Former Labour politician Ed Balls is currently (late January 2020) running a series of programmes on BBC TV about the rise of nationalism in EU memberstates. He starts in the Netherlands, and covers the increase in feelings of national pride, the rise of the likes of Geert Wilders and Thierry Baudet (where is my bidet, sorry, baudet, sorry, bucket) - and the Zwarte Piet debate.
I have tweeted Ed to voice my feelings on the issue, and will copy the tweets below
Interesting take on the Netherlands. I'm Dutch, have lived in the UK since 1997. I'm familiar with the rise of nationalism in NL. Geert Wilders, to my mind, is a disgrace to NL. The Zwarte Piet debate is offensive to me. I was a child in the 1970s, and Sinterklaas & Zwarte Piet were innocent childplay, something that adults indulged their kids in during the dark months of Nov and Dec. Nothing racist about it. The cultural background places Sinterklaas in Spain which was occupied by black North Africans in the 8th century AD. Zwarte Piet is portrayed as a serf, but only jocularly so. This is something that people who never grew up in Holland just not get, and I'm sorry, neither have you. This daft debate has spoiled the tradition.
Please note that the programme can only be viewed in the UK for a limited period of time.
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