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The blackface has to go, and most (educated) Dutch people wholeheartedly agree with that and have for years. It's getting the message across to the rest of the people and eradicating a centuries-old tradition that has proven to be very difficult.
I personally think, because Dutch culture is so integrated and influenced by many cultures, some people don't (want to) recognize that some of their traditions and behaviors still stem from racism, even if they don't see it as racist.
The organizing parties have taken steps to slowly alter the appearance of Zwarte Piet as of 2014, since the 2013 celebrations are already going on. Starting in 2014 there will be changes made to slowly alter the look of Zwarte Piet in a few years. As in, no more golden earrings, curly black wigs, red lips etc, with more changes every year. They decided against changing it all in one year, as that would have the same result as telling all kids that Santa doesn't exist, the Dutch kids believe in Sinterklaas and Zwarte Piet like American kids believe in Santa. I'm glad this has got people talking and reevaluating their behaviors.
And Black Pete has nothing to do with Christmas here. It's a different holiday. In The Netherlands Christmas is still BabyJesus, sparkly lights and food. Santa and his reindeer have made an entrance too (mostly on TV), but December 5th is when kids get presents from an old guy in a red suit, who, with his helpers, deliver presents to all kids who were good. Sound familiar?
I have to say, this is a very poorly written article on the subject. I can tell the article is written by an "outsider" as in, they got many, many facts wrong in that article and it's very one-sided. There has been a huge debate on this in the last few months and most of the stories on the web and in papers have been far better researched.
TLDR? The Blackface has to go, and most Dutch people agree, but how to do that without taking away THE children's holiday (presents-wise celebrated much like X-mas) is going to be a tough nut to crack.
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