In the news

Colston's statue being invisible at the bottom of a river doesn't really help people learn from the mistakes of those times

I think the act of toppling it and chucking it in the harbour does exactly that

Just do a google image search for: underwater slave statue

that's cool!

It will be put in a museum, and I hope they don't repair it so all the dents and damage/graffiti will be visible, making it quite the exhibit.

Unfortunately metallurgical processing was less stringent bitd.
There could leachable quantities of arsenic in that old bronze statue.

Realise this is for Brass, but copper processing brings the same impurities.

Yep agreed in the museum.

The thing is that statue was unveiled in 1895, 174 years after Colston died, 70 years after slavery was abolished. It was a pro-Tory, pro-empire piece of propaganda. Most people weren’t into slavery, to assume at some point they were ok with that is a fallacy.
The statue was erected on a point in time closer to today than to his death.
The history to be gathered is that the local Tories wanted to make a stamp in Bristol in 1895

Leave it in the water.

erasing history

It's a really good point [the one you made].

Some of it is no doubt small-c conservatives using it as an argument to support their world view. But in the current era of revisionism and fake news there is something that feels uncomfortable about people calling for all the statues they don't like being pulled down.

Then on the flipside history is perpetually revised based on the current generations world view. So whatever really.

pulling this worthless shit down and chucking it in the sea IS history.

That map has Wales on.

Otherwise, all legit.

Wales is, I'm afraid, fucked - when NI and Scotland are gone it's just going to be England and Wales.

Wales will go soon enough, Cornwall too.

Nah, Wales and Cornwall voted for Brexit. They’re with us all the way.

Apparently Wales only voted for Brexit because of all the English people living (retired?) there.

Regarding the "erasing history" accusation, there are lots of historically significant figures who don't have a statue anywhere. All a statue proves is that at some point someone with enough power and cash thought you were worth making a statue of. So that argument boils down to "well it's already there and it's a reminder that some people once thought that being a slave trader could be overlooked in favour of other, better characteristics."

As a piece of artwork, it's probably not that significant and public art gets installed and removed all the time. I can't really see any argument for leaving it publicly installed except for the thin-end-of-the-wedge argument that everyone's imperfect and especially if you judge people in the past by today's standards. If you tear down every statue that anyone finds objectionable, soon none will be left. But thin-end-of-the-wedge arguments are, more often than not, shite.

It's funny how people talk about removing statues as erasing history.

It’s also ironic when there’s a lots of histories been erased that play a significant roles, especially in the World Wars.

Moreso in films and televisions (such as the Indian Army play a huge roles in the 1st World War, or the French Army launches a massacres in Algeria exactly on VE Day.).

Not all Miss Hitler contestants

What does this refer to?

This live thread is very interesting because of all the racist statues and other monuments it highlights. Quite a few things getting taken down, renamed, etc.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/jun/09/uk-protests-black-lives-matter-colston-statue-rhodes-live

Let's hope that these meaningful actions don't become tokenism but are followed by many other effective measures, and many positive changes in hearts and minds.

^
This.

This.

https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jun/09/four-uk-neo-nazis-jailed-for-membership-of-national-action?amp_js_v=a3&amp_gsa=1&usqp=mq331AQFKAGwASA%3D#aoh=15917293054993&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fuk-news%2F2020%2Fjun%2F09%2Ffour-uk-neo-nazis-jailed-for-membership-of-national-action

Why did no one tell me that Gavin Williamson had such a silly voice?

God. That's a long link.

One posed in a Miss Hitler thing. Four got jailed for being cunts. Nazi Cunts BTW.

I apologise for the C word though.

The guy on the far right (badum tish) is surprisingly good looking considering the usual "master race" types.