Direct Translation of the article via Google Translate. Edited.
[RT] On Thursday, a historic speech was delivered in Amsterdam's Osterpark. Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema has apologized for the Dutch capital's involvement in the slave trade. “The time has come to brick the great injustice of colonial slavery into our urban identity — through frank and unconditional recognition, ” said Green Left politician Halsema. Amsterdam is the first city in the country to take this step. This was one of the signs of a rethinking of the discussion, which was promoted by the Black Lives Matter movement, writes the Süddeutsche Zeitung.
A study commissioned by the city council has shed light on Amsterdam's role in the slave trade. It was found that in 1578-1795. most of the city's 139 mayors simultaneously headed the Dutch West India and East India companies, which made huge profits from the slave trade. “The interests of the state, companies and individuals often merge into one whole,” the report says.
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As the newspaper notes, Femke Halsema made her speech on the occasion of the celebration of "Ketikoti", the annual Day of the Abolition of Slavery in Suriname, a Dutch colony, which took place on July 1, 1863. Compared to other countries, this happened rather late. In addition, the slaves received real freedom only ten years later, after the expiration of a transitional period, during which they continued to work on the same plantations.
In the course of public discussion, all words were carefully weighed. In 2001, one of the ministers spoke of "deep regret, with a tendency to remorse," and in 2013, Deputy Prime Minister Lodewijk Asher took another step forward, resorting to "deep regret and remorse . " But only Halsema's " apology " is an " effective word ", it was he who hoped to hear the descendants of the slaves. “The symbolic effect cannot be underestimated, ” said Linda Noitmer of the National Institute for the History of Slavery.
According to her, it is the apology that means the recognition of the fact that the slave trade was a crime against humanity. With their help, it becomes clear the scale of the suffering caused by the transatlantic slave trade, the consequences of which persist to this day. Moreover, only this word - in theory - opens the door to possible compensation payments. However, experience shows that such requirements do not lead to anything, the newspaper notes.
The possibility of an apology is also being considered in Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague. But the Netherlands as a whole is not yet ready for this step. Last year, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said it would "polarize even more" the country . According to polls, the majority of citizens reject such a gesture.
The independent commission that prepared the report is also demanding an apology. Experts believe that the state should express its readiness to correct the "historical injustice " as soon as possible . They cite similar gestures from Germany, Belgium and France. It is assumed that the apology at the state level will be made in two years.
Recently, in the Netherlands, there has been an increasing discussion of issues of historical guilt and damages. This is probably also because the Dutch, according to the author of the article, have supplanted part of their past. The state apologized for its involvement in the Holocaust only in 2020. The colonial era, especially the brutal hostilities in Indonesia after independence in 1945, has not yet received sufficient rethinking. All of this is mixed with a debate about immigrants and racism in which left-wing politicians fight right-wing politicians.
An example of this is the annual dispute about the assistant of Sintaklaas ( Dutch Santa Claus . - InoTV) Black Pete, who delivers gifts to children through the chimney. According to legend, his face was blackened with soot. Some consider it racism, others an innocent tradition. The same applies to the debate about the Golden Carriage, owned by the Dutch royal family and used in the monarch's annual address to parliament.
An illustration of half-naked black slaves can be seen on the vehicle. Left-wing politicians and activists are demanding that the king no longer use this "symbol of inequality . " The leader of the national liberal Freedom Party, Gert Wilders, warns against destroying identity: "You are going to abolish the Netherlands,"- reports his words to the Süddeutsche Zeitung. 
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