The Sunday Debate: Revere or Remove? The Battle Over Statues, Heritage and History

Jan 15, 2023

Guest

Dr Tiffany Jenkins

Guest

David Olusoga, an award-winning historian, discusses the legacy of controversial figures and the heated debate around their statues. Peter Frankopan emphasizes the need for educational contexts rather than public admiration for such monuments. Afua Hirsch meditates on cultural memory and the impact of these symbols on marginalized communities. Tiffany Jenkins adds insights on balancing historical context with social justice, exploring the complexities of preserving versus removing statues, and advocating for meaningful dialogue about our shared past.

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ANECDOTE

Colston Statue Removal

David Olusoga would remove the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol.
Colston was a prolific slave trader with no mitigating positive actions.

INSIGHT

Statues and Public Interpretation

Tiffany Jenkins believes statues symbolize a complex past.
She suggests leaving them for public interpretation instead of museum placement.

ANECDOTE

Rhodes Statue Removal

Afua Hirsch supports removing the Cecil Rhodes statue.
Rhodes' racism was problematic, even by his time's standards, making his reverence offensive.

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Statues and memorials to famous figures of the past adorn our towns and cities but what should be done when some of these figures have come to be seen by many people as controversial symbols of oppression and discrimination?

In Britain, the Rhodes Must Fall campaign hit the headlines when it demanded the removal of the statue of Cecil Rhodes from Oxford’s Oriel College, of which he was a leading benefactor, because of his colonialism. In the US, violent protests in Charlottesville were sparked by a decision to remove from a park a statue of Robert E. Lee, a Confederate general in the American Civil War, because of the association of the Confederacy with slavery.

Passions run high on both sides. Are those calling for the removal of controversial statues seeking to right an historical injustice or are they trying to erase history? And are those who object to removing memorials defending the indefensible or are they conserving historical reality, however unpalatable that may be? To discuss these emotive questions and examine the broader cultural conflicts which lie behind them, Intelligence Squared joined forces with Historic England to bring together a stellar panel including historians David Olusoga and Peter Frankopan, the journalist and author Afua Hirsch and the cultural commentator Tiffany Jenkins. The event was chaired by Guardian columnist, broadcaster and author Jonathan Freedland.

This debate was made in Partnership with Historic England, on the 14th of May 2018 in London and was produced by Executive Producer Hannah Kaye

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