Originally unveiled in the mid-eighties, the Carnaval Festival ride at Efteling has undergone a renovation meant to tackle the racial stereotypes on display. The Dutch theme park spent three million euros to also install new lighting and give the 35-year-old attraction a fresh coat of paint.
Racism
May 23 '19 18:00
Mar 26 '19 12:40
D66 alderman in Tilburg Marcelle Hendrickx is under fire for a tweet she posted last week saying that a vote for the Noord-Brabant FvD leader Hans Smolders is a vote for racism, hatred and division. In a debate on the matter on Monday night, she said that she regrets that the tweet was misunderstood, but she stands by the content, AD reports.
Mar 26 '19 07:28
On Monday the police arrested a 21-year-old woman from Nijmegen for involvement in threats made against FvD leader Thierry Baudet during an anti-racism demonstration in Amsterdam on Saturday.
Over the weekend, videos filmed at the protest were posted online, showing a protester with a scarf over their face singing: "If you want to shoot Thierry, then say bang."
Mar 23 '19 19:00
Nearly ten thousand people rallied in Amsterdam on Saturday calling for an end to racism and divisiveness in Dutch politics. The event began on Dam Square and then progressed to the monument on Daniël Meijerplein, but counter-protestors along the way were arrested for allegedly disturbing the peace.
Mar 8 '19 14:40
This weekend will be a protest-filled one for the Dutch capital. The recurring Women's March will happen in Amsterdam on Saturday, and an even more popular climate protest is schedule to happen on Sunday, AT5 reports.
Around 3,500 people said on Facebook that they will be participating in the Women's March on Saturday. And over 16 thousand said they would be attending the climate protest on Sunday, with thousands more indicating that they are interested. While Facebook figures say little about the actual attendance, it seems that both protests will be well attended.
Feb 18 '19 15:10
Bert Felling of party shop FeestXpert in Nijmegen and Wamel finds it "crazy" that cowboy- and Indian costumes are considered racist. He will therefore give every child who visits his shop on Saturday, February 23rd, a free Indian costume and free Indian face paint, AD reports.
Feb 7 '19 14:20
Anti-racism activists will protest in the Friesland village of Grou on Saturday during the arrival of Sint Piter and Swarte Pyt, a local version of Zwarte Piet. The protest was arranged by action group Kick Out Swarte Pyt (KOSP), which consists of the same people as Kick Out Zwarte Piet, one of the best known groups in protests against Sinterklaas' blackface helper, according to newspaper AD.
Jan 30 '19 15:40
Efteling is adjusting a number of Asian and African dolls in its 35 years old Carnaval Festival attraction, the amusement park announced on Wednesday. This follows criticism that some of the dolls in the attraction show stereotypical or racist characteristics, NU.nl reports.
Dec 14 '18 08:28
At a Hilversum city council meeting mayor Pieter Broertjes made a joke referring to children's song from the 1860's "Ten Little Niggers". The remark led to furious reactions on social media, with many accusing the Hilversum mayor of racism.
Dec 14 '18 08:03
The Ministry of Defense is ordering an investigation into abuses in the armed forces, State Secretary Barbara Visser said in a letter to parliament. Reports were received about inadmissible behavior at training institutes as well as another defense department, she said, NOS reports.
Nov 30 '18 13:20
Journalists and columnists must be better protected against racist and threatening reactions to their articles, Thomas Bruning of journalists' association NVJ said in response to the news of Trouw columnist Seada Nourhussen giving up her column because of a flood of "extreme, negative and sometimes racist reactions", Het Parool reports.
Nov 30 '18 08:11
Seada Nourhussen decided to stop writing her column in newspaper Trouw due to the "extreme, negative and sometimes racist reactions" she receives, the newspaper's chief editors said in a statement. The journalist feels that the negative reactions are too focused on her person, instead of on the content of her column.
Trouw is sorry to see her go "given her important contribution in the public debate on the way we in the Netherlands treat each other". Nourhussen said she will explain her decision at a later stage. "For background, information and that."
