This is also what being a brave public intellectual is about as well
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Sorry Richard, a brave intellectual is someone who is in the vanguard of change, not one opportunistically clinging to someone else’s coat tails as is the case here.
So Kate Willims is not in the vanguard f change in Britsol? Is that what you’re saying? How?
And come that that (and I have been described by others as a public intellectual) that I am not also in the vangaurd of change despite all the activities that have delivered such change that I have been involved in?
Please explain
Roger, where do you think the idea to ditch Colston in the harbour came from? The professor has been discussing Colston with her students for 5 years.
While technically she may not have been among the vanguard (she would have had to have been politically active in 1895 for that) she was certainly active in challenging the celebration of Colston years before recent events made it a national story.
But not in the public domain, Simon
And Richard, my comment is not directed at you, sorry if it looked like that, no offence meant.
Sounds like the statue was created as a reminder to those revolting, unionising and striking what to expect in response. A not-so-veiled threat. Thanks for Prof Kate Williams and co. for such an enlightening and succinct Twitter thread, and RM for posting.
An interesting take! Think it was more likely a distraction technique…
BTW, bit off piste- but are you perchance THE David Willets?
Excellent thread.
We need to keep reminding critics of the taking down of Colston’s statue why it was put up in the first place, and why philanthropy is never a valid excuse for abuse.
Well, wouldn’t you know it?
We have tolerated the rich and powerful in the shadows for far too long in this country. They need digging out and putting in their place.
The professor and her students have been discussing Colston and these issues for the last five years. Hardly grabbing on to the coat tails of anything.
Quite
And those students gained from that
I feel there is more to be gained, practically speaking, for Prof Kate, et al, to mobilise students against modern day slavery and fgm.
If we do not understand the cultural embedness of issues we cannot hope to change them
Friends and family have been astounded when I have been saying in recent years ‘I have changed my mind’. I am truly grateful to those who are able to research history more carefully.
I was disappointed when Tristram Hunt decided to move on from Labour – every political party needs those with the capacity to understand history to be involved in making policy.
Thank you for that observation. The study of history has become an undervalued discipline. Its importance is discovered at unexpected times.
Politicans are only just discovering that there is not “the” science. There has never been “the” history. It is a mystery, wrapped in an enigma, that we must endlessly unwrap in the elusive attempt to discover the secret. Unfortunately writing “the” history becomes vitally important to the vested interests of every age to patent an authorised version, for their own exclusive advantage.
A couple of days ago I suggested that the slave traders were one link in a chain which stretched back from the slave owners in the Americas who required slaves to make their plantations and mines financially viable. The owners seem to receive little attention, maybe because some of them are national icons beyond criticism and were promoters of “liberty”. But as Johnson asked: “How is it that we hear the loudest yelps for liberty among the drivers of negroes?”.
Well, here’s a list of some slave owners, who drove the trade. When will they be toppled? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidents_of_the_United_States_who_owned_slaves
There’s an interactive map of the at toppletheracists.org highlighting the statues considered to be celebrating racism. It worth a look.
Geoff
What she’s been doing is called educating. Properly.
Sometimes, when it is well done, it inspires students to think and to act as a result.
Job well done. Good for her.
I’ve shared her ‘lecture’ on Twitter already, but I think it needs sharing again as it seems some are reluctant to learn and disturb their comfortable beliefs.
These comments have nothing to do with Colston but I believe it is appropriate to make them in this context.
From the Neolithic period through to the 3rd century AD there was a vibrant and prosperous trading city called Palmyra in what is now the desert of central Syria ( but was in the fertile crescent back then). In 2015 and 2016 ISIS decided that its buildings, monuments etc. were not consistent with their beliefs and moral standards so they set about systematically destroying it.
See also the Soviet habit of renaming streets, towns and cities.
Do we wish to emulate ISIS and the Soviets? Should we not preserve our history so that we can study it, learn from it and avoid repeating the mistakes of the past?
There are many aspects to our current society, including its most woke elements, that will disgust future generations. Do we want them to delete the memory of us or study and learn from our mistakes?
George
Absolutely no one is saying we do not learn
In fact, the whole point is that people are saying we must preserve these statues
But in museums so that it is clear that we have to learn from them
I am afraid your claims are well wide of the mark
Richard