The Past as a Bridge to a Less Violent Present
Published on 1 May 2024
The unchallenged normalization of fascism and genocide within today’s political order demands a sustained counter-politics — one rooted in education and the deliberate organization of solidarity.
We are nearing the 4th of May, and rumors have begun circulating that the National Remembrance Day commemoration could be disrupted by pro-Palestinian activist groups seeking to draw attention to the genocide in Gaza and the related Dutch states’ complicity.
Mayor Halsema has stated she has received signals that spontaneous protests or disruptions are likely. So far, pro-Palestinian activist groups have denied planning protests. The city is now even considering barring people wearing "Free Palestine" clothing from attending the Remembrance Day commemoration. According to Willem Jebbink, criminal defense attorney, this constitutes a clear violation of the constitution and resembles the hallmarks of an authoritarian regime. It is regrettable that the mayor is banning images and demonstrations that are fundamentally anti-fascist in nature — particularly in the context of honoring Remembrance Day. Sadly, this comes as no surprise. It illustrates the rigidity with which Dutch politicians treat World War II as an isolated fragment of history, entirely divorced from our present-day political reality.
For years, public debates have taken place including calls to make Remembrance Day more inclusive — to tell the full story, and specifically to give the victims and resistance heroes from former colonies, as well as Dutch communists, the platform and recognition they deserve. Last year, on May 3rd, an independently organized Remembrance Day gathering took place at Dam Square to commemorate not only World War II, but all victims of wars including colonial wars. Protest, innovation, and critique are not new in the context of Remembrance Day. Yet the current geopolitical situation, and the imperialist position of the Dutch state, makes the long-overdue formalized update toward a historically complete — and thus historically faithful — commemoration painfully visible.
The prolonged failure to inclusively commemorate resistance heroes and victims of war who do not fit a white, capitalist, and nationalist narrative cannot be separated from the political inability to acknowledge the states’ role in the colonial genocide unfolding in Gaza. It is the inevitable result of a country that has never truly sought knowledge, responsibility, or accountability for its own colonial past.
A prominent example is the dismissive and near-denialist stance of the state toward the Excessennota — the investigation into excessive military violence during the independence war in Indonesia between 1945 and 1949 — which "strongly resembles a historical cover-up," as described in De Indische Doofpot (Swirc, 2022). The same pattern can be seen in the state's response to legal proceedings brought by Indonesian victims of Dutch war crimes.
The state's unconditional solidarity with Israel is, at its core, a solidarity with itself. The inability to see Israel as a violent occupying force, and the militant insistence on treating the attacks on October 7th as a standalone event, bear an uncomfortable resemblance to political discussions around the "Bersiap period" in Indonesia. In both cases, resistance to centuries of colonial occupation is framed as an incomprehensible act of terrorism by the indigenous population. Victimhood is thereby transferred from the colonized to the colonizer. This is a painful historic repetition. And it demonstrates precisely why Remembrance Day should be inclusive and explicitly complete — so that the past can serve as a bridge to a more just, or at least a less violent, present.
When we choose to embrace our history fully and truthfully, the fact that resistance against the nazis was, proportionally, made up largely of white communists, Antilleans, Indonesians, and Surinamese people will become common knowledge. Yet anti-colonial resistance heroes — such as Djajeng Pratomo or Segundo Ecury — are not commemorated by the state. Of the Dutchmen who participated in the resistance, the largest share were, proportionally, communists. After the war, it was those same communists who expressed solidarity with independence movements in the colonies and refused deployment. That communists and conscientious objectors — as well as heroes like Piet van Staveren — remain unknown to the broader Dutch public is an enormous loss for all of society. By contrast, the fact that almost no one knows that resistance hero Erik Hazelhoff Roelfzema — the so-called "Soldier of Orange" — staged an illegal coup in Indonesia in 1947 is emblematic of how the perpetuation of colonialism and Dutch historiography are inextricably linked.
The upheaval triggered by rumors of pro-Palestinian protests, as well as the upheaval that has arisen in the past in response to calls for a more inclusive Remembrance Day, are inseparable from the emotional and spiritual resistance that reconciling with the reality of our colonial past continues to provoke in Dutch society.
The unchallenged normalization of fascism and genocide in our current-day political landscape can only be countered through education and the organizing of solidarity. Following in the footsteps of our Jewish, communist, and anti-colonial ancestors, today's protests against the genocide in Gaza are carried by a broad coalition — from Palestinian organizations to Jewish organizations to anti-racism and climate movements. All violence is connected.
Our collective memory of what we as a society have lived through together, where we come from, and how the past shapes our present is in urgent need of an update. So that when history repeats itself, we can draw upon the memories and lessons of all our heroes.