Nov 21 '18 12:10
Several parties in the lower house of Dutch parliament voiced strong criticism on Prime Minister Mark Rutte's response to disturbances around various Sinterklaas celebrations in the Netherlands over the weekend. The Prime Minister's call for no demonstrations in the three weeks that Sinterklaas is in the Netherlands in particular led to bewilderment from the D66, GroenLinks, SP, PvdA, ChristenUnie, PvdD and DENK, among others, NU.nl reports.
Nov 20 '18 17:46
"Extremists on both sides" of the Zwarte Piet issue caused problems at the Sinterklaas arrivals around the Netherlands, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Tuesday. Rutte conceded that the issues were "overwhelmingly" due to "pro-Zwarte Piet demonstrators."
Nov 19 '18 10:06
After a weekend that saw anti-Zwarte Piet demonstrators attacked by threats, racist epithets, and with eggs and beer cans hurled at them, the activists of Kick Out Zwarte Piet said they are disappointed in city governance in the Netherlands. Protestors were physically and verbally assaulted during the Sinterklaas arrival events in Eindhoven, Groningen, and Leeuwarden, while threats of violence forced the cancellation of a protest in Nijmegen.
Nov 16 '18 10:35
Activists angered by the use of blackface around the Dutch Sinterklaas tradition are planning to protest in Dokkum on Saturday. The protestors had previously made arrangements with the municipality to lawfully demonstrate in the Friesland town at the televised Sinterklaas arrival last year, but their buses were stopped by people who created a blockade on the A7 motorway shutting down all traffic on a main road into the province.
Nov 15 '18 08:00
The court of Haarlem ruled on Wednesday that the appearance of Zwarte Pieten participating in the national arrival of Sinterklaas in Zaandam on Saturday does not have to be adjusted further. The Majority Perspective foundation was not entitled to institute legal proceedings because no prior consultations were held with the defendants, the court said, NU.nl reports.
Nov 14 '18 08:33
The municipality of Zaanstad fears that the Sinterklaas's national arrival on Saturday will have to be canceled if the court rules in favor of the Majority Perspective foundation in summary proceedings the foundation filed. The foundation did not ask for the celebration to be banned outright, as previously reported, but demands that the Zwarte Piet characters be stripped of all stereotypical characteristics and behaviors that they consider racist, NU.nl reports.
Nov 12 '18 11:10
A group of Zwarte Piet opponents filed summary proceedings asking the court to ban the national arrival of Sinterklaas in Zaanstad on Saturday. The Majority Perspective foundation filed this lawsuit against a number of involved parties, including Sinterklaasjournaal broadcaster NTR and the mayor of Zaanstad, NU.nl reports.
Nov 7 '18 07:33
Zwarte Piet in his traditional form will no longer be welcome at the police's internal Sinterklaas celebrations from 2020. "The Sinterklaas party is a connecting party, but some expressions at that party hurt people. Where such painful experiences exist, we look together how we can solve that", the police said in a statement.
Aug 29 '18 08:22
One float in the Brabantsedag Heeze theater parade caused a bit of an uproar on Facebook. According to Sun Shain, who posted a video of the float in question on Facebook, it looks like a slave ship, carrying people in blackface makeup.
Aug 21 '18 11:40
Rutger Groot Wassink, deputy mayor of Amsterdam, voiced concerns about racism in today's society during the 35th commemoration of the murder of Antillean boy Kerwin Duinmeijer on Dam Square on Monday. Over 200 people attended the commemoration for the 15-year-old boy, Het Parool reports.
Aug 20 '18 12:30
The murder of Kerwin Duinmeijer will be commemorated on Dam Square in Amsterdam on Monday afternoon. Exactly 35 years ago, the 15-year-old Antillean boy was stabbed to death by skinheads in the city.
Aug 17 '18 10:20
GroenLinks leader Jesse Klaver called on Prime Minister Mark Rutte to distance himself from statements Minister Stef Blok of Foreign Affairs made about multiculturalism. In an open letter to the Prime Minister, Klaver said he can't understand why Rutte hasn't yet done so, NOS reports.
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