David vs Goliath: Chapter 25 of Surviving DEI at Adyen N.V.
The twenty fifth chapter of Surviving DEI at Adyen N.V. Marie-Anne Leuty (she/her) shares the experience of being allegedly invited into the fintech to do DEI work and The Study Group’s current legal fight to allegedly be recognised and paid for that culturally sensitive and important work.
Hi everyone,
My name’s Marie-Anne and you’re reading chapter 25 of 25 of an educational case study detailing The Study Group’s alleged experience doing specialist DEI work for fintech giant, Adyen N.V.
When I started to write this blog on 27 November 2023, I never envisaged it becoming a 30,000 (and counting) word research paper.
It just came pouring out.
A month later on 26 December 2023, we published this on The Quick + The Brave, our independent, BIPOC founded media platform, evoking the Dutch Whistleblower Protection Act of 18 February 2023.
It’s also available in full here on Medium.
In this chapter, legal proceedings get underway through our Legal Counsel from Stichting BEULAH. The first letter to arrive from Adyen N.V.’s lawyers at DLA Piper Nederland N.V. allegedly claiming co-ownership of a publication The Study Group has in development with The Black Archives, the largest historical archive of Black culture in the Netherlands.
One of the Co-Founders of The Black Archives let us know the anti-Black racism institution’s stance towards this alleged cultural appropriation.
The concluding chapters of this case study will be released in the upcoming publication ‘Advocates and Allies’, pre-sale soon available via The Quick + The Brave.
The full 30,000 word educational case study was first published on The Quick + The Brave. Visit the blog to read and see full image galleries.
Learn more about and support The Study Group Foundation.
Pre-sale for ‘mini maatje’ ‘Advocates and Allies’ issue soon available via The Quick + The Brave.
By publishing this blog, The Study Group evokes the Dutch Whistleblower Protection Act (Wet bescherming klokkenluiders) of 18 February 2023.
The full act from the Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Relations is available in Dutch and English.
Want to help amplify our story to other media? The Act protects all stakeholders who share it (clause 1a. Duty of confidentiality and data protection).
Chapter 25: David vs Goliath
Adyen N.V.’s legal representation, DLA Piper Nederland N.V. is the second largest law firm in the US.
As with the group CC on the termination email, this felt heavy handed.
We’re a two-person company, how would one not feel intimidated?
When their first letter arrived, I was scared.
It was made up of over 60 points.
After machine translating from Dutch into English, it allegedly turned out it was a collection of selective sentences from selected emails, mainly focusing on the expo and activities in the first year of the program.
Now in November 2023, this was an extreme way to go about getting the de-brief we had asked for in summer 2022.
This was the first time we’d allegedly received formalised feedback from Adyen N.V.
One of the alleged points raised was the non-delivery of mini maatje, the publication The Study Group has in development with The Black Archives. It was meant to be a Keti Koti special, released as part of the annual commemoration of the abolition of slavery in Suriname and former Dutch colonies.
Adyen N.V. claims that as alleged co-owner of the publication, it was disappointed that the publication hadn’t come to light.
The word ‘Adyen’ is appropriated from the Surinamese Sranan Tongo language — it translates to ‘starting over’.
The irony is not lost on us.
At the time that the production was due to take place, an important figure from the Surinamese community sadly passed. The team was in mourning. This was communicated to Adyen N.V. at the time.
In addition, the non-provision of design mentorship and alleged support from Adyen N.V’s Design Studio early on in the program’s development meant that we had to spend time seeking out designers from the community to work on the publication.
We reached out to The Black Archives to let them know about the case and Adyen N.V. allegedly claiming mini maatje (in part, at least) as their own.
One of the Co-Founders, Mitchell Esajas, responded:
“Hello my name is Mitchell Esajas, Co-Founder of The Black Archives.
“With this letter I would like to reiterate, emphasise, that we are very disappointed to hear about the conflict between The Study Group and Adyen N.V.
“We have been in touch with The Study Group since 2020 and started collaborating in 2021 in different ways. Since our exhibition about The Black Manifesto, we’ve developed different ideas and concepts for a publication together however due to a lack of capacity on our side we have not been able to realise these ideas. However, we do have proof that the concept for mini maatje existed before The Study Group entered a collaboration with you, Adyen N.V.
“We are very disappointed, appalled actually, to hear that a huge corporation such as Adyen N.V. is trying to take over and hijack the ideas of a small grassroots initiative.
“We believe that collaborations can only be successful when they are based on principles of truth and integrity from all parties involved. The fact that Adyen N.V. claims to be the owner or co-owner of the concept of mini maatje to us reflects a lack of integrity and even a form of appropriation of the work of Black or POC people
“This whole collaboration is meant to foster underexposed and underprivileged creatives in the Dutch cultural landscape so it’s extra disappointing, appalling, problematic that Adyen N.V. reproduces the kinds of structures that exclude Black and POC creatives.”
— Mitchell Esajas, Co-Founder of The Black Archives
Thank you for reading this educational paper.
This cruel and unusual situation has been more testing than I can articulate here.
This story must be for something and used as a learning point to support professionals and creatives from historically excluded communities so that we know our rights when all the worst case scenarios domino. We also want to hold space for allies who want to see meaningful change.
The concluding chapters of this case study will be released in the upcoming publication ‘Advocates and Allies’, pre-sale soon available via The Quick + The Brave.
Sign up for The Study Group’s emails to stay updated.
Thank you again for reading – comment and share with someone you think could learn from this case.
Best wishes,
Marie-Anne and Obi
By publishing this blog, The Study Group evokes the Dutch Whistleblower Protection Act (Wet bescherming klokkenluiders) of 18 February 2023.
The full act from the Ministry of Interior and Kingdom Relations is available in Dutch and English.
Want to help amplify our story to other media? The Act protects all stakeholders who share it (clause 1a. Duty of confidentiality and data protection).
Follow The Study Group on Instagram.
Subscribe to The Study Group’s emails.
Follow The Quick + The Brave on Instagram and X (formerly Twitter).
