Minister Blok, a disgrace

The Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Stef Blok had people at his Ministry look for a multiethnic, multicultural society, where the indigenous population still live . . . where they live in a peaceful, societal union”. According to Blok, they could not come up with any.

This made Blok conclude in a bizarre rant that there are no peaceful multicultural societies in the world and that human beings “deep in our genes” want to live in “a defined group”. Further, he said that he was not able to see the difference  between a Hutu and a Tutsi and then went on to call multicultural Suriname, an ex Dutch colony, a failed state and that migrants of color would be “beaten up” if they moved to Warsaw or Prague.

In Mein Kampf, Hitler explored “truths which stand out so openly” (similarities to Blok’s “deep in our genes” claim are freighting) that led him to conclude that North Americans who stick to their Germanic group have a superior humanity and culture than “Central and South America, where the predominantly Latin immigrants often mixed with the aborigines (indigenous peoples, Alex Rosaria) on a large scale”.

Blok can’t distinguish Tutsis from Hutus? He should find out how his collegues ex-colonial masters in Berlin and Brussels successfully managed to accomplish this. German and Belgium colonial policies always privileged the minority Tutsi over the majority Hutu because they believed the Tutsis looked more “European” than the Hutus because they were taller and had “finer noses and facial features”.

Suriname a failed state? Failed because of their rich multi-ethnic composure? He can’t be that ignorant. What about the Islands in the Caribbean, including my mother country, Curaçao, he represents as Kingdom Minister? Apparently he hasn’t noticed how multicultural we are and especially how proud we are of this?

Hope that someone tells Blok that multiculturalism does not result in conflict. Stupid and ignorant people like him making these stupid and ignorant remarks, does. Blok is not ignorant. He did not mess up or use the wrong words. It wasn’t until he got exposed that he tried to cover his tracks. Blok is an extreme right-wing populist who sells self-serving interpretations to descibe and vilify groups that are physically unlike him. Blok is unworthy of continuing on as the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Willemstad, Curaçao