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Dutch self-image challenged as country confronts its colonial past
(www.theguardian.com)
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this post was submitted on 21 Oct 2023
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I’m not sure what you’re trying to say.
That we shouldn’t try and confront our colonial past because other countries did more colonialism? That’s seems like a very odd take.
Not that. Most of the Western world has a shocking history that must be used to remind us of what we can be capable of. Some nations however are at different places. The UK is particularly challenging (on average) compared to other places.
How does the UK factor into this story and how is it relevant?
Not the person you're replying to, but I've lived in both the Netherlands and the UK.
My experience is that the UK is far more in denial about the crimes of empire than the Netherlands.
Most European countries have a shameful colonial history. Many haven't fully come to terms with it.
No... they haven't. Colonialism is not the past... it's the present. And the Netherlands still benefit from it to this very day.
I’ve been thinking about this, and I think one of the factors is inter-generational wealth transfer.
If you look, here in the Netherlands, many of the families that made out like bandits in the slave trade and colonial exploitation are still very wealthy and influential. That results in an incentive, baked into the economic tissue of the country, to continue to ignore these topics.
I could be wrong, but my impression is that this is also true for England, but to a (much) higher degree than over here.