I cannot believe in weapons.
Not here, not anywhere.
Because every weapon speaks the same language:
division, fear, forgetting our shared breath.

War is never humane.
It does not protect — it erases.
It does not end suffering — it multiplies it.
From Gaza to Kyiv,
from Jakarta’s old wounds to Amsterdam’s silent squares —
the scars only deepen.

And how can we, in this small country of rivers and rain,
pretend we are untouched?
We live together —
Moroccan and Turkish, German, Indonesians, Indo, Surinamese people of Javanese, Creole, and Hindustani descent,
Polish and Romanian,
Arab and Dutch-born children of all these lands.
We carry many mother tongues,
but our longing is the same:
to be safe, to be seen, to be whole.

Today, 15 August, we remember the end of the war in the Pacific.
But remembrance cannot stop at one history.
We need a commemoration that honors all human life —
past and present, near and far.
A remembrance that does not divide pain into categories,
but teaches us how to end wars,
not begin them.
One day, one memory,
rooted not in hate but in humanity.

Because to commemorate one war while ignoring another
is to fracture our humanity.
Grief does not wear one flag.
Pain does not ask for a passport.
Every tear is proof that we belong to one another.

I believe peace begins in us.
In the courage to search,
to discover who we really are.
Because the more we love ourselves,
the less we need to fight others.
Because self-knowledge grows into compassion,
and compassion grows into peace.

I cannot support war,
because I believe in us.
In all of us.
A people of many roots
planted in the same soil.
A country wide enough for every story,
deep enough for every hope,
brave enough for peace.

Let’s start here, today —
in Holland, where we still live in peace.
The country we all call home. 🕊🇳🇱