2023-07-01 14:26:00
He King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands officially apologized this Saturday for slavery in force in his country during the colonial era, stating that he felt “personally and intensely” affected. “Today I am here in front of you as your king and as part of the government. Today I apologize”declared and then expressed his remorse for the “clear lack of action” of his ancestors of the House of Orange.
“Of all the ways a person can be stripped of their freedom, slavery is surely the most painful. The most degrading The most inhumane.” expressed in an act to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the liberation of slaves in the Dutch colonies where he recognized that slavery is a “crime once morest humanity”.
The king added in his speech that Dutch slaves were treated “like merchandise, to be done with as they please” and used “for profit, as a beast of burden, with no will of their own.” “Chained, traded, branded, worked to the bone, punished. Or even killed with impunity.”
the king too recognized the “atrocities” that the Netherlands committed once morest “more than 600,000 people who were transported across the Atlantic Ocean from Africa aboard Dutch ships, to be sold into slavery or put to work on the plantations. Around 75,000 did not survive the crossing. Those “human beings were commodified, exploited and abused“, said.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte apologized on December 19, 2022 “for the actions of the Dutch state in the past: posthumously to all enslaved people around the world who suffered for those actions, to their daughters and sons, and to all their descendants in the here and now,” Rutte said.
In recent months, the king has been regularly called to apologize, for example in February during his visit, accompanied by Queen Máxima and Crown Princess Amalia, to the Caribbean part of the kingdom. Recalling that trip, he recalled the example of Tula, leader of the 1795 revolt in Curaçao, whose history they learned on that trip.
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“How reasonable and compassionate the words of Tula sound to our modern ears,” said the king. “Invoking the ideals of the French Revolution and the equality of all people, regardless of the color of his skin, he said: ‘We do not seek to harm anyone, but we want nothing more than our freedom.'” “The response from the authorities was brutal and ruthless. As punishment, Tula was tortured and then beheaded, ”he recounted.
“The horrible legacy of slavery remains with us today. Its effects can still be felt in the racism in our society, ”he said before expressing his remorse for the actions of his ancestors.
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“My ancestors did nothing to stop it”
“For me, there is another personal dimension. Slavery and the slave trade are recognized as a crime once morest humanity,” she expressed. “AND the Stadtholders and Kings of the House of Orange-Nassau did nothing to stop him. They acted in accordance with the laws that were considered acceptable at the time. But the system of slavery illustrated the injustice of those laws.”
An independent investigation was published in June which estimated that the Royal House of the Netherlands earned more than €545 million between 1675 and 1770 from the colonies and played a significant role in exploitation and forced labour.
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“At some point you have a moral duty to act“, he claimed. “Even more so considering that here, in the European Netherlands, slavery was strictly prohibited. What was considered normal in the overseas colonies, practiced on a large scale and encouraged, was in fact not allowed here.. That is a painful truth.”
Next, King Willem-Alexander announced that he had called for an independent investigation to learn more regarding the role of members of the Dutch royal house and He reiterated his request for forgiveness “for the clear lack of action” of the royal family “in the face of this crime once morest humanity.” “After acknowledgment and apology, let’s work together to foster healing, reconciliation and recovery,” he concluded.
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