MUCH ADO ABOUT SINTERKLASS

Protests have taken centre stage the world over. Many have been successful while a few continue to hit the brick walls of culture, governments and people. Like never before, the Netherlands have had their first protest against their age long tradition- Sinterklaas and yes, there were protests against it too. But did it stop the celebration? And Will the continued celebration have a generational spark?


Sinterklaas is an elderly, stately and serious man with white hair and a long, full beard. He wears a long red cape or chasuble over a traditional white bishop's alb and sometimes red stola, dons a red mitre and ruby ring, and holds a gold-coloured crosier, a long ceremonial shepherd's staff with a fancy curled top.
 
He traditionally rides a white horse. In the Netherlands, the horse is called Amerigo,
Sinterklaas carries a big book that tells whether each child has been good or naughty in the past year. And the Dutch children hold this very high esteem. It is their tradition and strong belief. The part that is protested against is the zwarte Piet which means Black Peter.

Zwarte Piet is a companion of Sinterklaas, usually portrayed by a whiteman in blackface with black curly hair, dressed up like a 17th-century page in colourful dress, often sporting a lace collar and a feathered cap. He first appears in print as the nameless servant of Saint Nicholas in Sint Nikolaas en zijn knecht (St. Nicholas and His Servant), published in 1850 by Amsterdam schoolteacher Jan Schenkman; but the tradition appears to date back at least as far as the early 19th Century.
 
Sinterklaas and his Black Pete usually carry a bag which contains candy for nice children and a roe, a chimney sweep's broom made of willow branches, used to spank naughty children.
 
 Some of the older Sinterklaas songs make mention of naughty children being put in the bag and being taken back to Spain.
 
 The Zwarte Piet tosses a candy around, a tradition supposedly originating in the story of Saint Nicholas's saving three young girls from prostitution by tossing golden coins through their window at night to pay their dowries.



My Indonesian colleague Tuti Alawiyah strikes a pose with a zwarte Piet.
So one would ask, what do the children take away from this tradiotion that it has recieved this much criticism and protest?

It was a court case which the council-highest decision making body ruled against. A lower court had earlier said the character of Zwarte Piet is a racist stereotype and infringed human rights treaties. In its 17 page statement, the council said a mayor can only refuse a permit if there is a risk to public order. This was not the case with the Sinterklaas parade, therefore the mayor acted properly, the council said. 

In July, a court in Amsterdam ruled the Zwarte Piet character is a negative stereotype and infringes on the European treaty of human rights. That court told the mayor to reconsider the licensing process. That verdict was partially based on council research which showed a substantial proportion of black Amsterdammers think Zwarte Piet is offensive. Anti-Piet campaigners had asked the court to rule the parade illegal. 

The Council of State, however, said the mayor only has to consider public order issues when approving parade permits. Nor is the mayor in a position to determine if Zwarte Piet is counter to human rights policies, the council said. 

The Sinterklaas parade in Netherlands  is watched by tens of thousands of people and hundreds of Zwarte Piets are included in the procession.  The Amsteram mayor Van der Laan had already said that this year the character will ditch the gold earrings and red lips. But alas...

  While the Zwarte Pietens arent with the gold earrings, the toy there is a reflection of what the Amsterdam mayor said it would avoid. This picture was taken in Hilversum by Tuti Alawiyah.

I learnt from the media that earlier this year, the Dutch filmmaker Sunny Bergman traveled to London dressed up as Black Pete to canvass reaction to the tradition there. She encountered hostility, and the trailer for her film, scheduled to be broadcast on Dutch television next month, features a cameo from the comedian Russell Brand, who describes the use of blackface as “a colonial hangover.”

The controversy took on an international dimension last year when Verene Shepherd, a Jamaican member of a United Nations working group on the rights of people of African descent, launched an inquiry into the Dutch celebration. “If there are cultural traditons and practices that groups find offensive,” Ms. Shepherd said on Dutch television, “it is time to have a conversation about change.”

 

In response to that investigation, a leading Dutch newspaper, De Telegraaf, accused the U.N. of hypocrisy for not also criticising a figure in Persian folklore, Hajji Firuz, a dark-skinned ministrel who oversees celebrations of the New Year and is usually impersonated by a singer in blackface.

Still, Black Pete has some supporters in high places. Asked about the controversy at a news conference in The Hague in March, Prime Minister Mark Rutte defended the tradition and joked about the difficulty in removing the face paint when he dresses up as Black Pete.

We must realise however that the children i saw in Almere centre yesterday  November 15th, were all caught up in the frenzy of the gifts and carnivals that they so looked forward to. Both the white and black dutch speaking children had those on their minds and so the tradition continues. 

One love.

The council is the highest Dutch court and had been asked to consider the issue after a lower court said the character of Zwarte Piet is a racist stereotype and infringed human rights treaties. In its 17 page statement, the council said a mayor can only refuse a permit if there is a risk to public order. This was not the case with the Sinterklaas parade, therefore the mayor acted properly, the council said. In July, a court in Amsterdam ruled the Zwarte Piet character is a negative stereotype and infringes on the European treaty of human rights. That court told the mayor to reconsider the licensing process. That verdict was partially based on council research which showed a substantial proportion of black Amsterdammers think Zwarte Piet is offensive. Anti-Piet campaigners had asked the court to rule the parade illegal. The Council of State, however, said the mayor only has to consider public order issues when approving parade permits. Nor is the mayor in a position to determine if Zwarte Piet is counter to human rights policies, the council said. The Sinterklaas parade in Amsterdam is watched by tens of thousands of people and hundreds of Zwarte Piets are included in the procession. Van der Laan has already said that this year the character will ditch the gold earrings and red lips. In addition, the Amsterdam parade will also include Piets with soot smudges.

Read more at DutchNews.nl: Amsterdam mayor was right to licence Sinterklaas parade: highest Dutch court http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2014/11/58124.php/

The council is the highest Dutch court and had been asked to consider the issue after a lower court said the character of Zwarte Piet is a racist stereotype and infringed human rights treaties. In its 17 page statement, the council said a mayor can only refuse a permit if there is a risk to public order. This was not the case with the Sinterklaas parade, therefore the mayor acted properly, the council said. In July, a court in Amsterdam ruled the Zwarte Piet character is a negative stereotype and infringes on the European treaty of human rights. That court told the mayor to reconsider the licensing process. That verdict was partially based on council research which showed a substantial proportion of black Amsterdammers think Zwarte Piet is offensive. Anti-Piet campaigners had asked the court to rule the parade illegal. The Council of State, however, said the mayor only has to consider public order issues when approving parade permits. Nor is the mayor in a position to determine if Zwarte Piet is counter to human rights policies, the council said. The Sinterklaas parade in Amsterdam is watched by tens of thousands of people and hundreds of Zwarte Piets are included in the procession. Van der Laan has already said that this year the character will ditch the gold earrings and red lips. In addition, the Amsterdam parade will also include Piets with soot smudges.

Read more at DutchNews.nl: Amsterdam mayor was right to licence Sinterklaas parade: highest Dutch court http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2014/11/58124.php/