What is decolonization?

Like most Western European countries, the Netherlands has long renounced its colonies. Yet the 'colonial mindset' is still deeply embedded in the thinking and behavior of the Dutch. Also, the economic system that originated in colonial times still functions in the same way today. Cheap production and outsourcing to poor (low-wage) countries and high yields for rich countries.

Decolonization is the process of raising awareness of this colonial mindset and then the work of letting it go. That is, we come to recognize how our way of looking and thinking, and our habits, have been strongly influenced by colonialism: the conquest and appropriation of land, of raw materials, of nature and also of people. And all from a superior view of life, that western white people are higher on the evolutionary ladder. That they would be more/better than colored people, that they have the right to ownership and control over the earth and its rich resources. Another side of the colonial mindset consists of the -long hidden- intergenerational trauma of colored Dutch who came to the Netherlands from Indonesia after 1950, and of black Dutch whose ancestors have lived as slaves from generation to generation.

In the Constellation Decolonization we investigate how the colonial past of the Netherlands affects our consciousness and in today's society. We also look at how that past has influenced and continues to influence our own lives.