EEE "K.-T E European National Identities ELEMENTS, TRANSITIONS, CONFLICTS ROLAND Vocr, WAYNE CRISTAUDO, AANDREAS LEUTZSCH, Editors Transaction Publishers New Brunswick jon (U.K.)“The Chinese of Europe?” Dutch Identities on Trial! Arie Amaya-Akkermans 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? No1 didn't find one. ‘The Netherlands is large windows without curtains so that every! Fook in, but also the right of privacy and being cozy. The Netherlands is being given only one biscuit with a cup of coffee but also enormous hospitality and warmth. The Netherlands is too com. plex to sum up in one cliché. A typical Dutch person doesn't exist. —HRH Princess Maxima of the Netherlands* ich are not called the Chinese of Europe for nothing”—so runs the slogan of a brochure published by the Economic Development Agency of the South of the Netherlands which promotes investment by Chinese companies in West Brabant, The brochure's leitmotif suggests that trade and commerce runs through the veins of both cultures. It is often said that the French first coined the expression, but its exact origins are disputed. What is certain is that it was not a reference to the long-lived fame of the Dutch as worldwide traders. Rather, it was anallusion to the fact that we really do not know what the Netherlands are. Even the sharpest commentators on European affairs have failed to produce a substantial account of what this country stands for. The Dutch themselves have, for as long as four centuries, defied any attempt at categorization. In the eyes of historians, this defiance has been turned by now into a well-known trademark, Are the Netherlands a republic, akingdom, a liberal state, a democracy, a tolerant society, a federation of provinces with liberal policies for the sake of interests, or an absolutist power? It could, at some point or another in history, conform to all of those labels. It seems as if thisEuropean National Identities of Western Europe rosperous and most densely inhabited corner pe Stands separate from the rest of world behind a Chinese oe a sen people of sorts in ternal contemplation of a local deity unknown bred. Pethaps it is the polders (reclaimed land behind dikes) that shield them from the ferocity of the North Sea that give people the impression that it isa land behind walls. ‘The polder model suited the Dutch. The great and the good that once ruled the pillars, and now the welfare state, were in many respect i the regonten ofthe seventeenth century. You see their countenances perfectly portrayedin the Golden Age paintings of Frans Hals seated found their oak tables in solid, barely decorated rooms dressed it sober black, administering poorhouses and orphanages dispending charity tothe need discussing the affairs ofbusiness and state these ‘well-meaning, prosperous, but never, ever ostentatious notables, these excellent gentlemen of substance, have a look of probity, thrift, hard work, tolerance, and—this isthe genius of Frans asthe inet: fable smugness of superior virtue, Here wasa Dutch republicanism at the! its glory:a virtuous elite of Our Kind of People discreetly ‘wielding power, supposedly for the common good, and brooking no interference. (italics added) idyllic picture of the polder model has elicited both inspiration and and how does it accommodate the Dutch? This question has been an enigma since early modern times, and it has also been a source embarrassment of at least discomfort for Dutch rulers. s icastins ions, trade unions—was organized alons eet eres led “pillars” From the cabinet minister down dv xf Dutch society, and all the real on potential nan admirable spirit of compromise, as soggy as the Dutch landscape is is, however, not the first thought that would come to mind on a ieee os eece Amsterdam armed with tourist maps, digital cameras and the latest Lonely Plane guide. Amsterdam is an inviting place where people from almost every nationality and religion inthe world can be even speaking just as many languages and enjoying the felicitous m “The Chinese of Europe?” of tolerance that has become so characteristic of the Dutch, The Dutch see themselves as the most tolerant nation in the world and as a bastion of freedom in an ocean of old European absolutism. Around the world, Dutch society is famous for its tolerance, which extends to drugs use, alternate lifestyles, and other matters about which most industrial lands feel a deep ambivalence. But whence comes that tolerance, that“liberalism”?...One [answer] is that toler- ance promotes commerce and thus itis profitable; the other is that the Dutch are simply a “liberal” that is, tolerant people. Tolerance is represented as smart economics, but asoas a national trait—a virtue by most people's account, a vice by others, but either way as some- rooted in the history, customs and very character ofthe Dutch people. The Dutch in other words, do not just practice tolerance: by their own account and others} they are tolerant; it is considered one of their defining characteristics > ‘The Dutchman, however, steeped in tradition, would stroll along the canals of Amsterdam with far more paucity of mind. He would stare into the little merchants’ palaces built around them with a different glee. The different neighborhoods with their characteristic architec- ture, churches, mosques, and synagogues would reveal to him the old Chinese walls of this ever-so-tolerant place. After all, this was not built in a day. He would think of the “pillars of our society” that over cen- turies glued different cultures and faiths together into one big whole. Perhaps he would feel a little sorry for the current state of affairs, the vanishing of the “good old Holland” and in its stead, the ensuing reality ofa formless, abstract, and liquid contemporary society that makes life in Amsterdam virtually indistinguishable from that in Rio de Janeiro or Berlin. No doubt he would recognize himself too in the old multi- cultural character of the city. He