I am not trying to be controversial, but...........

Not wriggling just posting a fact about a newspaper founder, as you are aware newspaper owners are not the most scrupulous humans whatever their political persuasion.

to be honest, I didn't know anything about Colston and what he did, I do now , having thought that I ought to find out more, and think that it is dreadful that a statue of him was put up, and so recently too. The bad he did seems to have been forgotten and only the good he did remembered, but I read he was only philanthropic to those who shared his religious and political beliefs, and only started being charitable towards the end of his life as he had no heirs. No one in his lifetime or shortly afterwards put up a statue to him, that just shows how important it is to remember history, I read he didn't even live in Bristol most of his adult life
He may have been a public benefactor to some people in Bristol who agreed with his beliefs but he was a malefactor to so many Africans and so I read here, to the sailors who were on the ships.
There should be no veneration to someone whose life was devoted to accruing a fortune at the expense of so much suffering
Removing a statue is not such a rare thing. How many of those defending keeping the statue where it was because he did a lot for charity criticised the removal of Jimmy savile's statue www.thenational.scot/news/16033718.glasgows-wooden-jimmy-savile-statue-has-been-destroyed/
If you could look into the future and saw that in nearly 200 years time someone decided that well he did a lot to charity look how much he raised for hospitals, so let's put up a statue commemorating him and name a hospital ward after him, what would you think of the people who did that and would you support those who campaigned to have it taken down because of all the harm he did and when not listened to pulled it down?
It is not removing Jimmmy savile from history, it is not glorifying someone who did so much harm to so many people . Same with Colston

You really are wriggling now, GG13.

Digging deep to find some whataboutery...

Smileless2012

It would as you say alltheglitterglue have been far better for the statue to have been removed through official channels.

It's removal was a criminal act of vandalism and detracts from the cause the protests were about.

smileless I think quite the opposite. It absolutely draws attention to a Tory PM who made his wealth from children’s lives.

So many had no knowledge od the existence of such evil before this was brought to the public’s attention.

It would as you say alltheglitterglue have been far better for the statue to have been removed through official channels.

It's removal was a criminal act of vandalism and detracts from the cause the protests were about.

John Edward Taylor made his money from cotton produced by slaves.......Wasn’t he the founder of The Guardian ?

The Japanese were terribly cruel to prisoners of war, shall we ban them too!! Any group caught destroyed or defacing public property should be suitably punished.

We lived near Bristol for a time, there were many petitions and movements to have Colstons statue removed.

I’m very glad the statue of Colston no longer stands. It was a scar on the centre of a multi cultural city. I would have preferred it if the city council had listened to public opinion and taken it down years ago.

To my mind one of the advantages of taking it down via official channels would have been that the council would have been forced to take a stand against racism and demonstrate their understanding of the problematic funding of some Bristolian institutions.

Bristol has some excellent museum exhibitions devoted to the slave trade. To place the statue of Colston in one of these ie the M Shed and used as a means to educate would have been my preference.

The way the statue was removed has given those in power the perfect opportunity to denounce the protesters as criminals and vandals.

I assume that we are all against Fascism.

Pointing out that BLM protests could have been hijacked as reported, is that problematic?

I did not use the phrase disgruntled Labour Activists I used far left activists

And what on earth is wrong with 'antifa'? I think that being antifascist is a rather worthy thing. Isn't that what it is popularly believed we fought WWII for?

(Followers of George Orwell, you know...)

Not derogatory?

What's this about 'disgruntled Labour activists'? Doesn't sound particularly objective or factual...

*we’re should read were

The Council should have made all this information clear by way of a plaque or an information board, but they chose not to do so.

The Council did want to put this information on a plaque. Objections came from a body called the Merchant Venturers, a small but powerful group in Bristol.

www.brh.org.uk/site/articles/the-edward-colston-corrective-plaque/

I do not write derogatory posts, if you read my posts I have said from the beginning that History should be taught so that lessons can be learnt.

It has been suggested in news reports that the BLM protests we’re probably infiltrated by far left activists and antifa, hence my interpretation of Orwell, they are instrumental in calling for statues and memorials to be defaced or removed.

I stand by my opinion that they should remain with the addition of a plaque or information board telling the whole story.

... I do think that in 2020 the party in the quote has been replaced by BLM, disgruntled Labour Activists and unfortunately Antifa.

I thought I was asking a question GG13 not "twisting" anything. If asked if that is what you believe. If it isn't don't attack me, it gets us nowhere - explain what exactly you do mean? There is no harm in making yourself clearer, surely.

I agree with Maizie about the irony of using "whitewash" in the context of your post. Surely that is exactly what has been going on for hundreds of years. Do you fear the truth or do you simply not believe that history has been presented in a very partial manner for all these years? Just posting a derogatory post about various groups is not very insightful and I would like to understand.

The thing that concerns me is that if we condone the tearing down of statues and the police doing nothing what happens if right wing extremists retaliate?

Not at all, it was known he was a Slave Trader which is odious.

He was also a philanthropist and invested heavily in many institutions in and around Bristol.

All of these facts should be recognised.

The Council should have made all this information clear by way of a plaque or an information board, but they chose not to do so.

Someone said early on, "where does it stop?"
Should all the balconies in Edinburgh's New Town Houses come down?. Most were paid for with the compensation money the owners received when the Slave trade was abolished. What an outrage!
www.heraldscotland.com/news/16383408.how-slavery-shaped-edinburghs-new-town/

Prof Palmer has plenty to say about these things but he thinks we should all know these things or the Racists will have won.
I heard him speak at the Scottish Parliament a few years ago. Since he has retired he has become an expert in this subject.

I do think that the point of the toppling of Colston is completely eluding you, GG13. The protesters were objecting to the fact that history had been 'whitewashed'.

I think he stands in Manchester. I'm being honest that I haven't a clue where these statues are so it shows how much interest I take in history.

Australians are considering removing Cook as well as Maquarie. What's missing in this continent are the rights for Aborigines to claim back their land !

One of the worlds fastest growing religions is built on the writings of a slave owner?
Cannot see any demonstrations about that???

grannygravy you have your eyes shut

A school or hospital can never never never erase where the money came from He and any other slave traders who have the blood and suffering of millions on their hands should NEVER be represented in any way what so ever
The statues should never have been put up, but we can’t do anything about that, the statues should never have stayed for years and years but we can do anything about that, but should they go YES and anywhere bearing the name of a slave trader must have the name erased and another name used
We can’t rewrite history but we can now write the future and it has to change TODAY
History will not be whitewashed it will be there in museums and books and documents under the section of FAMOUS MURDERERS and will include many names familiar to us all

The UK is one of the most equal societies in the world, everyone is afforded free education and health care from birth, it is then down to the individual to make their life choices.

But the fact still remains that if I and my equally experienced and qualified colleague apply for the same job I am statistically highly more7 likely to get shortlisted/interviwed/appointed because I have a "white sounding name" as opposed to my colleague who hard an "ethnic sounding" name. Unconscious racism.

We both have the "life choice" to apply but she can do nothing about her inbuilt disadvantage that is there through no fault of her own.

Gladstone has to go.