POLITICAL VOICES

Kathleen Ferrier

Member of Parliament of Netherlands (2002-2012), Netherlands

Kathleen Ferrier was born in Suriname. She studied languages, cultures and literature of Latin America. She works and has worked in international cooperation, as an academic professor, and served as a member of parliament in the Netherlands for over ten years. She is involved in issues related to human rights and democracy, and she is currently the chair of the Dutch UNESCO Commission.

Ferrier is a public speaker and writer on international relations, female leadership, and the principle of diversity as a source of strength.

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Action

I consider my most successful initiative to build common ground my work with migrant Christians. To make them heard and seen in society and to introduce these vital communities to Dutch politics/politicians and vice versa: to allow my colleagues in parliament to become aware of the presence and the contributions these communities pay to our society.

As a politician with a multicultural background, it was rather shocking to see how little true (real) knowledge of diversity my colleagues in parliament had. As representative of the people, one cannot live in her or his own ‘bubble’. I organised meetings and discussions with and for migrant church leaders. At the first gathering in parliament, two hundred leaders showed up, and it was an eye opening experience for both the politicians and the church leaders.

Relevant discourse

“…The core of this discussion, both on the national and the international level, is that we should learn to see reality from different perspectives. Until now, the perspective has always been that of those in power: the perspective of the privileged.

As long as China was the factory of the world, all was fine, but now that China has the possibility to become a world power, alarm bells ring: a rival system, we are threatened.

Closer to home, when people from international churches share their singing and exotic cooking with us, all is fine. But when they ask us to share space and power, things change… For that other perspective it is needed that those in privileged positions, -whether that is because they are male, white, well-abled, heterosexual, well-educated etc.- stop seeing themselves as the norm.

And even as important is the other way around: that those who are not in a privileged position stop seeing themselves as victims ….” (Part of Ferrier’s Anton de Kom Lecture, June 2019)

Kathleen Ferrier's channels

Kathleen Ferrier is leader on:

Political participation & representation of ethnic minorities