Keti Koti celebrations moved to Museumplein this year in anticipation of higher turnout

The Keti Koti celebration in July will be relocated to Museumplein this year, the municipality announced on Thursday. The usual place, Oosterpark, was deemed too small due to an anticipated higher turnout. The commemoration will take place at the National Slavery Monument in the park as usual.

This year marks 150 years since the practical abolition of slavery in Suriname and the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. On July 1, known as Slavery Remembrance Day, the Netherlands commemorates two dates: July 1, 1863, and July 1, 1873. The first marks the official abolition of slavery in Suriname and the former Dutch Antilles by the Kingdom of the Netherlands. However, it took ten years for enslaved people to be fully free from being compelled to work on the plantations in Suriname.

For the first time, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima will participate in the ceremony in Amsterdam this year. Strong rumors surfaced this weekend suggesting the King will deliver a speech during the commemoration, and possibly expand on the Dutch State’s apologies for its connections to slavery and the slave trade.

In January, Prime Minister Mark Rutte formally apologized on behalf of the Netherlands for its slavery past, and its impact on descendants. Various experts in the field of discrimination and the Dutch slavery history have expressed their opinion that apologies should come from the king since he is head of state. Activists have also called the King to apologize on July 1, 2023.

However, Rutte previously declared that the matter was too controversial for the king. The monarch is a "symbol of the unity of the country," the Dutch prime minister argued. "You don't want to draw them into the political debate." During the 2021 commemoration, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema formally apologized for the city's participation in the Dutch slave trade.

In recent years, there have been calls from associations and activists to make July 1 a public holiday. In January, Minister Hanke Bruins Slot of Home Affairs declared she was open to the idea.

After the commemoration, which will last from 2 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. and will be broadcast live on NPO1, the annual Keti Koti festival will take place on Museumplein, instead of the park where the monument is located, as in the past. Artists such as Berget Lewis, Akwasi, Trijntje Oosterhuis, Jeangu Macrooy, and Alain Clarke are scheduled to perform at the festival. There will also be a FunX stage, a children's stage, and a stage with traditional music, as well as opportunities for debate.

Large screens will be set up at Museumplein so that festival attendees can watch the commemoration ceremony in Oosterpark.

“Keti Koti has been remembered and celebrated in Amsterdam for many years,” the municipality wrote. “It is a time when we reflect together on this crime against humanity, and think back to what enslaved people have gone through in the past. And of the consequences that still seep through.”