going into next year that's that's where i want to be in my best shape i'm going to have save my best performance for the day and try to go in there and you know try to be on top the podium so yeah i mean pretty much all focus now this is towards the olympics this this upcoming year and you know it's a i mean it's a bummer that it can happen this year but you know it's a lot of you know american city and complain a lot of worse things happen to other people. again i'm fully back with the headlines on al jazeera and its 1st post-election ranee u.s. president donald trump has again falsely claimed to have won the election in georgia his campaigning for 2 republican senators that i had a front office in january that will decide which party controls the senate. this is something that's very important and you have to get out you have to vote you have to make sure you have every vote counted everybody stick out. because it's taken

this election is control of the u.s. senate and that really means control of this country the voters of georgia will determine which party runs every committee writes every piece of legislation controls every single taxpayer dollar. u.k. media is reporting that the british cabinet will support prime minister boris johnson over a no deal breaks it the u.k. and the e.u.'s still at odds less than a month before the deadline to reach a deal talks are set to continue later on sunday in venezuela voters are choosing a new congress in an election boycotted by the opposition the u.s. e.u. and most latin american countries are calling the vote a sham that will enable president maduro zwilling socialist party to take over the last state body controlled by the opposition the u.s. has recorded a record number of calls in 1000 infections for the 3rd day in a row nearly 230000 cases according to the johns hopkins university and the u.s.

has seen a major resurgence of the virus over the past months putting even more pressure on hospitals saudi arabia's foreign minister says its allies involved in the blockade of qatar on boards to find a solution to the gulf crisis saudi arabia bahrain the u.a.e. and egypt imposed deadline see an advocate of qatar in june of 2017 a committee in the us has found that directive microwave radiation is the likely cause of an outbreak of a serious illnesses among american diplomats in cuba and china at least 2 dozen diplomats reported dizziness pressure and cognitive problems during a period of nearly 2 years from late 2016 the study didn't say however who was responsible but it did note that the former soviet union had done previous research into this type of injury those are the headlines sin side stories next. inserts are to actually indigenous communities of origin to reclaim the ancestral lands and the culture is becoming increasingly violent talk to you to see her

travels to the region to see why the book which people are rising up and asks is the reply to peaceful coexistence on al-jazeera. a controversial dutch holiday tradition is under scrutiny once again black heat is a delight for some but it's a racist symbol for others and they get a black lives not to protest is it time for this divisive figure this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program i'm ron cowen many children and the netherlands have grown up with the image of black pete is a help a necklace their equivalent of santa claus but black pete is highly controversial that's because the figure is usually a white person wearing black face makeup with exaggerated lips and an afro wig the

tradition dates back to the 19th century around the time of the global slave trite but people say the character is racist and has no place in modern does society some cities have replaced black pete with a compromise forget cold chimneypiece his face is covered in soot instead of fish and the kind of meat meat from they say it's no longer appropriate to be completely covered with black makeup so we're using suit and this is just because we're going through dick cheney and you're not this year are you senate committee did ya need to see what he did you know i'm working from home with peter now they're going to call me how he wanted to adapt in order to make it fun for everybody and keep everybody happy. they control the sea intensified earlier this year when black lives matter protests began in the netherlands. 'd and he black pete demonstrators often face supporters of the far right surveys suggest a majority of dutch people want to keep the character but public opinion is

shifting some libraries recently removed children's books that feature black pete prime minister who wants defended the tradition now says he's changing his attitudes as well. marco was right to pete the moment i met little children with dark skin who told me they felt incredibly discriminated against because black pete is black that's the last thing you want at a sink nicholas' party but on the other hand if the government were to decree that black piece is no longer allowed then a lot of people who love the tradition will react the tradition is changing over time in a few years time there will be hardly any black people expect. let's introduce our guests michel s.a.'s an activist at the anti black people movement in kinshasa tracey by 10 c. a political scientist and activist focusing on gender and race and in london patrick vernon a cultural historian all morcombe to you all i want to begin in amsterdam with

michel says michel this character black pete is effectively the helper of st nicholas he arrives some point in the 19th century as a helper to st nicholas into the netherlands at the same time there's a global slave trade happening these are all caricature of what some white people thought a black person might look like but then a grotesque caricature i'm sure but this is not just about a cute christmas tradition this is almost celebrating slavery isn't it. it is it is . the tradition was in fact that 850. guarantee in our guy from around black history the black are graphs and here you can see. one of the 1st book in which it was introduced and it was introduced 13 years before the abolishment of slavery so that was

