Just a few words about Charlottesville. There is a British equivalent to the backlash against monuments to past dignitaries who have made their success, fame or wealth - in one way or another - by the direct or indirect oppression of black people, whose heritage consists of a brief, 400 year history since their relatives were taken from Africa as slaves.
Bristol is very close to Bath, and is a port which grew very wealthy on the sugar, spice and associated slave trade. The city was built from the profits to be had from it, and the dignitaries at its height were the ones who profited the most.
Edward Colston was an early 18th century slave-trader and merchant there who built a school (for white children) and his name is commemorated in the Colston Hall, which - like Carnegie Hall - is a venue for music and other high-class entertainment.
There is an understandable movement to re-name the hall (I think The Nelson Mandela Hall was put forward) and I think that this will probably happen sooner or later. Bristol has a relatively large group of people with West Indian origins.
There are many statues and plaques around the country and in British universities which celebrate dignitaries with what is now considered a morally dubious past, and there are many movements which want to see these statues either taken down or the buildings re-named, despite - or because of - where the money to erect them came from.
The Soviets re-named St Petersburg as Leningrad, and now it has gone back to St Petersburg.
I don't know anything about Robert E Lee other than he was a Confederate General who - also understandably - opposed taking the vote away from ex-Confederates and giving it to freed slaves, and I only learned this in the last few minutes.
The other thing to be remembered is that nazis always rise to the surface during times of economic hardship.
It seems that - as ever - some things are always worth dying for and a quiet life in the shadow of our forebears is hard to lead, no matter where they came from.
It is my view that we can't change history by changing names but we should be able to embrace it and take it as a time gone by that should not be repeated. I expect Bristol benefited greatly from Colston's money, and that is accepted into in part the making of the great city Bristol is now. It is hard to imagine Colston Hall not being called Colston Hall, but not impossible of course.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Best to leave names as they are and educate. What about statues though?
DeleteAs my first answer. Where would we stop? Leave them as history is history and you cant absolve it by taking the statues away. It's not as if we worship them.
DeleteGenies, bottles.
DeleteJust a few words about Charlottesville. The protest of the possible removal of a statue and the renaming of a park should be addressed where it happens--at city hall. It does not require hundreds of masked and armed men occupying a college campus and city streets before dawn, and it certainly does not require the killing and injury of citizens. This was the exercise of intimidation, power, murder by a large band of thugs.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rachel and Joanne...and you of course Tom, better to educate than destroy. Off topic, but we were due to see Nick Lowe and Andy Fairtweather Low at Colston Hall recently but apparently there was asbestos falling from the ceiling so the concert was moved and we cancelled.
ReplyDeleteAh. Asbestos was a very lucrative commodity in the 1950s and 60s.It came, mainly, from Africa. Not off-topic at all.
DeleteThose fascist militia groups - what the fuck? Who needs anything other than pistols and hunting rifles for the right to bear arms? Who needs assault rifles and machine guns other than an army who needs to kill people? The amendment needs amending, surely?
ReplyDeleteNelson Mandela Hall, Che Guevara Hall, there are lots of alternatives; usually related to people who have gained power through slaughter.
ReplyDeleteI should have added; a left wing freedom fighter will always be more popular than a right wing terrorist. It's all in the nuance.
DeleteWho woke the Colonel up?
DeleteI watched a series called Taboo with Tom Hardy. Scary back then. I think it is the death of political correctness in the US. They are out and proud about their right wing views. Many have been outed and have lost their jobs, etc. Me, I'm in the middle somewhere. Don't like anyone with shrill voices and ganging up. I'd say the rednecks would never gain a toehold over here, but then I never ever thought we'd end up with Trump.
ReplyDeleteYes, we watched Taboo when it arrived. Scum rises to the surface.
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