I know many of the people who read this Tumblr on a (semi) regular basis are probably puzzled and/ or maybe disconcerted that this space has taken practically a monotone for the past month or so. I am talking specifically, about the Black Pete/ Sinterklaas racism that I have been covering. The thing is, in all the years I live in The Netherlands (many), this is the first time that I have seen a collective response that gets attention. Now, there have been complains about this for years, that is not a new phenomenon. What is indeed new is that social media is being used to disseminate them and that the complains and analysis of this racist practice can no longer be dismissed as “a few sour grapes”.
On Monday, when the big holiday celebration of Sinterklaas took place, a few venues held parties. Among these venues was the very prestigious Stadsschouwburg Theater in Amsterdam, quite likely the most respected theater in the City, funded partly out of Municipal and National Cultural budgets and usually a spot where artists of the stature of the late Pina Bausch would perform. Since Sinterklaas is a children’s holiday, they organized an “artistically provoking” event under the premise: The Sinterklaas Party for Grown Ups. The link above will take you to the event’s description (in Dutch, though Google translate is effective to get the gist of it) where Sinterklaas is depicted in a “sexy” pose, gazing at the camera in a quasi erotic manner. The event itself is what you’d expect: under the pretense of “art”, the creators want to shock and shake their audience.
Attendants to the party were handed a booklet with the event description as it is bound to happen in every performance at this theater. The booklet usually contains cast and crew and additional info. Soapbox Amsterdam has gotten hold of one of these booklets and they have posted a copy of one of the cartoons included. I am putting it under a cut because a) honestly, I am ashamed to have this on the front page of this Tumblr and b) I firmly believe people should not be unwillingly exposed to this racist violence.
The “cartoon” depicts a Sinterklaas sitting in a wheel chair, facing a Black Pete. In Dutch, the Black Pete character says: It is December 5th, time for our yearly stroll, Saint; to which the Saint, Sinterklaas, responds: fuck off, cunt ni**er!
Now there is a campaign, initiated by Soapbox Amsterdam (at the link above) to send letters of protest to the Stadsschouwburg about this horrifying form of institutionalized racism. However, I already know what the White “artists” behind this project will most likely respond: theirs was an event meant to shock; they are doing this in the name of “artistic freedom”; they are trying to “push boundaries”; it’s “comedy” and a long list of sad, pathetic excuses that we have already heard before every time we are faced with a situation like this.
However, White, Dutch people creating racist works of “art” is no longer shocking. It’s actually customary. It is the way Dutch society functions. It has been so since the days of the slave trade. There is nothing “boundary pushing” about perpetuating the same racist stereotypes, with the same offensive and heartbreaking language. As a matter of fact, it is the same reactionary, nauseating “art” that bad comedians have been pursuing for centuries.
What would, indeed be revolutionary and “boundary pushing” is the admission that there is no more room, in 21st century Europe for this kind of alienating and gross aesthetic. However, the people behind this event do not strike me as particularly original or truly thought provoking. Instead, they’ll do what the complacent audience they claim to want to “shock” has been doing for the longest time: continue perpetuating the use of offensive language and racist imagery. You know, comedy at the expense of oppressed folks.
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