You know that youre on the right(eos) path when every things falls in place. I dont believe in coincidence, coincidence only means you are in sync with your mission and purpose. After the guest lecture on the Black Pete debate and a constructive meeting with Tony Chocolonely I had an inspiring meeting about the Nelson Mandela park in Amsterdam Southeast with people who were active in the Dutch anti-apartheid movement. Afterwards I watched the documentary Concerning violence about the life and works of Frantz Fanon, a very intriguing documentary about Fanons vision on the decolonial struggle. It was interesting to see many similarities between the decolonial struggle of Fanons generation and the current struggle against Black Pete and racism in the Netherlands. It also included intriguing interviews with revolutionary leaders such as Amilcar Cabral and Thomas Sankara, we dont learn about in our history books. Fanon wrote and said: “Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesnt fit in with the core belief.” I think we are witnessing a collective form of cognitive dissonance in Dutch society as the Black Pete debate confronts them with a part of their history and identity which theyd rather ignore as it is opposed to their belief in their own innocence, tolerance and progressiveness. I have not studied Fanons work enough to judge it completely but I learned that violence is a central premise in his vision on revolution and social change because he thought a decolonial movement should use the same methods that colonial power used to subdue the oppressed people. Indeed, the Dutch have a history of bare violence as they grew to become a leading colonial power, the major trade capital in the world and a major slave trading nation. It is uncomfortable for the Dutch to be confronted with this dark side of their history as they are proud of their VOC-mentality. The slogans Zwarte Piet is Racisme and Zwarte Piet Niet confronts the Dutch with this history of colonialism and oppresion and the resulting uncomfortability is expressed in xenophobic and explicitly racist reactions towards black people and people of color. This weekend the uncomfortability lead to the mass arrestation of people who were voicing their opinion in a nonviolent way at the national blackface festival (Saint Nicolas parade) against Black Pete and racism in Dutch society. Some were violently arrested by the policy and maybe we can say thay the mass arrest was a form of state violence against nonviolent citizens. Fanon also wrote: “Each generation must discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it, in relative opacity.” It seems my generation has discovered its mission and is following in the footsteps of these leaders who went before us in the process and struggle of decolonization. After the period of political decolonization we seem the be in the phase of social, cultural and mental decolonization. The struggle against Black Pete and contemporary institutional racism is this generations decolonial struggle, in this process we are recreating ourselves and a new decolonial Dutch society: “In the World through which I travel, I am endlessly creating myself.” ― Frantz Fanon Next week we will organize our own IDFA event with three documentaries about the revolutionary musician Fela Kuti Finding Fela, Nelson Mandela en de Klerk during the end of the apartheid era and Sunny Bergmans much anticipated film about the anti-Black Pete movement Our Colonial Hangover. Check out: https://facebook/events/787288991317983/ #DecolonialReflection
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 00:40:42 +0000