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UpdateThe Committee of Ministers of the Dutch Language Union has decided to cancel the award of the Dutch Literature Prize to the writer Astrid Roemer. Roemer receives the award, but the committee does not consider a presentation by the Belgian king appropriate.
“We are firmly distancing ourselves from the views and statements of Mrs Roemer,” the committee told news time. “That is why we have jointly decided, in consultation with Literatuur Vlaanderen and the Dutch Literature Foundation, that we do not consider it appropriate to continue the award ceremony.”
Roemer’s statements about the December 1982 murders are the reason for the decision. The then army chief Desi Bouterse was court martialed for the December killings. On July 30, Roemer wrote a “thank you” on his Facebook page: “Our Surinamese community was in desperate need of DDB to become more self-aware. Thanks dude.’
Political decision
Roemer said Tuesday evening in a response to Nieuwsuur that he still supported his statements. “Am I going to tell you something?” I still stand by the written texts that I have posted on Facebook and Twitter, and other statements that I have made, such as yours. ”
According to Roemer, Paul Hermans (director of Flemish literature, comparable to the Dutch Literature Foundation – ed.) Made it clear to him that the cancellation of the awards ceremony “is a political decision and that the jury fully supports the arguments on the basis of which the award was awarded to me, exactly as stated in the press release. The message specifies that the prize is awarded for the body of work of a writer in the genres of poetry, prose and / or theater.
Torn discussion
The writer calls “a weight of my heart” that the ceremony be called off. ,, There would be protests during the ceremony and I don’t want my guests to feel bad. It is also a gift that he does not give because I would feel overwhelmed by the court. I have even been called a member of the NSB even though I have been fighting and writing about racism for 50 years. “
Roemer thinks what has happened now is good for the discussion of the Bouterse years. ,, Thanks to you (Nieuwsuur) this case was torn up, thank you for that. It was a discussion that was in a cramp here in Suriname, and it is now out of that cramp. “
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