In view of the anti-statue uprising now taking place in the UK I thought we could start with a little quiz about statues and whether we should destroy them.
- This statue is to be found in Parliament Square and the person honoured was responsible for the death by bombing of 19 people. They supported and honoured Yasser Arafat, Muammar Gaddafi, Fidel Castro and President Suharto of Indonesia.
- This statue/artwork is to be found in Fen Court in the City of London. It is built on the site of a church whose vicar was a slave ship master and slave trader.
- Great British hero, in Trafalgar Square, well regarded by most of the country and therefore a target for destruction by the current agitators who consider him a warmonger.
- Located in Parliament Square this national hero has been the subject of worldwide adulation. In one famous quote he said, “black people are troublesome, very dirty and live like animals”.
- Positioned by Tower Hill tube station and the Tower of London this great leader was responsible for the sale of 53,000 slaves.
ANSWERS
- Of course, it was the great freedom fighter Nelson Mandela. He was the leader (imprisoned at the time) of the ANC who set off the bomb in Church Street, Pretoria, killing 19 people and injuring hundreds.
- This was John Newton, slave master. He also composed the wonderful hymn “Amazing Grace”. At a memorial service for murder victim Clementa Pinckney President Obama joined in the singing of this hymn. Oops!
- This is Lord Nelson who surveys London from the top of his column. A prime target for demonstrators, they have obviously failed to observe some of the murals on the side of the structure. If they looked closely, they would see in the relief carvings the depiction of a black, curly-haired male wielding a musket in the defence of Nelson at the battle of Trafalgar. This is thought to be George Ryan a 23-year-old sailor. So, by destroying the statue of Nelson, they would be eliminating from history a black hero.
- This is the great Mahatma Gandhi, the father of India. After spending time in South Africa, he began to develop racist opinions towards the non-European residents.
- This is a monument to Julius Caesar, the non-British Imperialist who as he is not British it is OK to support and revere. Unfortunately, after the conquest of Gaul, he sanctioned the sale of 53,000 conquered people as slaves. His successors when settling England enslaved many of the population.
It is appropriate to quote from Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare:
“The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones.”
So, while this applies to white heroes it is only selectively applied by the activists. In selective instances it is the reverse — the good living on, but the evil being interred.
All monuments are selective and must be considered in context. Do we have to balance the good that they do against the evil, and who are going to be the rightful arbiters of what is good or bad?
This situation has all the potential to undermine the fabric of UK society. The Security Intelligence Services are beginning to leak “details” such as lists of potential targets, and connections between the activists and certain organisations, and are encouraging the MSM to ask questions, such as “What is the source of the activists’ funds?”
There are already reactions coming from loosely structured organisations such as ‘football supporters’ groups who are looking to guard the statues.
The government is thumb twiddling at the moment — watch this space.
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