Photos: Ire turns to colonial era statues in anti-racism protests
Anti-racism protesters who tore down a statue honouring a slave trader in a the British port city of Bristol on June 7 have fuelled a debate over how to deal with monuments to historic figures who profited from enslaving African people. These debates in Britain echo controversies in the United States, often focused on statues of confederate generals from the Civil War, and in South Africa, where Cape Town University removed a statue of British colonialist Cecil Rhodes in 2015. Several statues of people linked to the trans-Atlantic slave trade or Europe’s colonial past have been vandalized in anti-racism protests spurred by the killing of George Floyd.
1/8
Protesters throw a statue of slave trader Edward Colston into Bristol harbour during a Black Lives Matter protest rally in Bristol, England on June 7. The statue of Edward Colston, who made a fortune in the 17th century from trading in West African slaves, was torn down by a group of demonstrators taking part in a worldwide wave of protests. (Ben Birchall/PA via AP)
2/8
Even Britain’s wartime hero, Winston Churchill is under renewed scrutiny. A statue of Churchill was defaced in Parliament Square, London on June 7. Churchill expressed racist and anti-Semitic views and critics blame him for denying food to India during the 1943 famine. Some Britons have long felt that the darker sides of his legacy should be given greater prominence. (Isabel Infantes / AP)
3/8
The area where the statue of Edward Colston stood is seen a day after on June 8. Statues of figures from Europe and America’s imperialist past have in recent years become the subject of controversies between those who argue that such monuments merely reflect history and those who say they glorify racism. (Matthew Childs / REUTERS)
4/8
The statue of Robert Milligan, a noted West Indian merchant, slaveholder and founder of London's West India Docks, stands covered in a sack-cloth and sign reading Black Lives Matter, outside the Museum of London Docklands on June 9. By taking matters into their own hands, the protesters raised the temperature of a debate that had previously remained confined to the realms of marches, petitions and newspaper columns. (Renee Bailey/PA via AP)
5/8