First Step To Acknowledgement Of Slavery In Dutch History? ⛓️ National Monument Slavery Past

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On one of our strolls through Amsterdam we came across Oosterpark and decided to walk through it to reach our destination and that's where I happened to "stumble" upon a masterpiece by one of the few renowned visual artists Suriname has produced: Erwin de Vries.


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Years ago, this monument named National Monument Slavery Past, was highlighted multiple times in Suriname's newspapers for different - some positive, some negative - reasons. As I wasn't physically present at the time, I didn't remember the details nor the location, so when we encountered it I had to be still and take in the significance and story behind it all.


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The controversy surrounding the making and unveiling (more details here) of this monument only reinforced the importance of letting this art piece tell a bit of history, of equally the Afro (colored) community as of the "native" Dutch community (former Colonizer). It is significant for the Afro community because it highlights a piece of history, that isn't openly/formerly acknowledged (yet). We shouldn't avoid discussing the darker part of our shared history.


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The beauty of this monument lies in the three stages depicted: past, present and future. Mainly that of the enslaved period (people living in bondage), period of breaking the wall of shackles and bondage and being truly free and embracing and welcoming the future (third and largest sculpture).


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Taking in all this information, I found Break Free by Loyal Flames a fitting song. Though the song isn't mainly about the history of slavery, it does speak upon the (mental) slavery people nowadays face and that we should break free from it. It's a state of mind and we should take control of our own lives and do our part.


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To close off, I have not been long enough in this country to truly know what the feelings and opinions are at the moment, of the people living in this country in general, regardless from which perspective. All I can do now is to listen and try to understand. Starting with: is revealing a monument enough or a good start in the acknowledgement or should there formerly be apologies from the former Colonizer? I would like to read about it in the comments below or better yet in your very own APART post 🤓.

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Chasse into the backstage! 💃

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Bang, I did it again... I just rehived your post!
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I heard many stories about Suriname from my grandfathers even at schools we learned that suriname people are comprised of Indonesian slaves who were freed by the dutch. And only in 2020 the king issued a formal apology to Indonesian and Indonesian government of what they did in the past. I am not sure if they even did that to their other colonies but they did to Indonesia. I am mostly curious of what dutch people learn about indonesian or their former colony but I also watched a former dutch veteran who was angry about the king issuing apology because they were clueless soldier sent to war. History aside, I think those sculpture are evocative and has quite deep meaning.

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I am not sure if they even did that to their other colonies but they did to Indonesia.

That's nice that the Indonesian people got to receive those formal apologies, because I know only little about the history and those stories are horrible, to say the least.

Suriname - don't know about other former colonies - hasn't received a formal apology (yet), but the PM did say to issue one in 2023, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Oh and I have distant family living in Indonesia, but never met them. My grandfather's father took a few (or one, don't know the full story) of his children back with him to Indonesia and he was going to bring my grandfather also, but the last ship that my grandfather was supposed to be on, didn't leave for some reason.

Oh and I don't think they know much about Indonesia, but I'll have to speak to more, before I can form my own opinion though. I have been told that they don't know much about Suriname though, because they don't teach much about it in history.

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