The Scotsman

UN ruling on Dutch festival fuels Facebook frenzy to save ‘Black Petes’

- Toby sterling

A FACEBOOK page seeking to preserve “Black Petes” – blackfaced clowns who are part of the Netherland’s Sinterklaa­s festival – has received a million likes in one day.

The popularity of the “Peteition” page reflects Dutch attach- ment to a tradition under threat from people who claim it is racist. “Don’t let the Netherland­s’ most beautiful tradition disappear,” the page says.

On Tuesday the chairwoman of a UN Human Rights Commission panel investigat­ing whether the festival has racist elements condemned it flatly.

“The working group does not understand why it is that people in the Netherland­s cannot see that this is a throwback to slavery, and that in the 21st century this practice should stop,” Verene Shepherd said.

In the festival’s story as it is told to children, Sinterklaa­s, or Santa Claus or St Nicholas, arrives by steamboat in midNovembe­r accompanie­d by lots of helpers – “Zwarte Pieten,” or Black Petes, who have black faces, red lips and curly hair.

Opponents say Pete, referred to in song as a “servant” to the elderly saint, is an offensive caricature of black people. Supporters say he is a positive figure of fun whose appearance is harmless. Children are told he is black from going down chimneys.

“Message for the UN: isn’t there a war somewhere that you could better be concerned about?” Dutchman Peter Udo wrote in a comment on the Facebook page. That comment drew more than 2,000 likes.

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