A Dutch identity: does it exist? It is a hot topic in the Netherlands at the moment. Some people are singing the praises of the multifaceted Dutch identity while others say it is undervalued.
Remarkably enough, the person who sparked the debate was Argentine-born Princess Máxima. During a speech given at the presentation of a report about identifying with the Netherlands, she said that she had not found 'a Dutch identity'.
"My search for the Dutch identity began around seven years ago. I had the help of dozens of generous and wise experts. But a Dutch identity? No, I didn't find one. The Netherlands is large windows without curtains so that everybody can look in but also the right to privacy and being cosy. The Netherlands is being only given one biscuit with a cup of coffee but also enormous hospitality and warmth. The Netherlands is too complex to sum up in one cliché. A typical Dutch person doesn't exist."
Criticisms of speech
Her remarks did not go down well at all. One of the first to protest was Geert Wilders, leader of the nationalist Party for Freedom, who called her speech, "Well-intentioned, politically correct chitchat". Former Dutch prime minister and ex-UN High Commissioner for refugees, Ruud Lubbers also disagrees with the princess. He says that there is a Dutch identity, "no one would fail to recognize a Dutch person when they meet one", although he does acknowledge that Dutch identity is continually being developed and refined.
Even the House of Orange Society has criticised the speech. Chairperson Michiel Zonnevyille says he is convinced that it does exist. He points out that between 16 and 17 million people speak the same language and says Dutch identity is expressed in the way that people exuberantly celebrate Queen's Day and attend remembrance services for the victims of the Second World War on the fourth of May every year.
Ministers accept responsibility
Integration Minister Ella Vogelaar, Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin and Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende approved Princess Máxima's speech, and the cabinet has complete responsibility for the text. Minister Vogelaar says that the discussion needs to be with the cabinet, not with Máxima. She adds that it is a pity that the speech has polarised people.
"I understood the speech as saying that a single Dutch identity doesn't exist but that doesn't mean that we don't have a number of characteristics in common. The Dutch identity isn't static. We're now in a phase of trying to find out exactly what Dutch identity is."
Princess Máxima's words are particularly sensitive as there is an enormous amount of pressure on immigrants to integrate into Dutch society. Migrants are required to attend integration and citizenship courses in order to acquaint themselves with Dutch identity. Máxima's remarks could be interpreted as an attempt to put integration into perspective.
It is the first time that the popular princess has been criticised. Visibly shocked by the furious response, she tried to withdraw parts of the speech. In an interview with the Dutch press, she declared that she had meant it like that and the press took her words out of context.
World citizens?
Professor and publicist Paul Scheffer, who published a work criticising the Dutch multicultural society seven years ago, has been Máxima's severest critic so far. According to Mr Scheffer, the ease with which Máxima describes everybody as world citizens is particularly unrealistic and irritating. As an indication of her world citizenship, Princess Máxima pointed to a signpost outside her house the gives the distance to all the most important places in her life; Buenos Aires, New York, Brussels, The Hague and Wassenaar.
Mr Scheffer says that world citizenship is a nice ideal but the reality is that most Dutch people are not world citizens.
"People's lives are more attached to specific places than is generally thought."
* RNW translation (jc)
Tags:
Dutch,
identity,
Lubbers,
Máxima,
Scheffer,
Wilders
silvio,
18-11-2007
- italy
Don't be ridiculous. It exists... it doesn't exist...You are talking about national identity as if it is something in the wild African jungle that only a few people have heard about. Maxima said a lot of things about the Dutch identity: she said "cosy" - gezellig - a typical dutch expression. She mentioned the windows without curtains - believe me windows in Holland are very impressive. She mentioned the biscuit - warm stroopwafels are exquisite and we don't sell stroopwafels in Italy. She mentioned the cup of koffie- which is not caffè espresso. Maxima said that she don't like clichès. What else do you want from a princess so kind? She has been very nice and I think she appreciates the Netherlands and its flavour. I think the problem is Geert Wilders: Wilders is so insecure about his own identity that he has painted his own hairs with a fake blonde color. O Wilders, take it easy!!!
silvio,
17-11-2007
- Italy
NOTICE! - to thugs, allochtoon, fakirs, nsbers, calvinists, thieves, unemployed, prostitutes and christian-democrats -5000 $ REWARD - For the Arrest and Conviction of the Dutch National Identity - DEAD or ALIVE
Mikhail Dubinski,
19-10-2007
- Russia
Of course the Dutch have a racial identity. Only the Dutch can be Dutch. I say this as a Russian: all European peoples need to turn to aggressive cooperative nationalism for the purpose of eliminating the EU - a regime hostile to the interests of the European white race.
