Reject Remembrance Day in face of rising fascism, Islamophobia: Activist
Activist Christa Noella is calling for a boycott of Remembrance Day with the Dutch hashtag #geen4meivoormij on social media. According her, "Remembrance Day lost its value due to the hypocrisy of society" and May 4th is "meaningless we just let the rise of fascism and Islamophobia in the Netherlands take its course", she writes on Facebook.
"I can not with a straight face commemorate the victims of fascism when each month we let Nazis march around in Dutch cities under the guise of freedom of expression. How can we agree that this awful past must never happen again while we throw bombs on Syria", Noella writes.
The activists also wants "the history of my ancestors" to be remembered in the Netherlands. "I do not want to take part in a Eurocentric society where white history is more important than the non-white history."
Noella's call was met with much criticism, both from politicians and on social media. According to VVD parliamentarian Fred Teeven, the call to boycott May 4th "shows no respect for our liberation", he said to the Telegraaf.
"Now even 4 May is racism... #geen4meivoormij is nothing more than attention seeking by people without historical awareness", D66 member Jeroen Adema said on Twitter.
Nu is zelfs 4 mei al racisme....#geen4meivoormij is niets meer dan aandachtstrekkerij van mensen zonder historisch besef.
— Jeroen Adema 🇧🇪 (@DerAdema) May 1, 2016
Other twitter users are confused about Noella's choice to use a day set to remember the victims of Nazism to combat white supremacy.
We gaan nu gevallenen onteren die ons hebben bevrijd van het Nazisme om blank racisme aan te tonen? Werkelijk? #geen4meivoormij
— Joachim Stiller (@joachimstiller8) May 1, 2016
