Excuses? Onzin! – Maarten van Rossem haalt hard uit

The debate about apologies is flaring up again. Shortly before his death, former Prime Minister Dries van Agt asked the King for an apology on behalf of the Moluccan community. The Netherlands has previously apologized for its history of slavery. Should we keep saying sorry for the past, or does that get us nowhere? Maarten van Rossem and Tom Jessen discuss this heated debate in a live podcast from Museum Sophiahof in The Hague. Maarten is uncompromising. Apologies are senseless and add nothing. But what does that mean for how we deal with the Netherlands' colonial past in the Dutch East Indies? For descendants of victims, apologies are essential. Where does the line lie between recognition and symbolic politics? And who actually has the right to apologize for the past? Listen to the full live podcast here: https://bit.ly/3PowNBk #maartenvanrossem #apologies #history