Recently, the lawyer has received threats and abuse on all levels of communication. He receives the worst by mail. He is threatened, and he is abused because he has parents from Suriname.
“One mail said that I should have been put on a 17th century slave ship, just like my ancestors.”
King has had enough of the abuse, as well as the case, which is taxing in time. Though King does emphasize that he is proud of his involvement, and proud of the progress made.
Geert Wilders and his followers do have a problem with coloured people and made it that several Dutch people have become weary about the black coloured people and traditional black figures. In Belgium and Holland or the Netherlands we even do not know any more what we are allowed to say for a person with an other skin than the Caucasian race. There was a time we were not allowed to say ‘zwarte’ (‘black’) any more and had to say ‘neger’ (niger) but then this was not as seen as polite any more so ‘negro type’ and ‘negroïde’ were introduced. After a while this was not done any more and we had to use “immigrant” (“immigrant”) but soon this was considered to be a sobriquet and was to be replaced with “allochtoon” (foreign, alien, allochthonous), which is now also nearly becoming a nickname or giving a sign of ‘giving the other person the stigma’ of being a ‘profiteer’. This really indicates in our regions we are getting a real race problem.
Classic drawing of Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet (Saint Nicholas and Black Pete) every young person in the Low Countries formerly grew up with
For centuries at schools across the country, children sang songs referring to the skin tone and character of the black servant “…even if I’m black as coal I mean well…”, “Saint Nicholas, enter with your black servant”, etc,. Many object that in some old songs about Zwarte Piet, he is presented as not being a very clever boy, even being a little bit stupid, a little bit clumsy, more akin to a child than an adult, the same generalisations previously applied to black people, but which can no longer be made explicitly.
Now nothing may be black any more or it would be associated with denigration. As a joke in 2012 already a funny video was introduced where a “zwarte piet” was presented as a worker you could hire or buy to do all the little and harder works in the household and at the office or could even be used as you masseur or “puppy” or “doll” in bed.
The whole situation became so ludicrous that several funny video’s turn up and even companies are making advertisement spots, like we could see one, last night for fund recruitment for cancer treatment, where we could see a “Zwarte Pieten” training school in Africa which had lost so much money because nobody wanted a black Pete any more, they nearly could continue working but a solution was found having new recruits with white bold children wanting to learn for ‘piet'[(Sorry no video available of this (yet)].
Concerning supermarkets not willing to present anything any more which refers to ‘Zwarte Piet’ a satirical video was already placed on Youtube. It was first presented on ThePowNewsofOctober 9, 2014: TheAlbertHeijnwantsZwarte Piet “wegjorissen” (take them out of the picture), but thehelpersare notpleased with it and do not want to give up their job, which they like very much. Therefore a boycott was set up before the Alber Heijn supermarkets by the helpers of Sinterklaas (Saint Nicholas)inAppie,Oostzaan.
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Geert Wilders wants mandatory blackface at Dutch festival (dearkitty1.wordpress.com)
If Wilders wants to ban changing songs’ lyrics, then he will have very much work to do. Throughout history, old songs have been adapted with new lyrics. Protestant churches in the Netherlands and elsewhere have changed the lyrrics of their hymns and psalms frequently. Does Wilders want to jail the Protestant dignitaries responsible for that? He can’t jail all of them, as most are already dead. The Belgian national anthem’s lyrics have changed many times.
It’s been a month since Amsterdam Mayor Eberhard van der Laan announced his decision to cancel Christmas. Or at least that’s how Anneka Hendriks laughingly describes it to me. Hendriks is one of the hundreds of people in Amsterdam who enjoy painting their faces black, donning afro wigs and gold hoop earrings, and celebrating the festive season by masquerading as Zwarte Piet (Dutch for ‘Black Pete’).
‘Hundreds’ is a conservative estimate; it’s probably more like thousands or tens of thousands when the rest of the Netherlands is taken into account.
The Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands has announced that he will be organising a consultation on the role that ‘Black Petes’ should play during the festive opening of the Sinterklaas season this year.
Minister Lodewijk Asscher plans to bring relevant parties together to discuss possible changes to the controversial tradition ahead of the televised event on 15 November. The talks will include the national broadcaster and the council of Gouda, the host town.
Asscher says: “Last year things were very polarised. Everyone should be able to enjoy the festivities again.”
