This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/10/toppling-edward-colstons-statue-is-unlikely-to-be-enough-to-stop-public-anger
The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Toppling Edward Colston’s statue is unlikely to be enough to stop public anger | Toppling Edward Colston’s statue is unlikely to be enough to stop public anger |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| Few imperial icons, including Churchill, are safe from the need to reappraise Britain’s past | Few imperial icons, including Churchill, are safe from the need to reappraise Britain’s past |
| The toppling of slaver Edward Colston’s statue has electrified a longer term – and already deeply polarised – debate among British historians and academics, with some celebrating a “moment of history” as others warned of dark consequences for society. | The toppling of slaver Edward Colston’s statue has electrified a longer term – and already deeply polarised – debate among British historians and academics, with some celebrating a “moment of history” as others warned of dark consequences for society. |
| Inaction over figures such as Colston had bred anger that would be felt “all over Britain”, said Andrea Livesey, a historian specialising in the study of slavery and its legacies and who described the events in Bristol as “wholly justified”. | |
| Her employer, Liverpool John Moores University, which has agreed to rename a building named after former prime minister William Gladstone due to his views on slavery, had been “relatively shielded” from the most recent debates on statue toppling and renaming because of its status as a post-1992 university, she said. | Her employer, Liverpool John Moores University, which has agreed to rename a building named after former prime minister William Gladstone due to his views on slavery, had been “relatively shielded” from the most recent debates on statue toppling and renaming because of its status as a post-1992 university, she said. |
| “Yet we have origins going back to 1823 to people who benefited the most from the Atlantic slave trade,” she said. “Our case is symbolic of Britain’s memory of slavery: shielded from view, far away from the plantations of the US and Caribbean, and only visible to those who have taken the time to educate themselves.” | “Yet we have origins going back to 1823 to people who benefited the most from the Atlantic slave trade,” she said. “Our case is symbolic of Britain’s memory of slavery: shielded from view, far away from the plantations of the US and Caribbean, and only visible to those who have taken the time to educate themselves.” |
| The toppling of Colston was described by the Cambridge academic Priyamvada Gopal as an example of young people in particular “dealing with history in an honest way” and taking radical action to remove a monument that politicians and others had been unable to dislodge. | The toppling of Colston was described by the Cambridge academic Priyamvada Gopal as an example of young people in particular “dealing with history in an honest way” and taking radical action to remove a monument that politicians and others had been unable to dislodge. |
| Like others who were supportive of the moves to reappraise the monuments and statues of Britain’s imperial past, she was in no doubt that the primary focus should be on that of Cecil Rhodes. | Like others who were supportive of the moves to reappraise the monuments and statues of Britain’s imperial past, she was in no doubt that the primary focus should be on that of Cecil Rhodes. |
| “What I am hearing, even from administrators at Oxford, is that it is now not a case of if but when Rhodes will be gone, and that is something to be celebrated,” said Gopal, a reader in colonial and postcolonial literature at Cambridge University, | “What I am hearing, even from administrators at Oxford, is that it is now not a case of if but when Rhodes will be gone, and that is something to be celebrated,” said Gopal, a reader in colonial and postcolonial literature at Cambridge University, |
| By contrast, there was deep unease among defenders of British imperial heritage, such as Nigel Biggar, a Regius professor of theology at Oxford, who said there were three problems with the “current fancy” for toppling statues. | By contrast, there was deep unease among defenders of British imperial heritage, such as Nigel Biggar, a Regius professor of theology at Oxford, who said there were three problems with the “current fancy” for toppling statues. |
| “First, it lacks democratic legitimacy. It’s not right that a zealous crowd in Bristol, however well-intentioned, gets to pull down Colston at will. Because if the left have the liberty to do that, then the right will take it too. The result? Bloodshed on the streets. | “First, it lacks democratic legitimacy. It’s not right that a zealous crowd in Bristol, however well-intentioned, gets to pull down Colston at will. Because if the left have the liberty to do that, then the right will take it too. The result? Bloodshed on the streets. |
| “Second, it’s historically false. Judging by the campaign in 2015-16, those calling for Rhodes to fall are propelled by a caricature of him as South Africa’s Hitler. That’s nonsense – and worse, it’s a slander. | “Second, it’s historically false. Judging by the campaign in 2015-16, those calling for Rhodes to fall are propelled by a caricature of him as South Africa’s Hitler. That’s nonsense – and worse, it’s a slander. |
| “Thirdly, pulling down statues does nothing to rectify real injustices and redress the unfair disadvantages that some black Britons suffer from.” | “Thirdly, pulling down statues does nothing to rectify real injustices and redress the unfair disadvantages that some black Britons suffer from.” |
| Melissa Gustin, an art historian with an expertise in sculpture, said that all public sculpture had a natural life cycle, which even its creators accepted. | Melissa Gustin, an art historian with an expertise in sculpture, said that all public sculpture had a natural life cycle, which even its creators accepted. |
| A focus fell on Colston because he was a “particularly egregious” example, but she said no statues were safe forever as a debate evolved to bring in figures such as Gladstone, Robert Peel and even Winston Churchill. | |
| “I’m worried about the idea that people are saying this is ‘erasing history’. What is actually happening is that history is being made by these acts in themselves.” | “I’m worried about the idea that people are saying this is ‘erasing history’. What is actually happening is that history is being made by these acts in themselves.” |
| Fiona Cosson, a history lecturer at Bournemouth University with an interest in public history and heritage, said Colston’s toppling had sent a ripple effect through the country. | Fiona Cosson, a history lecturer at Bournemouth University with an interest in public history and heritage, said Colston’s toppling had sent a ripple effect through the country. |
| In some cases, she suggested contentious statues could be removed from prominent public and civic positions, and re-sited in new public museum parks “to become a place of education, criticality, and debate about the history of the British empire, rather than the ‘set-in-stone’ history that they had seemed to represent up until now”. | |
| Others venturing a view included Ashley Jackson, professor of imperial and military history at King’s College London, who said he would have preferred “due process” to be applied in the case of the Colston statue and was concerned about where the current campaign would stop. | Others venturing a view included Ashley Jackson, professor of imperial and military history at King’s College London, who said he would have preferred “due process” to be applied in the case of the Colston statue and was concerned about where the current campaign would stop. |
| “There is an issue around where you stop apologising, or where you stop destroying,” said Jackson, who added that those who shared his position felt particular anxieties about speaking about them publicly in the current climate. | “There is an issue around where you stop apologising, or where you stop destroying,” said Jackson, who added that those who shared his position felt particular anxieties about speaking about them publicly in the current climate. |
| “If Colston must fall, or Rhodes, then the logic might follow that Victoria and Churchill would come into question as well. You have to deal with all of the past in all of its complexity and it’s why we need to revisit our approach to the teaching of history. | |
| “For too long, for example, we have had a division in the teaching of history between Britain in itself and the British empire.” |