The murder of George Floyd and the worldwide protests led by the Black Lives Movement have provoked wide-ranging debates and calls for more sustainable and impactful actions against institutionalised and other forms of racism. In some towns and cities, the protests have led to the toppling of statues of high profile individuals associated with historical slavery. The momentum has also provoked calls from other movements, some far-right, for the removal of statues of other high profile individuals such as Mahatma Gandhi in Leicester. Below are links to a couple of articles discussing the issue of toppling statues. We would welcome your thoughts on this debate.
Burch-Brown, J., 2017. Is it wrong to topple statues and rename schools? Journal of Political Theory & Philosophy, 1(1), pp.59–88. Available at: https://philpapers.org/rec/BURIIW
Frowe, H., 2019. The duty to remove statues of wrongdoers. Journal of Practice Ethics, 7(3), pp.1–31. Available at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3533061
Also see the following article in The Conversation:
Campbell, S., 2020. Statues are just the start – the UK is peppered with slavery heritage. Available at:
https://theconversation.com/statues-are-just-the-start-the-uk-is-peppered-with-slavery-heritage-140308
Posted on Monday 29th June 2020