a time in which people in europe in the netherlands look at black people as inferior beings so on that context this characterised created and that's why we protest against it but it's not just about that anymore about the fact that the character was created from one space and time over the years it's changed into a christmas tradition many people in the netherlands have grown up with this they don't see anything wrong with it so why is it now causing such controversy yeah absolutely as you said when this book was introduced it became very popular and it became the most popular tradition in the country more popular than christmas. and what you've seen the dutch context is that people believe that it's an innocent tradition because a lot of people believe that there is no racist racism in the netherlands it's innocent country racism happens in the us in south africa but not in so that makes

it difficult to address the underlying legacy of slavery and colonialism however by criticizing the tradition we've been able to open up with the bad about both the tradition and the underlying issue of institutional racism but the prime minister is saying that actually you're moving politicking too fast you want to ban this tradition he says give it a few years the tradition will die naturally. yeah but he's been he's been saying that for a long time and people have been criticizing this relationship is the 1930 s. on asking the question like how long more should we wait how much longer should we wait i think. when we talk about human rights when we talk about racism we shouldn't phase it out we should completely end it immediately so everybody can you know live in a respectable and way and in the way that you know people are treated equally

let's bring in patrick vernon head and london patrick when you and i were growing up in the u.k. there was a very famous figure who's actually called the goalie what he was a caricature of a black person that was used for commercial marketing practices on a brand of gem eventually that figure did go away when you and i became older and we started questioning it and there was a movement to try to get rid of that is it the same in the netherlands or just this is a much more cynical much more openly racist. it's very similar to because i mean you know let's face it one of the impacts alexis of enslavement in terms of transcendence left trade was a teeny human isolation of people of african heritage whether in netherlands in the u.k. in the caribbean in north america south america. and so there's been a long tradition of of of using. images of gollywogs using characters

like minstrels using white people. policies tend to be black that was very popular also in britain we had a well known t.v. sit t.v. show on the b.b.c. called the black white minstrel show and that was prime time t.v. in the seventy's and also your morris dancers in cold war who also locking up in the bin campaigns about that i still say it's a basic basic principle the 1st principle is lives do not matter it's easy to ridicule to make characters of black people and if you were to apply that to other communities people wouldn't tolerate that's really recognize and semitism. in europe we recognize that islamophobia but we do not recognize the blackness or afro phobia and i think it's important that with some sounds. be very tense here

in kinshasa i saw you nodding your head there when you came to the idea that we do not recognize the idea of this you know blackness of people that we we actually do character caricature on this much more than say and the seventy's a more islamophobia for example that examples that were brought up is that accurate stu you think. well i think it's accurate especially one people of african descent black people in belgium or even that event try to talk about black feet and said it's racism a lot of people will say well what are these people saying they come here in their countries and they want to change a technician that's actually pointing out that people don't see us as belgian are native citizens of the net and then it's and so yes of course it's an issue we don't recognize the thing. that people that people african descent but i've seen in the boss years there has been some effort especially on iraq and a level to recognize these things by writing some resolution and other political

statements so i think we are still not there where people recognize the being polite struggle and the structural reasons that people and people of african descent in all you are face but step by step we're moving to the right direction let's assess and where you are right now when you talk to people about black paint and you say to them look i i don't know whether you are or aren't racist i don't know you that well but let me just explain to you that the caricatural is racist to me to get a welcome reception. the people listen i have to say after saying the city of ems the numbers mean some progressive change but then as you know. that has been developed through struggle over the past 5 to 10 years there's been a lot of activism and there was a lot of recess since but in terms of them i'd say there's a level of respect and on the saying enough however outside of the big cities like him said rather nam

a few weeks ago for example in the south of the netherlands there was a small protest and peaceful protesters against racism are ambushed by a few 100 all against an extreme right people so you see this gap between the city and the rest of the country so there's still a lot of work to do to be done but the work to be done needs to take into account tradition. michel any to take into account that there is this tradition that has been going on since the 19th century and actually you know or maybe you are just spoiling christmas and all spoiling a festivity by this is what i mean the thing about traditions is that all traditions change culture trenches i mean it was a tradition that women were not allowed to fold it was also traditions and slave people. their anti-semitic traditions which have been abolished don't i think people should move forward and acknowledge that everything changes throughout time