might wonder if the imminent end of the “pillarized society’ in which one’s whole life and participation in society was defined by belonging to one of the different religious ‘groups, has really accomplished the cosmopolitan task of tearing down the walls that separated the Netherlands from a hostile world around it. Maybe itis just like it was for the diplomat and merchant Coenraad van Beuningen in 1672, who thought that the Netherlands were on the verge of an identity crisis that would make this idyllic model of tolerance, free thought, and commercial benefit no longer sustainable. But is there really something wrong with the Netherlands today? In light of two recent political assassinations, the threat of terrorism, and the pressures of immigration, it would be possible to think that‘Furopean National Ldentities there is, Political analysts and ordinary people alike now speak of @ crisis of Dutch identity. ‘The Dutch Identity Crisis “The symptoms of a possible identity crisis have been emerging steadily but slowly. While these symptoms have not yet eroded the idyllic por- trait of the world’s most tolerant society, they did raise the uncomfort- able question about what Dutch national identity stands for. Reflecting uupon the Dutch case reveals an old and obvious mismatch between political theory and praxis since 1579, with the rise ofthe Seven United Provinces and the Treaty of Utrecht,’ as well as the adamant refusal on the part of the authorities to actually provide clear definitions about the boundaries between the nation, the state, and the republic. Politi- cal theory remained committed to the defense of the monarchy, but political and social practice gave rise to a truly liberal state that was al too mindful ofits own commercial interests, the maintenance of peace ‘and social order, and stability in political debate." This all-too-confusing strategy proved nonetheless very successful, asitallowed "the Chinese of Europe” to run a tiny piece of land in the fashion of a great empire with decentralized power, a vast trading network, and colonial bas tions all over the world, without people giving much thought to who they actually were For the Dutch, ideology was never as important as the common good. They paradoxically entered the annals of history as the bear- ers of a remarkable culture but also as a very pragmatic and less than intellectual people. Many people would agree that Dutch culture is truly “remarkable” but would have a hard time saying who or what is. remarkable about it (with the exception of some painters). Also, they would too often mistake a Dane, German, or Fleming for a Dutchman. ‘What is ever so great about this national culture seems to haunt the memory of the Dutch as a holy ghost—it is supposed to be there, but no one knows exactly where. Most surprising about the Dutch identity crisis is that the symptoms ofthis crisis are unrelated to early modern and modern Dutch history. Most European countries experience identity polities as a mixture of contemporary identity issues blended in with their own national hhetitage. The Dutch national heritage, however, snot being contested. Rather, the Dutch identity crisis is bound up with the impacts of glo- balization, migration, and the economics of labor and culture that have wept across the world. In the 1960s, anticolonialist and anticapitalist protests were orga- nized by the anarchist group Provo and the first timid discussions surfaced about the government's postwar silence on the role played by the Nationaal-Socialistische Beweging in Nederland (NSB, National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands) during World War II in the deportation of Dutch Jews to the concentration camps. These protests escalated when Crown Princess Beatrix (now the queen) announced her controversial wedding to Claus von Arnsberg, a German nobleman who had been amember of the Hitler Youth and a soldier in the Wehirmacht, and whose presence conjured up painful memories of German occupa: tion during World War IL. In the 1980s, agitation continued in larger cities over immigration issues. Rather obscure political figures, such as Hans Janmaat, rose to prominence witha strong nationalist mainstream European agenda and anti-immigration policies that were based more on economic arguments than on underlying i i Opie! Dutchatitudcafpragatan at hese me Ducks became increasingly secularized, and the old pillars upon which the republican society was erected began to crumble. A more homogenized and therefore more polarized open society emerged in its place. But analyzing these events from an entirely contemporary perspec- tive would be misleading, since the “de-pillarization” in fact predated the liberation movements of the 1960s. Also, the cultural skepticism of the postwar era can be traced all the way back to the foundation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands between 1817 and 1830. It was during this period that all “pillarized” elements were engineered into one homogeneous national whole. As early as 1796, the emancipation decree of the Batavian Republic and further constitutional reforms laid the basis for a modern kingdom and nation-state,’ even though the state has for long preceded the idea of a nation." . Finding out whether there really is si wi Netherands today docs not have to do so much with identi pers as identities are part of larger sets of political dynamics and cultural phenomena taking place all over the world. These have now caught up with the Dutch, It is next to impossible that this would not have occurred, since the Netherlands have for long been the place for much. of the cultural and political avant-garde in Europe. __ ‘This is not only true of modern times, as the following examples illustrate. In the Middle Ages, the only Dutch pope in history, Adrian of Utrecht, was not particularly fond of ecclesiastical opulence and set himself upon an ambitious but unfinished project to unify Europe. The