Marcel Van Engelen

Well written, concise piece of research journalism on the Dutch involvement in the slave trade from Ghana to the new world.Very surprising insights and science wars are revealed by Marcel van Engelen. I appreciate the fact that he became personally aware only of the role of the Dutch in this when he was engaged to a Dutch girlfriend from Surinam in the Bijlmer (Amsterdam South), where people from Surinam en Ghana form substantial majorities. In this case, antagonising majorities – people from Surinam regard their counterparts from Ghana with disdain (why did you sell us?), which raises the latter’s brows (what r u griping about? You managed to escape Africa!). During the celebrations of 400 years of trade relations between NL and Ghana, nobody, including the future King, bothered to delve exactly into what the trade was about initially, and then suddenly a year later a slave monument gets revealed (2002, Oosterpark, Amsterdam) and publicly apologising for the Dutch part in the salve trade becomes a paramount issue… Similarly in Ghana itself, the twenty-odd forts that were mostly owned by the Dutch suddenly become subject to rehabilitation efforts due to a nascent interest on the part of the Afro-American community and a tourism income-hungry set of Ghanaian policy makers. The part of the story that doesn’t receive any attention in official history books is the part that was played by the Ashante themselves in delivering slaves from the interior to the coast. It is considered not worth mentioning. It is these ironies which make Marcel’s book such an interesting feast.… (mehr)

Amadou is een ondernemende, intelligente en rustige Senegalees, die in Dakar koffie en croissants serveert. Met Engelssprekende toeristen oefent hij de taal. Zoals met Parool-verslaggever Marcel van Engelen, die daar verslag doet van de wederwaardigheden van kunstenaar Peter Klashorst. Van Engelen gaat niet in op de uitnodiging van Amadou te komen eten. Maar hij geeft hem wel zijn visitekaartje.
Lees verder....… (mehr)