and can tracy bebo tense here is this the right fight to pick when you have shocked or all systemic racism where you have violence where you have people who are denied housing because of the color of their skin who are denied jobs because of the color of their skin is a christmas character a festive character really the fight we should be picking. first of all i think that black people can choose which fight they can pick no one has to tell us are the black people which i think and big 2nd of all people need to understand that living in whites in countries like belgium are not and they'll never know and face the racism is a traumatic experience so yes it's a right to fight a bit because still a lot of kids have to be called black beats and when you know that everything that is black that are blackness often east associated with negative stereotypes black

beat is one of them so it's a fight in a bigger fight in a fight against structural racism in a fight against oppression systematic oppression of black people but it's an important fight black people should feel free to celebrate the parties at they want and also they don't children especially children because at the end of the day it's the children part if we change that beats the children will not hear it's most of the time the adults because the problem but children will be all children will be very happy if the stereotypes surrounded that be changed and it's a more credibly character for everyone given in london do you think this is the right side to pick. agree with. the previous speaker you know people are fighting different levels some people are fighting on key issues round a stop and search and deaths in custody and some people fighting around better

mental health care provision some people are fighting around housing some people fart around immigration and migration policy the interesting thing about the whole store front caricature it's a national narrative so when people talk about tradition and steeped in the story corps structural racism is part of the tradition so you might challenge stop and search but the police believe that's. pete's is acceptable therefore they will they will treat with disrespect you from they arrest them or when you are dealing with state officials they still look at you or the people there for i don't respect you it's very clear in terms united nations the corrections and chances are lost that the years the people of african descent have been traumatized through the history of slavery on modern day racism and part of the process is the colonizing traditions which reinforce our stereotypes so it's

black petes or minstrels or any film that keeps a negative connotation has to be acceptable this has not be tolerated and the and we need to get with this if we want serve in just a just and inclusive society missler sayers one of the things that's really changed over the last year or so is the black live matters movement and it has introduced a consciousness good not just in europe globally as well has it had an impact on you'll need mint on your on people understanding. yes absolutely as i said before in the last contest of the boston years. movement against what the. it was and the far from of the more and it grew from there and people to about a 1000 last year however this summer more than 50000 people showed up on the street

saw that quite a large impact. we've been up in fight the by the prime minister by the mayors of em's of them right there and several institutions to think about policy proposals to combat racism and to add to the other speakers i don't think you have to choose between one or the other and that does context hunting cause for belgium as well. the fight against black bead opens up space for a broader debate about other issues and examples of racism such as racial profiling labor market discrimination. discrimination in education etc etc so it all. and stu the broader movement of progressive change the subject line and in london i just wanted to talk to you about how you change things legislatively through law through law making in the u.k.

we have the race relations act it's not perfect but a lot of people have suggested that it has changed things for the better for colored communities in the u.k. do you think that's true do you think it is law making or is it culture that needs to change. well when you support kl communities often it's quite offensive when really is the top book and what you say in. say that in britain there's been nearly 50 years of campaigning for race quota let's close in the 1st piece was in 1965 which was to stop discrimination people discriminates in and get an accommodation and then the men did stop discrimination and people didn't 11 markets and then it was a focus on structural racism in terms of government departments and local farted in other agencies and private businesses discriminates and so over the long history and tradition in the u.k. but those on it those changes how i want to come about through lobbying and

campaign see need to lobby and the activists work with lawmakers and the politicians and concerned individuals as well i think we've lost matter just a touch not very briefly it's a massive impact in britain so much so that a number of museums and institutions have now removed statues celebrating who people have benefited from the slave trade and this loan led to a national debate in britain what is britain and what's history of the history because history should we condone all to be examined at least so i think it's been an interesting but health the conversation that we have been we should have a should have a very long time ago to. quantised much less ascendant evelyn's some schools of voluntarily removing images of black paint some television news organization television entertainment shows have already stopped using them but there's no legislative constitutional law making going on to try and stop this from happening

is that part of your strategy is all to get laws changed. yes absolutely since the beginning has been one of our goals and missions to. lobby powers politicians more locally and actually to the philip legislation to. you know get rid of all kinds of racial stereotypes especially some of the big beat of course however unfortunately politicians have been you know not taking responsibility the prime minister for example has repeatedly said that it's not his responsibility to should be the responsibility of society and yeah that's a very disappointing decision but the positive thing indeed is that we do see a lot of change happening in schools in cultural institutions and companies so.

