Religion and Ethics Forum

General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Steve H on August 29, 2020, 02:15:42 PM

Title: Dutch to ban Santa's little helper!
Post by: Steve H on August 29, 2020, 02:15:42 PM

https://inews.co.uk/news/world/zwarte-piet-dutch-people-bizarre-racist-christmas-black-pete-netherlands-613353

Title: Re: Dutch to ban Santa's little helper!
Post by: Gordon on August 29, 2020, 03:20:39 PM

I'm not surprised by this. Ed Balls did a 'Travels in Euroland' series not so long ago and this 'tradition' came up in the first episode (link below) and it was uncomfortable to watch.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000dl8q/travels-in-euroland-with-ed-balls-series-1-episode-1 

Title: Re: Dutch to ban Santa's little helper!
Post by: Steve H on August 30, 2020, 10:15:25 AM

I'm undecided. Blackface in general is quite rightly looked at askance nowadays, but Black Pete is a long-standing traditional figure in the Netherlands, and is a sympathetic, likeable character. If I was Dutch, I might want to keep him. Rather more problematical is the practise in Lewes of burning the pope in effigy, instead of Guy Fawkes, on November 5th: indeed, the habit of burning a guy in general seems to be getting quietly dropped these days. Traditional fun 'n' games or modern sensibilities: which is more important?