One year ago, the statue of the slave trader Edward Colston was brought down in Bristol, prompting jubilation among protesters and calls for a wider rethink of public memorials – but also a ferocious backlash.
Gary Younge, the former Guardian columnist who is now a professor of sociology at the University of Manchester, was delighted to see Colston come down – but all too aware of the controversy that would ensue, having previously found himself the subject of a Daily Mail campaign to erect a statue of the Queen Mother. He tells Anushka Asthana that the last year has highlighted the reluctance of some participants in the culture war over statues to grapple with the reality of Britain’s history. And, he argues, even figures of civil rights heroes such as Nelson Mandela and Rosa Parks misrepresent their role in bringing about social change – and underplay the crucial significance of the movements that lifted them up.
Anushka is also joined by Chloe Peacock, a sociology lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London, who worked with Gary on a study of the impact of the Black Lives Matter movement on statues and memorials around the world. She reflects on the complicated aftermath of the toppling of Colston, and how the last year has forced us to face crucial questions over how Britain understands its colonial past.
Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA
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