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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/sep/02/big-issue-monuments-provide-historical-nuances
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| The big issue: monuments can provide valuable historical nuances | |
| (11 days later) | |
| David Olusoga’s article piqued my interest, especially his assertion that “not all statues are created equal” (“Statues are not the issue. These are ‘history wars’, a battle over the past”, Comment). I completely agree, especially in terms of Confederate relics. However, I wonder if there is a danger in leaving a certain absence in our knowledge if we remove some of our lesser-known controversial statues. | David Olusoga’s article piqued my interest, especially his assertion that “not all statues are created equal” (“Statues are not the issue. These are ‘history wars’, a battle over the past”, Comment). I completely agree, especially in terms of Confederate relics. However, I wonder if there is a danger in leaving a certain absence in our knowledge if we remove some of our lesser-known controversial statues. |
| A hulking, marble monument will alone never provide all the nuances but can still act as a useful tool in engaging the public and the historical process. Is it then more of an issue about the lack of visible-informative plaques than the presence of statues? | A hulking, marble monument will alone never provide all the nuances but can still act as a useful tool in engaging the public and the historical process. Is it then more of an issue about the lack of visible-informative plaques than the presence of statues? |
| I live in London and we are not having the necessary debates and discourse about many of our monuments; removals would forever stagnate these discussions.Joseph NockelsLondon SE17 | I live in London and we are not having the necessary debates and discourse about many of our monuments; removals would forever stagnate these discussions.Joseph NockelsLondon SE17 |
| David Olusoga’s debate is not just about race but also about gender. The “history war”, about which neglected influential woman should be represented in bronze in Parliament Square for winning the parliamentary vote for women, is now being played out. | David Olusoga’s debate is not just about race but also about gender. The “history war”, about which neglected influential woman should be represented in bronze in Parliament Square for winning the parliamentary vote for women, is now being played out. |
| The Royal Parks agreed that two statutes to women could be erected but, sadly, the Millicent Garrett Fawcett campaign has not worked well with those advocating that the plan should also include Emmeline Pankhurst. | The Royal Parks agreed that two statutes to women could be erected but, sadly, the Millicent Garrett Fawcett campaign has not worked well with those advocating that the plan should also include Emmeline Pankhurst. |
| The campaign’s constant cry for Fawcett, who favoured peaceful, legal tactics to win the vote, as opposed to the radicalism advocated by Pankhurst, falls short of conviction. It was not until 1903, when Pankhurst’s suffragette organisation was founded, that votes for women became a household issue, debated up and down the land. | The campaign’s constant cry for Fawcett, who favoured peaceful, legal tactics to win the vote, as opposed to the radicalism advocated by Pankhurst, falls short of conviction. It was not until 1903, when Pankhurst’s suffragette organisation was founded, that votes for women became a household issue, debated up and down the land. |
| To deny Pankhurst this right is churlish and mean. It follows in the footsteps of Fawcett herself who refused to attend the funeral of Emily Wilding Davison, the suffragette who died in 1913 after trying to grab the reins of the king’s horse at the Derby.Professor June PurvisUniversity of Portsmouth | To deny Pankhurst this right is churlish and mean. It follows in the footsteps of Fawcett herself who refused to attend the funeral of Emily Wilding Davison, the suffragette who died in 1913 after trying to grab the reins of the king’s horse at the Derby.Professor June PurvisUniversity of Portsmouth |
| We may need new rules of engagement to allow the destruction, or “deplatforming”, of statues that pose a real and imminent threat. | We may need new rules of engagement to allow the destruction, or “deplatforming”, of statues that pose a real and imminent threat. |
| This could also spare other effigies of “bad” dead people, which may remind us of what went wrong and what not to do again. As a non-conformist atheist, I regret the loss of Catholic idols knocked out of medieval churches. An occasional glimpse of surviving saints hasn’t made me worship them. | This could also spare other effigies of “bad” dead people, which may remind us of what went wrong and what not to do again. As a non-conformist atheist, I regret the loss of Catholic idols knocked out of medieval churches. An occasional glimpse of surviving saints hasn’t made me worship them. |
| Most dubious statues, like offensive living speakers, tweeters and parades, deserve a range of counter-views and moves. And much more media concern with social and historic context. | Most dubious statues, like offensive living speakers, tweeters and parades, deserve a range of counter-views and moves. And much more media concern with social and historic context. |
| In Trafalgar Square, a lofty Nelson is nicely offset by eye-level pop-ups on a fourth plinth once reserved for royalty. | In Trafalgar Square, a lofty Nelson is nicely offset by eye-level pop-ups on a fourth plinth once reserved for royalty. |
| Some institutional icons may also require recontextualisation. Why not a world peace museum (next to Lambeth Palace or Greenham Common?) to offset the Imperial War Museum; a colonial history centre as counter to the Commonwealth Institute and a slavery memorial exhibition, rotating between Bristol, Manchester and Liverpool, with a section on wage-slavery?Greg WilkinsonSwansea | Some institutional icons may also require recontextualisation. Why not a world peace museum (next to Lambeth Palace or Greenham Common?) to offset the Imperial War Museum; a colonial history centre as counter to the Commonwealth Institute and a slavery memorial exhibition, rotating between Bristol, Manchester and Liverpool, with a section on wage-slavery?Greg WilkinsonSwansea |
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