One SXM dissatisfied with king’s slavery-apology
PHILIPSBURG – The One SXM Association is not satisfied with the apologies King Willem-Alexander offered on July 1 during the commemoration of the end of slavery 160 years ago, in 1863.
The association states in a press release that the apology is incomplete because “it does not contain a commitment to non-repetition, eradication of colonialism by the Dutch Kingdom or reparations or other forms of reparatory justice.”
The association is also miffed because the king mentioned Suriname and Indonesia in his speech but “failed to acknowledge the Dutch territories in the Caribbean.” Neither did the king acknowledge that St. Maarten “remains a Dutch colony and what his government would do to eradicate colonialism.”
In his speech, the king mentioned the Caribbean part of the kingdom several times, though he spoke of “the islands in the Caribbean,” rather than mention all six islands of the former Netherlands Antilles by name.
King Willem-Alexander acknowledged that Dutch ships transported more than 600,000 slaves from Africa across the Atlantic Ocean and that 75,000 did not survive.
The king noted that slave traders at the time acted within what was legal at the time. “But the slavery system illustrates the injustice of those laws. The Second World War has taught us that you cannot hide forever behind laws when fellow humans are reduced to animals and delivered into the hands of those in power. At a certain moment, the moral duty to act emerges.”
The king expressed the hope that the descendants of slaves and those who did forced labor in other parts of the world felt a sense of togetherness, specifically adding the term “people in the Caribbean part of the kingdom.”
Times have changed and the chains have been truly broken, the king stated at the end of his speech that was met with a standing ovation from the audience that attended the event in the Oosterpark in Amsterdam.
The NOS reported that between 1675 and 1770 the House of Orange earned €545 million ($594 million), translated into today’s value) from the slave trade and colonialism. The king ordered an independent investigation into the role the House of Orange played in the slave trade.
The One XM Association is not convinced of the king’s sincerity: “While the king’s statement asks citizens to work at building a world without racism (….), the kingdom has consistently maintained a diametrically opposed stance by refusing to join the rest of the world in denouncing these ills.”
In this context, the press release refers to the fact that the Netherlands abstained from voting on a UN resolution in 2022 about the fourth International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism. “Actions speak louder than words.”
“To act as if the Dutch king is only now learning about their atrocious history and their participation in that evil system only adds insult to injury,” the press release states.
While the association welcomes the king’s apology as “important,” it is of the opinion that it does not go far enough to address the real effects of slavery, “such as colonialism and debt entrapment.”
“As the perpetrator of the acknowledged crime, the king and the Dutch kingdom government cannot unilaterally decide what the penalty will be for their crimes against humanity,” the press release states.
One SXM asks that the Dutch government acknowledges that colonialism is also a crime against the people and to work with the people of St. Maarten “to finally eradicate colonialism on our island.”
In December One SXM rejected the apology Prime Minister Mark Rutte made for the Dutch role in the slave trade, saying that it was insincere.
In an open letter to King Willem-Alexander, dated February 2, 2023, the association demanded “a sincere apology for the Dutch kingdom’s involvement in slavery, the trans-Atlantic slave trade, and continuing colonialism.”
