page_title: Kick Out Zwarte Piet
hierarchical_section_title: Kick Out Zwarte Piet
caption_attribution_description: English: Sign reading "just a different Piet - and freedom of expression"
context_page_description: Kick Out Zwarte Piet is a Dutch activist organization that campaigns against the Zwarte Piet character in the culture of the Low Countries. Zwarte Piet is traditionally part of the annual feast of Sinterklaasavond in the Netherlands, Belgium, Aruba, Curaçao and the Dutch diaspora on the evening of 5 December in the Netherlands and 6 December in Belgium. In the folklore of the Low Countries, Zwarte Piet is portrayed as the dark-skinned Spanish Moor companion to Sinterklaas.
  Zwarte Piet is a controversial part of Dutch culture in part due to the perceived likeness to the now-disgraced blackface tradition in the United States. Because of this, efforts are made by KOZP and some members of the Dutch public in the form of meetings and protests to abolish Zwarte Piet from Sinterklaasavond, often met by opposition from traditionalists who generally argue that Zwarte Piet represents Dutch tradition and not racism.
context_section_description: Kick Out Zwarte Piet (KOZP) is a Dutch activist organization that campaigns against the Zwarte Piet character ([ˈzʋɑrtə ˈpit], in English: Black Pete, or Black Peter) in the culture of the Low Countries. Zwarte Piet is traditionally part of the annual feast of Sinterklaasavond (in English: "St. Nicholas' Eve") in the Netherlands, Belgium, Aruba, Curaçao and the Dutch diaspora on the evening of 5 December in the Netherlands and 6 December in Belgium. In the folklore of the Low Countries, Zwarte Piet is portrayed as the dark-skinned Spanish Moor companion to Sinterklaas.
  Zwarte Piet is a controversial part of Dutch culture in part due to the perceived likeness to the now-disgraced blackface tradition in the United States. Because of this, efforts are made by KOZP and some members of the Dutch public in the form of meetings and protests to abolish Zwarte Piet from Sinterklaasavond, often met by opposition from traditionalists who generally argue that Zwarte Piet represents Dutch tradition and not racism.
caption: Activists at a KOZP protest in The Hague in 2019. The sign in the foreground reads: Alleen een andere Piet en vrijheid van meningsuiting. (in English: "Only another Pete and freedom of speech".)
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