US and Europe: Facing the challenges together
Good evening ladies and gentlemen, I hope you all share the fascination for the stories we have just been told by Russel Shorto and Geert Mak. I will try and draw my own conclusions from these histories. If I try to sum it up, if I compare the United States and the Netherlands, New York and Amsterdam and the two histories, the parallel I see is that both nations share this incredible zeal for liberty. They share this craving for opportunity and they share this, I would say, passion for morality in many forms. One of this being religious, another perhaps a passion for tolerance, and I could go on.
These three elements are part of our history. And if you look at history, good and bad - and really challenged by what Geert Mak said in his final words - and you look at the decisions made by people who thought they founded, everything they did with morality in mind. Like the people of the companies here in Amsterdam.
And that is contrary to the 17th century where the Netherlands wanted to be successful when Spain defeated Portugal and the Dutch had to produce their own sugar. Consequently they entered the slave trade. In order to be successful in sugar, slavery needed to be part of their world. And when you read about that moment, perhaps it happened one or two days, you see a conflict with concern to the moral question. But they concluded in the end: ‘well, we need to make that money, let’s go into slavery’.
And if you read about the Founding Fathers of the United States and you see their writings you experience the same. I can’t tell you how passionate I have become for what they have written. I have developed such a passion for the deliberations and for this coming into being of the United States. But even a great man like Thomas Jefferson depended for its likelihood on two hundred slaves. And I am truly convinced that if you really want to take a look at the history of the common age, we should never avoid these dark pages of our history. We should use NY400 to look at that part of our history too. Of course, I am not a historian and before I say any more that might be called abominable by Geert Mak, I’ll try and concentrate on today and tomorrow.
So it is clear that we share these three basic ideas. But there is also the phenomenal parallel between New York and Amsterdam. You could not imagine the United States without New York, but New York is very a-typical within the United States. Holland is unimaginable without Amsterdam, but Amsterdam is a very a-typical city in Holland. And these are also very interesting parallels we need to look at this year.
What I am trying to do with this year of celebration is to create a feeling that if we really put our minds to it, we can build great things. And I think this is very necessary, especially in these times of crises. You only have to take one look at the challenges we face in society. The debate we are having in Dutch society on identity, on freedom of speech or diversity.
I am confident that we can solve these issues and make sure that people find their way in the new societies. And that is why I’m also so passionate about this year.
There’s another, very political reason. The immense challenges force us to restructure the world. That is becoming more apparent day by day. There is no way we can tackle climate change, there is no way we can tackle the financial crisis, the economic crisis, the food crisis, any other crisis, if we don’t read across the Atlantic. The United States cannot solve these issues on its own. Europe cannot solve these issues on its own. So we are destined to look for solutions together. And if we understand the basis upon which we operate, this is the best time to face the challenges. That is why I feel so passionate about NY400.
I’m looking forward to a lively debate.
Thank you.