INNTIME News on court case UCF: Controversial Statue must be removed from the city center of Tilburg

 

On Wednesday, April 12, a hearing took place in the Court of Breda. Two members of Ubuntu Connected Front (UCF) appealed against the decision of the municipality to place only an information board at the controversial statue of the missionary Petrus Donders in the Wilhelmina Park instead of removing the statue from the city's public space. 

 

UCF finds the statue racist, colonial and stereotypical. Because the municipality of Tilburg does not want to remove the statue from the public space or contextualize it in a different way, it tolerates racism where it should be combating it. See also the UCF press release (in Dutch) of April 11, 2023.

 

The statue depicts a 19th century Catholic priest converting an enslaved African to Christianity in Suriname. The beatified missionary is seen as a hero in the city of Tilburg because of his dedication to leprous Africans and indigenous people at that time. Omitted in this narrative is that he actively destroyed spiritual practices and temples of indigenous and maroons in Suriname in his urge to impose the Christian faith.

The judge will rule in six weeks.