London – The UK government is proposing a controversial new law to protect historic monuments in England after statues of slave traders were overthrown or removed by local authorities during Protests Black Lives Matter last summer.
Currently, in England, local governments must approve any major changes to buildings, but the same rules do not apply to statues. The new legislation would extend the requirements for buildings to cover statues and add an option for the national government to veto the decisions of local councils.
“There has been an attempt to impose a unique, often negative, narrative that does not resemble our national history so much, but seeks to erase part of it. This has been done by the hand of flash mob, or by decree of a ‘cultural committee’ of mayors of the city and worthy of awakening, “wrote Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick in an article in the British newspaper Sunday Telegraph.
The proposed legislation must be approved by Parliament to become law.
“What has remained for generations must be carefully considered, not removed on a whim or at the behest of a howling crowd,” continued Jenrick.
In June, a statue of slave trader Edward Colston, who died 300 years ago, was knocked over and thrown into a river by Black Lives Matter protesters in the English city of Bristol, opening a debate on heritage and inclusion. Local authorities, after consulting with various parties, decided that the Colston statue would be placed in a museum next to protest signs.
“It is up to us to ensure that we record this moment so that future generations understand the journey Bristol has taken,” Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees told the BBC at the time.
Soon after, London Mayor Sidiq Khan created a new Commission for Diversity in the Public Kingdom to review public landmarks, art and street names around the capital to reflect the city’s diversity and to “deepen the discussion on which legacies are to be celebrated. “
“There are some slaveholders who should fall, and the commission will advise on this,” Khan told BBC News. Under the proposed legislation, the national government could veto decisions taken by local authorities based on the commission’s opinion.
Members of the artistic community, historians and racial equality activists were quick to criticize the government’s plan, accusing it of trying to divert attention from more pressing issues, including its widely criticized response to the pandemic that left the UK with the worst levels per capita Mortality rate COVID-19 of any nation.
“(It is) smoke and mirrors,” said Dr. Halima Begum, director of the racial equality research institute Runnymede Trust, to the Guardian newspaper. “With an eye on the next election, Jenrick used this article to precipitate a planned cultural war, to stir up the conservative base and to distract from this government’s terrible failures around Covid.”
“I wish we could escape the language of censorship and erasure and understand that it is about expanding, deepening and creating honest and inclusive narratives,” tweeted the director of the Museum Association’s advocacy group, Sharon Heal.