Looks like next Saturday will be EDL at home to BLM. I fancy a score draw, but it could go either way. -- On a serious note, the "Football Lads" (whatever they are) have took it up on themselves to guard various monuments up and down the country. And when I say guard, I mean stand next to them in their Stone Island tackle spoiling for a fight with the BLM protesters. This is going to get worse before it gets better.
Agree to a point. Can pull all the statues down of Slave Traders for me though. But The Stone Island bunch will not help one bit.
Criminal damage is just that, not the right way of going about things. The guy built a vast fortune of the back of slaves, which rightly so is condemned these days, but he also did a lot of good in and around the Bristol area at the time. I also agree vigilantly action is not correct either
I think it's time these statues were reviewed though. I prefer the Scottish approach of putting alternative street names up instead of the slave owner names.
I agree Helen, there is definitely a case for removing some of our statues but it has to be done properly. Mobs removing statues that they don't like and throwing them in the river is criminal and again does nothing to help.
I'm not even sure a lot of the trouble is coming from the genuine BLM supporters. They are criminal rent a mob activists intent on causing trouble. So it will be just like an away day punch up with morons from both sides kicking off.
There was a poll in Bristol a few years ago and 56% wanted the statue to remain. I hope they aren't going to destroy the three schools in his name as well.
It's not something I really want to see. Then again why do we regularly see memorials to those that died in the 2 world wars damaged? It looked to me yesterday that a heck of a lot of protesters hanging around the cenotaph were white anglo-saxons, most probably middle-class who holiday with their parents in the Dordogne . You were there to protest about institutionalised racism and brutality.
whilst your point about criminal damage is valid ref your second point.... jimmy Saville gave millions to charity too.
Sorry Helen but I have to disagree, you seem to be justifying there actions. Will they pull half of Bristol City centre down too as a lot of that was paid by him.
Fair cop that. There is a slight difference though in that what he was doing at the time was not only legal but also encouraged in certain Society circles, whereas JS was carrying out illegal activities.
No I'm not condoning it but what does a statue actually do? I'm torn on the renaming thing, as a historian I don't like "painting" over of events or judging things by today's standards.. I'd like colonialism not from the British viewpoint to be taught more widely in schools though.
Think that’s fair enough TBH, that should be the real answer IMO, learning from the past to educate what people do in the future. So to discuss slavery, colonialism etc from all sides to see what can be done better. Equally I think there is an argument to continue with existing monuments etc to remind people how things have to or have changed for the better. Removing and deleting from history IMO would be worse.
Maybe something needs to go up alongside acknowledging the debt owed to the slaves in creating the wealth to endow the city. Or put these statues in a museum of our less than perfect past. I may come across as being fairly decided on things, but this is something I can't make up my mind on. I know when I visited the Soviet union, the official tour guides were so proud of the beauty of the cathedrals and palaces which surprised me.
This idea has been discussed on LBC today and seemed to get quite a bit of support. History cannot and should not be erased nor should we judge historical figures by 21st century standards but putting it in a museum, with updated details on the plinth, seems like a reasonable compromise to me.
