I love the statue that has replaced the slave trader

Here we are. What you have to bear in mind is that these have been drawn taking black history and black tradition into account. We can’t look at it with white eyes and understanding only. Indentity is key here.

1. Restorative Justice

We are committed to collectively, lovingly and courageously working vigorously for freedom and justice for Black people and, by extension all people. As we forge our path, we intentionally build and nurture a beloved community that is bonded together through a beautiful struggle that is restorative, not depleting.

2. Empathy

We are committed to practicing empathy; we engage comrades with the intent to learn about and connect with their contexts.

3. Loving Engagement

We are committed to embodying and practicing justice, liberation, and peace in our engagements with one another.

4. Diversity

We are committed to acknowledging, respecting and celebrating difference(s) and commonalities.

5. Globalism

We see ourselves as part of the global Black family and we are aware of the different ways we are impacted or privileged as Black folk who exist in different parts of the world.

6. Queer Affirming

We are committed to fostering a queer‐affirming network. When we gather, we do so with the intention of freeing ourselves from the tight grip of heteronormative thinking or, rather, the belief that all in the world are heterosexual unless s/he or they disclose otherwise.

7. Trans Affirming

We are committed to embracing and making space for trans brothers and sisters to participate and lead. We are committed to being self-reflexive and doing the work required to dismantle cis-gender privilege and uplift Black trans folk, especially Black trans women who continue to be disproportionately impacted by trans-antagonistic violence.

8. Collective Value

We are guided by the fact all Black lives, regardless of actual or perceived sexual identity, gender identity, gender expression, economic status, ability, disability, religious beliefs or disbeliefs, immigration status or location.

9. Intergenerational

We are committed to fostering an intergenerational and communal network free from ageism. We believe that all people, regardless of age, show up with capacity to lead and learn.

10. Black Families

We are committed to making our spaces family-friendly and enable parents to fully participate with their children. We are committed to dismantling the patriarchal practice that requires mothers to work “double shifts” that require them to mother in private even as they participate in justice work.

11. Black Villages

We are committed to disrupting the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and “villages” that collectively care for one another, and especially “our” children to the degree that mothers, parents and children are comfortable.

12. Unapologetically Black

We are unapologetically Black in our positioning. In affirming that Black Lives Matter, we need not qualify our position. To love and desire freedom and justice for ourselves is a necessary prerequisite for wanting the same for others.

13. Black Women

We are committed to building a Black women affirming space free from sexism, misogyny, and male‐centeredness.

Whitewavemark2, in your post @07:32 today you state that the illegal statue could have been made secure as a response to it being stated it was a public safety hazard.

You then believe that the council tax payers of Bristol should be made to pay to secure a statue that had been placed illegally without any democratic voice being allowed to state whether their tax should be used for such a purpose?

Galaxy

I dont think that's helpful furret. I love the statue but I am very bored with no debate.

Happy to debate. What I won’t stand is hectoring. These sort of demands are techniques used by certain types to deflect the argument.

As for those pearl clutchers who swoon at the odd swear word....

I believe in a free and equal society. I deplore racial prejudice.

That's it.

I accept everything in BLM that says that. But I believe it is a left-wing organisation who's main aim is to bring down capitalism. This is from reading their literature.

That's fine, if that's what you want. It's just that I don't. And the trouble is (as I've found already on this thread) that you are not allowed to criticise BLM without people saying you're a racist.

I’m not pearl clutching Furret just surprised at your outburst. I imagine you’re regretting it already. The heat of the moment and all that. You are very passionate in your views.

flopen

well furret I'm sorry that you appear to have anger issues. I'd get them seen to, if I were you.

That's the thing with BLM. If anyone says, well, I don't agree with THAT, the response is 'well, it's a loose organisation'. Rather like if someone said 'I couldn't vote Conservative because they ....(fill in with any Tory policy)' and someone replied 'oh no, we're not THAT kind of tory'.

If you support an organisation, you support the stated aims. Which are pretty loud and clear.

Unfortunately, a lot of people think that, if you don't support BLM, you're a racist. Perhaps they should take a harder look at what BLM stands for.

OK perhaps it would be a good idea to look at the guiding principles and see if we agree as to what they mean.

well furret I'm sorry that you appear to have anger issues. I'd get them seen to, if I were you.

That's the thing with BLM. If anyone says, well, I don't agree with THAT, the response is 'well, it's a loose organisation'. Rather like if someone said 'I couldn't vote Conservative because they ....(fill in with any Tory policy)' and someone replied 'oh no, we're not THAT kind of tory'.

If you support an organisation, you support the stated aims. Which are pretty loud and clear.

Unfortunately, a lot of people think that, if you don't support BLM, you're a racist. Perhaps they should take a harder look at what BLM stands for.

No sense as opposed to nonsense. But either would do.

Furret. Please,..............

flopen

Here's the manifesto
blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/
And it expresses the aim of breaking down the nuclear family and cis gender privilege. So no thank you

It is confusing to many, but Black Lives Matter, is a very loose organisation, which “encompasses all who declare that black lives matter” with emphasis on local action as opposed to centralised control. To try to pin such a loose confederacy to a particular manifesto clearly makes nonsense, and trawling the net will give you no clear result

The guiding principals however remain as the overall aim. These have been formulated since 2014.

As you say nightsky very provocative

I dont think that's helpful furret. I love the statue but I am very bored with no debate.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Black and white activists pulled the other statue down, so if anything why not have a statue of both ethnicities as a symbol of unity? Oh silly me, not ‘woke’ enough these days!

Answer my question first.
Do you believe in defunding the police? Closing prisons?

The subject matter is powerful, a local voice, a remarkable woman being represented,” said Marvin Rees, Bristol’s mayor.

Correction.

Their mission statement..

Four years ago, what is now known as the Black Lives Matter Global Network began to organize. It started out as a chapter-based, member-led organization whose mission was to build local power and to intervene when violence was inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes.

In the years since, we’ve committed to struggling together and to imagining and creating a world free of anti-Blackness, where every Black person has the social, economic, and political power to thrive

You object to that?

In the Guardian just now:

“The sculpture of a Black Lives Matter protester that replaced the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol has been removed.

Pictures from the scene appeared to show workers at the site at about 5.20am on Thursday, 24 hours after the black resin and steel sculpture was erected.

A Bristol city council spokeswoman said: “This morning we removed the sculpture. “It will be held at our museum for the artist to collect or donate to our collection.”

Gajahgran

The Bristol mayor is Marvin Rees, Quinn created the statue

Absolutely correct. That’s what I wanted to type.

Who is "Marvin Quinn"? The Mayor of Bristol is Marvin Rees. The statue has been removed by the (Labour) council - so not "right wing laidees"

The statue was made by a London artist and the subject was someone who had travelled to Bristol to take part in an illegal gathering.

There are many others, born in Bristol, who did much for the city - if there is to be a statue I would like to see one of them honoured.

Here's the manifesto
blacklivesmatter.com/what-we-believe/
And it expresses the aim of breaking down the nuclear family and cis gender privilege. So no thank you

Well, those are the aims on the GoFundMe site. Are you saying that's not true?

Defunded. Blasted autocorrect

flopen

I suggest that you read their manifesto more carefully, whitewave

The organisation does not have a manifesto, it isn’t that sort of organisation. It does however have a set of guiding principles that as I have previously said suggest its aims are of fairness, reconciliation and cooperation.

We can if you wish go through them one by one and debate what you think is meant by diversity, empathy, restorative justice etc.