- Question
How do we think about taking down controversial statues in the UK?
In June 2020 protestors circulated a hit list of controversial UK statues to be taken down. These included Gandhi, Winston Churchill and Robert Baden-Powell. Campaigners say these statues must be ripped down because they contribute to racialised systemic violence. In turn, this trickles down into every facet of public life and subordinates ethnic minorities. On the other side, groups made up of mostly far right activists say this is deeply offensive. They see this lobby as a violent mob that have been undeservedly handed a mandate to whitewash UK history. So, who are these groups, what do they think, and why?
We have every right to take the statues down
This group believes that tearing down statues is an important method at redressing systemic racial inequality. Proponents include Black Lives Matter, and left wing, British commentators such as Namitha Aravind.
- The controversial statues celebrate evil acts
- The controversial UK statues destroy the intellectual health of the public
- The statues sustain structural oppression
- This is the revolutionary resistance we have been waiting for
- The controversial statues debate shows how Britain's democratic channels have failed us
- The controversial statues legitimise racism
- Controversial statues hide deep injustice
- The controversial statues oppress UK ethnic minorities
- Having controversial statues in a museum sanctifies evil
- The controversial statues represent UK history inaccurately
- The controversial statues venerate evil people
How dare they tear down our statues
This entry describes a nativist reaction against removing controversial UK statues, associated with groups such as the EDL and the alt-right press. It frames anti-statue activists as a lawless mob 'erasing British history,' and leans heavily on anti-immigrant and racist rhetoric.
- The police are working in the interests of the enemy when they support those who tear down controversial statues
- This is an attack on the white working class
- Non-whites should go back to where they came from rather than tearing down controversial statues
- We must defend British culture against those who tear down controversial statues in the UK
- All lives matter, so tearing down controversial statues in the UK is wrong
- The people tearing down controversial statues are erasing British history
- The controversial statues are an attack on the UK's white majority
- We have been forced to accept multiculturalism against our will
- The violent mob are race traitors
We should approach the statues issue with caution
This group believes that there are other ways to look at this debate. They are neither in favour of tearing them all down, or defending them till the death. They see the issue as symptomatic of wider concerns the we should address. Proponents include free speech activists, left wing historians such as David Olusoga and the moderate press.
- The UK controversial statues debate is about the decline of the West
- Our approach to storytelling UK statues is flawed
- The controversial statues are a distraction from the real issue at hand in the UK
- Controversial statues have an educational purpose in the UK
- We should focus on the UK's present, not its past
- The UK controversial statues debate is an opportunity to think about how we look at history
- We should find ways to give more context to these controversial statues in the UK