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The Dutch have indeed taken a clear stance in defence of their beloved Pete. The Prime Minister Mark Rutte reflected the feelings of the majority of the population when he responded to criticisms by saying: “Black Pete, that already says it, he’s black. We can’t change much about that”.
Dutch ‘Zwarte Piet’: Innocent Holiday Tradition or Inadvertent Racism? (ny.thedailydigest.org)
When I was a little kid (“little” being ages 10 through 17), I lived in the Netherlands Antilles and in the Netherlands. That was back in the 50s.
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I remember them (sometimes there were dozens of them) running and clowning around with their burlap sacks — scaring the daylights out of some little kids might be a better term — in parades, shopping centers and, as legend had it, coming down the chimney while you were sleeping.
Dutch ‘Zwarte Pieten’: Innocent Tradition or Inadvertent Racism? (themoderatevoice.com)
going back 60 years, Zwarte Pieten were white adolescents with painted black faces (supposedly from the soot picked up scaling down all those chimneys), thick, painted-on, bright-red lips, lots of frizzy black hair, many other “ornaments” such as big gold hoop earrings…and beautiful Dutch blue or green eyes. (No colored contact lenses in those days).
They were Sinterklaas’ knechten (servants) who would help Sinterklaas deliver sweets and gifts to those kids who had behaved throughout the year and would leave only a lump of coal for those children who had not been very nice. Legend and rumor also had it that they would stuff kids who had been naughty and bad into their burlap sacks and haul them back to Spain, or Morocco, or Turkey or wherever current folklore had it that the Zwarte Pieten came from.
From Forbes, “The Unbearable Whiteness of Piet-ing: Dutch Santa’s Blackface Elves,” by John Giuffo (Contributor), on 4 December 2012 — Christmastime in Amsterdam has a special kind of magic, and a unique kind of controversy.
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White lights slide down buildings and arch across shopping streets, multiplying their twinkle in canal reflections. No garish multi-color, animatronic ego contests anywhere. You will hear Christmas music, but you’re not assaulted, and dreams of restraining orders against Bing Crosby never fill your head (unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said of his children). No one is trampled in shopping frenzies, no one gets arrested for assaulting line-cutters, and the gift giving comes in early December, separate from the more low-key holiday of the 25th. Family members write sardonic poems for each other. Poems! Glühwein – a sort of hot Christmas sangria – warms hands and bellies. And Sinterklaas arrives not on a reindeer-pulled sleigh laden with loot, but on a white horse, accompanied by a small cohort of his helpers, the Zwarte Pieten, or Black Petes – white revelers coated in blackface.
Virtual Advent Tour & Giveaway: The Dutch Celebration of Sinterklaas (leeswammes.wordpress.com)
Sinterklaas has been a tradition in the Netherlands for hundreds of years. Originally, this bishop came to bring money to the poor, but these days it’s a children’s celebration.
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Just like lots of children all over the world believe in Santa Claus, in the Netherlands it’s Sinterklaas they believe in and usually stop believing in around 7 or 8 years’ of age.
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Zwarte Piet has sweets in his bag (although in the old days he would use his bag to transport naughty children back to Spain!), notably pepernoten, which are small, slightly spicy biscuits (cookies). Usually Zwarte Piet will throw these around and kids collect them from the floor (when outdoors they get a fistful in their hand).
Sinterklaas, A Historically Correct (But Politically Incorrect) Children’s Tradition (urbantimes.co)
The Dutch picture the character of ‘Zwarte Piet’ (translated Black Pete) as helper with a controversial black African look: blackface, curly wig, red lips, sometimes Creole earrings. The outfit is colourful, topped of by a cap with feathers and a ruffle like a Renaissance page.
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This year, the usual discussion has been overrun by the decision of the former Dutch colony Suriname to ban Sinterklaas completely. Up until now Sinterklaas had been celebrated in Suriname the same way as in Holland: with a white priest coming from Spain on a boat with his black helpers… Evidently, this custom doesn’t fit in a country where white people only account for 5% of the population.
be what you want to be (piadrent.blogspot.com)
The helpers are called ‘Black Petes’ and they are funny and a bit stupid.
This may have been fine half a century ago, but in today’s day we find that discriminative and offensive. So there is a restyling movement for Black Petes happening right now. First, we will be calling them Petes, and second, their skin tone is becoming more flexible.
According to me 
Stepping Toes 