In-depth interview with David Van Reybrouck. Belgian essayist, historian and journalist, he has taken a close look at Belgian and Dutch colonialism in two major works: “Congo, a history”, and “Revolusi, Indonesia and the birth of the modern world”. He talks about the recent increase in Western awareness of colonial violence, and describes its symbolic limits. In his view, "we struggle against the symbols of past injustices while accepting the structures of present injustices”.
Last week researchers in the Netherlands and Indonesia finally laid out the ways in which the Dutch state both condoned and concealed its systematic use of “extreme violence” during the Indonesian war of independence. In response, the Dutch prime minister apologised. But the findings focus on laying out the facts and skirt any issues of criminal responsibility.