NETHERLANDS: Racist traditions challenged
In the Netherlands, protests challenged the tradition of Zwarte Piet (Black Pete) in which, in the run-up to Christmas, white people wear blackface makeup and curly wigs in caricature of Black people. In recent years these practices, which appear to date from the 19th century when the Netherlands was still active in the slave trade, have attracted growing controversy, on the basis that they perpetuate negative stereotypes of Black people and are at odds with the modern, multicultural realities of the countries in which they are enacted. Debate became polarised.
