What is does Keti Koti mean?
1 July is Keti Koti, the day that slavery officially ended in the former Dutch colony of Suriname. It means “the chain is broken” (“keti” is similar to the Dutch “ketting”, which means “chain”) in Sranan tongo, the language of Suriname. Keti Koti is recognized on 1 July. Since around the year 2000, Keti koti has been celebrated in The Netherlands, especially within the Afro-Surinamese and Afro-Antillian communities. This year, the holiday was also officially added to the Dutch inventory for UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.
When did slavery end in the former Dutch colonies?
Although slavery was formally abolished in Suriname and the Caribbean islands of the Dutch kingdom in 1863, most enslaved people in Suriname were forced to continue working on the plantations for an additional ten years (albeit with meagre wages). It wasn’t until 1873 that slavery really and truly ended in Suriname.
What are the north’s connections to slavery?
More and more provinces and municipalities are doing their own research of their archives to determine how they areas historically profited from the trade of enslaved people. Books about the traces of slavery has been written about Groningen and Friesland, and the Jetta Kiljnsma, the King’s Commissioner, announced on 1 July that the province of Drenthe would also investigate its role during the colonial age. The city of Groningen is currently carrying out a similar study, with results expected to be published later this year.
This video from SpotTV is a good explainer (in Dutch) about what this holiday is, and Groningen’s direct links.
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The city of Groningen played a significant role in the trade of enslaved people: the city was one of five locations where the Dutch West India Company had headquarters (at the current Train More gym near the Akerk).
The WIC operated triangular trade between West Africa and the Americas, trading goods made in Europe for enslaved people in Africa and then bringing back the cash crops they were forced to harvest in Suriname. This year, in 2023, memorial wreaths were laid at the Ossenmarkt in Groningen in recognition of the victims of the Transatlantic slave trade, followed by a two minute-long silence.
Why is this year’s celebration such a big deal?
It’s the 150th anniversary of the official end of slavery, and the Netherlands is reckoning with how intertwined its Golden Age was with the slave trade. On 1 July 2023 King Willem Alexander officially apologized for role of the Dutch in the trade of enslaved peoples and the suffering caused by it.
“Today, as your King and as a member of the government, I make this apology myself. And I feel the weight of the words in my heart and my soul”, the King said in his televised statement at the National Slavery Monument in Amsterdam.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte formally apologized in December 2022 (although the timing and lead up to that statement was criticized for the timing and lack of consultation with relevant parties). “We who live in today’s world must acknowledge the evils of slavery in the clearest possible terms, and condemn it as a crime against humanity.”
However, the apologies have not yet come with any promises or discussion of reparations or financial compensation for the descendants of enslaved people.
How do black Dutch citizens feel about the King’s apology?
Linda Nooitmeer, chairperson of NiNsee (the National Institute for the Study of Dutch Slavery and its Legacy, told OneWorld that “Apologies from the king have a symbolic value that you cannot ignore.”
“It matters that leaders speak out in these matters,” she continued, and pointed out that since Rutte’s speech in December, the mayors of the municipalities where NiNsee has Keti Koti commemoration committees have begun approaching them to ask about hosting memorial events, rather than the committees having to try to get the attention of local politicians.
Ivette Forster organized the first Keti Koti Festival in Amsterdam in 2009, and says that the symbolic gesture carries great value: “The king is the highest authority in the Netherlands. Apologies have been downplayed for years, which is why it is important that he recognizes the slavery past.”
Are the Dutch the first former European empire to apologise for their role in the slave trade?
No, but the Dutch King apologizing makes him one of the first sitting monarchs to do so. Price William of the United Kingdom expressed his “profound sorrow” during a visit to Jamaica in 2022, but did not make a formal apology. Heads of state in Denmark, France and the United Kingdom “have issued apologies or officially recognised slavery and the slave trade as crimes against humanity”, according to Euronews, and the president of Portugal has called for his nation to apologise for its role in the slave trade as well.
Who in the Netherlands benefited from the trade of enslaved people?
According to a recent Dutch study, State and Slavery, three Dutch rulers during the Golden age made around 545 million euros through their roles as heads of state and military. Between the 17th and 19thcenturies, the Dutch were responsible for transporting nearly 600,000 people from Africa to America to work as slaves. In Asia, as many as 1 million people were also enslaved and traded by the Dutch: the Dutch were the fifth largest trader of enslaved people (following Portugal, Great Britain, France and Spain).
In addition to the money they made off the sales of cash crops without paying the enslaved people any wages, the owners of the enslaved people in Suriname were eventually compensated for the value of each person who they claimed as their property following abolition. The formerly enslaved people were not.
“After ten years of political debates, the Dutch government agreed to pay plantation owners 300 guilders for each formerly enslaved person. In total, these payments amounted to 12 million guilders, about 10 percent of the entire government budget”, according to research by online investigative news platform Pointer.
In “Beyond Profitability: The Dutch Transatlantic Slave Trade and its Economic Impact”, authors Karwan Fatah-Black and Matthias van Rossum pointed out that the Netherlands benefited economically not just from profits from the slave trading and crops: “such a voyage led to extra activities such as shipbuilding or the production of trade goods.” The article found that between 1675 and 1800, the gross margin (gross profits compared to revenue) of the Netherlands for the trade of enslaved peoples in the Caribbean and Guyana was up to 79 million guilders (approximately 40 million euros).
Which countries were part of the Dutch colonial empire?
Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, parts of Malaysia, Japan, Iran and Pakistan were colonized by the Dutch in Asia. In Africa, South America and the Caribbean, South Africa, Suriname, Curaçao, New Guinea, and parts of Brazil, the Virgin Islands, and Tobago were part of the Dutch empire. The modern constituent countries in the Dutch Kingdom are The Netherlands, Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten (and three public bodies: Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba).
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Creative Commons