we do see some progression but on the political level unfortunately. those who have the authority have not taken their responsibility tracey i'm just going to come here in a 2nd by do want to pick up on something michel just said in effect then what is more important to you what is more important here is it. cultural change then or is it legal change. well i think both are very important and i think with all that that is matter of movement we have to understand that fighting racism is not a trend we leave for people who live in western society they face reeses every day that's the 1st thing the 2nd thing i think the change of mentality is the most important thing so we can have lost we can change that and so we can make resolution but if people don't change don't act differently against people of color

because that people will still have reason therefore it is still important to go in dialogues talk with people and yet like teach them about about history teach them about racism and teach them about the impact of racism on black people because a lot of people don't understand that facing racism is a traumatic experience i'm seeing that scene for us and much less a asked one of the bigger problems you've got when it comes to changing laws we need to just want to earlier when you're talking about politicians is actually in europe there is this rise of the far right or all politicians who may not be far right but i certainly listening to their constituencies and suggesting that actually if we do something about black paint we are going to anger a number of our constituents who don't see this as being rice and so you have a political problem here as well don absolutely absolutely and and there is the main reason why politicians have not taking responsibility again have to refer to the prime minister of the quote unquote liberal party.

he has acknowledged especially after the black president of rising of the some of that in deep black beat me such a change however because he knows that a large part of his political base is quite conservative it is afraid to take the steps to actually you know be full of legislation to abolish it so you know that that's a big generous. part of that and london. is that anyway this becoming a much more international movement of people in the u.k. and america. interested in this idea of black pete as a cultural stereotype the needs to go or is this very much focused on the netherlands you think it's not really a global issue. it's a global issue because you are we have our criminal black petes so if the black petes is steeped obviously in the history of netherlands but in britain we have our

similar petes in terms of racial stereotype and negativity there are some let's america as well but it's the same issue the same issue is a process of dehumanizing that was seen as objects or the other we're not we're not respected and valued as human beings and therefore it becomes fair game to belittle us and to define it and to hide behind impose commas traditions to justify our racist. propaganda as well and actually if we want to change people's hearts and minds it does require have the star look in the conversation and it's very sad to hear that another man's. politicians don't want to address this issue because they're worried about the voter base and a people stay in power but if we can educate a new generation of people from holland an impact belgium that. pete is racist piece is actually. dehumanizes the black experience and up to more importantly it

just defies even to certain extent your white privilege i think that would disappear when it happened next generation was sometimes to come painting as well we have the same issues in britain. and even though we've got probably the best let's listen in europe as we leave your possibly in the few days or and the year. or the best expression around fighting discrimination there is still a massive level of discrimination and there are still stereotypes of people patrick at heart i'm sorry for your show there but i do want to bring in our running out of time tracy very tense here one of the questions i always wonder about is does has black heat had an impact in kinshasa in regards of people you speak to is that i think they're aware of is it something that they know that. well if you know there are so many issues the end of black beads one of the least of their issues but when

you end up with congolese people about that they don't understand and of course the also see this reeses i'm. even old colonial that white belgian that meeting go for a while and then go back to belgium and see black beating that's weird and wrong so yes it's not the main issue but talking about colonization of the colonization is not only a western subject it's also an african subject and indeed the company excepted. i want to thank all our guests mention the sas tracy biba tansey and patrick vernon and i want to thank you too as well for watching now you can see the program again any time by this thing our web site out is there a dot com and for the discussion go to our facebook page at facebook dot com 'd forward slash a.j. inside story and you can also join the conversation on twitter we are at a day inside story from me among town and the whole team here in town and.

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the and. us president donald trump again falsely claims victory in his 1st rally since losing to joe biden as he backs republican standing in georgia senate runoff. come fully back to boyer watching al jazeera live from doha also coming up the e.u. and u.k. hold last ditch talks on a break sit trade deal with time running out to agree on a way forward a vote is under way for a new congress in venezuela but critics say president maduro is trying to.