01-10-2025
Despite being prohibited by law since 1971, race discrimination continues to exist in the Netherlands, making it harder for some people to find a job and increasing their likelihood of being arrested. Why is this? KITLV researcher Alison Fischer argues that white supremacy is deeply embedded in Dutch law and culture.
When Fischer arrived in the Netherlands as an American immigrant and former criminal lawyer, she often heard people say: ‘Racism is an American problem’. ‘I thought, great! I’ve finally found a racism-free country’, she says with a trace of irony. ‘Racism in America comes from a history of colonialism and slavery. The Netherlands shares that history, but for many it feels distant because those practices mostly took place overseas.’
Fischer – who defended her PhD on 18 September – explored that Dutch colonial history in her research on why the law has failed to eliminate race discrimination. She also examined parliamentary reports, annual reports from organisations and newspaper archives (from 1978 to 1999). A significant part of her research focused on the Landelijk Bureau Racismebestrijding (LBR), an organisation tasked with tackling racism through legal means.