Walter,
17-10-2007
- USA
Dutch people are generally characterised by their openness - but openness is not exclusively Dutch. In fact, many Argentinean like myself feel Argentine culture - also a multicultural society - to somehow promote openness, specially after the return of democracy. Máxima may not have felt the Dutch to be radically different from the Argentineans, or any other society in the world that promotes openness. I think a world where we can identify better with others through a shared identity will leave less room for war.
Branko Collin,
14-10-2007
-
We seem to have landed in a surreal reworking of a famous scene from Monty Python's Life of Brian. Princess Maxima says: "You're all individuals," and as one the country stands up and screams: "I'm not!"
frans,
14-10-2007
- nl
She insults me, my parents and my grandparents! They don't know any foreigner. And here we have this girl from Argentina coming to our country and she says to my family: You are not Dutch, you don't exist! Please, woman, think before you say anything! How arrogant!
Yi Chao,
12-10-2007
- Taiwan
I am sorry for Princess Maxima. It was her that 'read' the speech. But did she personally draw it up? Did she really internalize the contents or did someone at the top ask her to deliver the speech as part of her obligations as a member of the royal house?
Cassandra Troy,
11-10-2007
- Greece
In the light of the gradual dismantling of the nation state in favour of transnational progressivism, of which the princess and her family are typical proponents, not a very surpising development. The Dutch (and everybody else for that matter) are well advised to take good notice.
Azeddine Lairini,
10-10-2007
- the Netherlands
Logic gives us that the Dutch identity was almost always a multicultural identity and the proof is in its language, wich is composed of French, English, German, Arabic and Hebrew. It is not marvellous, the multicural one?
sandra,
10-10-2007
- nederlands
I was a bit blown away by the princess's speech and wondered how in the world she could say that the Dutch identity does not exist. Is the princess culturally naive? After all, the Dutch are famous for their building techniques all over the world, especially bridges, windmills etc. I am an American citizen, but have Dutch heredity from my mothers side of the family.
Even after three generations of my mother's family living in the United States, they still have the traditional Dutch culture that my mothers grandparents brought with them from the Netherlands and carried down from generation to generation. The Dutch identity does indeed exisit and I feel the princess should do a bit more inburgering and studying Dutch history if she intends to be the queen of the country that she has no knowledge of.
Maria Martin Oerlemans,
10-10-2007
- Australia
No such thing as a Dutch identity? Who are you trying to kid? There are plenty of Dutchies (like me), who treasure our Dutch identity. Put me in a room with a thousand people of mixed origin and I will hone in on the Dutchies like a heat-seeking missile. Once a Dutchie, always a Dutchie! We can recognise each other - even if you cannot!
alan bloom,
10-10-2007
- USa
The princess obviously doesn't understand what openess is about, and how compared to Latin America machismo, or Islamic fundamentalism, it qualifies as a character of one's national culture. Europe needs to assert itself, if it is to survive. Today's youths are tomorrows gangsters. If Europe falls, the world regresses to an anti-deluvial state.
Adnan Farooq,
09-10-2007
- The Netherland
I think in the present cultural and political scenario Dutch identity does not exist. The Dutch themselves are not fond of their identity, contrary to for example the British or the French. The latter, in the period of colonization, focussed on trade and business; they did not give their language to their colonies. Only Surinamese speaks Dutch, because there was a dire need for a single language as people were brought from different places. But in Indonesia and the Caribian islands, the Dutch did not bother to think about their identity because they never thought it to be important. They never evolved their kitchen. I think there is nothing common in Dutch people other than language.
Abi,
09-10-2007
- The Netherlands
It was rather out of touch with the sensitiveness of the issue of multiculturalism to have put the princess on the spot by allowing her to be the one to read the speech. Having said that, the issues raised are important for all Dutch people and especially for the 'allochtoon' (Dutch expression for someone with a different cultural background) who is trying hard to integrate, but is dismissed despite his best efforts by a us/them mentality. It is maybe time to consider the truth in that every person who carries a Dutch passport IS Dutch, regardless of colour, race or creed.
Eric N Jackson ,
09-10-2007
- Emgland
Of course there is. I served as a liaison telegraphist on Hr Ms Flores during 1940-44 and I recognised that you had certain things right, like the attitiude towards race or ethnicity. We had a very mixed crew of Netherlanders, South Africans, Indonesians and Canadians, but there was never prejudice. Even religion was at both ends of the spectrum, but still contained and I admired you for that. Perhaps I am prejudiced, because the late Queen Wilhelmina pinned my Bronzen Kruis on me in 1944, but good luck to you.
