No, this is not just about Dutch Masters and paintings from the Gilded Age. It does give some insight to extremists, religion, Protestantism, slavery, whiteness or Anglo-Saxon heritage, pilgrims and the roots of Mitt Romney in Michigan. The state has a strong Dutch linkage and to the Dutch Reformed Church which is a fundamental religion with plenty of medieval principles and no place for liberalism.

The Pilgrims left Europe for the Americas, one point of origin was the city of Leiden in The Netherlands. Bush the Elder visited the site and unveiled a memorial plaque. The humanities may have been preached from the pulpits in the late Middle-Ages, human rights were not much of a concern as soon as the name of the culprit was known. Public execution on the gallows or locked-in at the city square to be mocked wasn’t uncommon. So it went for political prisoners, even for those of high standing who were detained in the “Royal suite”.

Much of these political affairs were kept by manuscript, however major events were kept for history by painting the scene of the mob, murder, fire or execution. Much like we do not like to see the faces of victims of war as in Syria, some censorship is common. Apparently that is what happened with the original painting of the mob lynching the De Witt brothers on that fatal day August 20, 1672. In the 19th century, the scene where town’s people cut off fingers and toes for souvenirs, was painted over and replaced by a military cannon! The past months, the painting needed to be restored and this fact became visible. The painting in its original vorm can be seen in the the The Hague Museum of Prisoners’Gate, the very location were the mob ended the lives of two great Dutch nationals because of a political dispute. All can be found today in the Dutch newspaper NRC – link here. Link to Museum paintings and photo’s via Facebook.

A journey through history from the Orange Order to White Men, and AngloSaxon supremacists. Sound familiar? Indeed some linkage to the politics of Willard. More below the fold …

Murder of the De Witt brothers in The Hague (1672)

Cornelius de Witt (1623-1672) held various positions in Holland and distinguished himself when he accompanied Admiral Michael de Ruyter in great naval battles against the united English and French fleets. His brother Johan de Witt (1625-1672) was an adherent of the republican states-right party which opposed the princes of the house of Orange, who represented the federal principle and who had the support of the masses of the people.

The great diplomatic skill of Johan de Witt led in 1668 to the Triple Alliance between the Dutch Republic, England and Sweden, which halted the French invasion of Spanish Netherlands. However, in 1672, after persuading Charles II of England to abandon the Dutch, Louis XIV of France suddenly declared war and invaded the United Provinces. When the French armies overran Holland, the Dutch people turned to William III of Orange for leadership.

The de Witt brothers, however, opposed William III, leading to violent demonstrations against them. Cornelius was arrested on charges of conspiring against the prince, was tortured and banished. When his brother Johan came to visit him in the Gevangenenpoort at the Hague, a vast crowd burst in, seized the two brothers and tore them to pieces. Their mangled remains were hung by their feet from a lamp-post.  

  • No surprise, the Dutch were deeply involved in the religious wars in England, the protestants still have their yearly Orange marches through the Catholic neighborhoods in Belfast, Northern Ireland

It must be in the color …

Sociology: Romney playing on the theories of Samuel P. Huntington

This commentary from Mitt Romney about the US’s Anglo-Saxon American heritage is both tasteless and dangerous.  It is a trick right off the block of Samuel P. Huntington’s Who Are We?  Remember that book!

He is racializing the 2012 presidential race and creating a hierarchy of ethnic groups in the US (with Anglo-Saxon being at the top of course).

Romney’s talk of ‘whiteness’ is dangerous because it is insinuating that Obama is not and never can be ‘American’ enough because of the colour of his skin.  This is downright racist. Romney appears to connote Anglo-Saxon with the ‘real’ Americans, and thus Obama cannot fit into this definition because of the colour of his skin.

Romney would be wise to veer away from this type of racial commentary, but unfortunately, he is playing to the imagination of many Americans.  See his ideologue Ryan.

Many Americans yearn for the romantic tale of a country which was once a ‘pure’ and ‘homogenous’ community composed of white Anglo-Saxon Protestants.  The fact is Americans have never been a homogenous community and more importantly it never will be.

Isn’t it ironic, the story of his visit to Michigan was printed in the Huntington Woods – Berkley Patch – Mitt Romney: ‘No One Has Ever Asked to See My Birth Certificate’

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