29 Jun Debate ‘Voorbij de Nederlandse Antillen (Beyond the Netherlands Antilles)’

For many Dutch people, the Antillean alphabet stops after A, B and C. During the parliamentary elections, the evening news and the average history lesson, little attention is paid to the six islands in the Caribbean that make up part of the Dutch Kingdom. The well-known platform for the freedom of speech, art, politics, culture, cinema and media “De Balie” organized an informative debate called “Voorbij de Nederlandse Antillen (Beyond the Netherlands Antilles)”, to discuss the place of the Dutch Caribbean in the collective awareness in the Netherlands and the future of the islands and their relationship with the Dutch Kingdom.

KITLV’s Valika Smeulders, Wouter Veenendaal and Stacey Mac Donald were panelists together with Glenn Helberg, Ineke Mok and Natasja Gibbs, Quinlan de Windt. The panelists talked about the importance of the (colonial) past and its commemoration within the Kingdom, if and how a joint future can be created within the Kingdom, and about processes behind Dutch Caribbean residents’ migration to the Netherlands and possible re-migration to the islands.

The evening was moderated by Nicole Terborg and accompanied by spoken word artist Gershwin Bonevacia. The evening was made possible by De Balie and KITLV.

Click here to watch the debate online (in Dutch).