New Radicalisms 2024 biennial
Doe Neutraal

Lecture: The Netherlands is a bad idea

For a very long time already, the idea of Dutchness has been shaped by the image of neutrality. The nation gets circumscribed through ideals of dialogue, reason, and pragmatism. Such exceptionalism hides the racial and colonial underpinning of the national project. However, merely unmasking neutrality is not enough. We should understand how neutrality is itself a weapon of white supremacy. As war-making intensifies and we prepare for the worst, we should not want to be neutral about neutrality. 

Like the Netherlands, it is a bad idea.