Colston one year on: statue wars? Histories of the present
A year on from the removal of the statue of slaver Edward Colston from its plinth in central Bristol, the BBC (Thursday 10th June) screened a programme about how the Labour Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees had attempted to deal with the matter.
The programme is available on iplayer and as a history of the present (albeit a partial one)its well worth watching.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000wvzx/statue-wars-one-summer-in-bristol
There are limits in what can be done in an hour long programme on TV- which by definition is visually based. Marvin Rees is the first elected black Mayor in Europe and if we look wider the number of black Council leaders in the UK remains a very small number.
Given Bristol’s history of slaving and racism- the Bristol buses being an example until the early 1960s- that is important in itself. Its not the only perspective though because Bristol also has a history of protest, revolt and anti-racism.
How much we saw of Marvin Rees attempts to grapple with the Colston issue I’m not sure. The programme made a particular point which was that he was trying (rightly) to go beyond Tory culture wars. Rather there was a focus on racism but also class and inequality and an understanding that black and white Bristolians had much in common in fighting an exploitative system.
One can only agree. That after all is what the slogan ‘black and white unite and fight’ is all about.
The problem and one that the programme sort of highlighted but didn’t actually mention, is that this can’t really be achieved from above. A Mayor can set the tone and take initiatives but change has to come from below.
Whether or not those who wanted the Colston statue down and wider anti-racist groups were engaged with and were to some extent on board with what Rees was trying to do was unclear. Rather the programme showed the Mayor and advisors watching protests from the Council House. Why not go out and join them I wondered?
No doubt there are others much better informed here than myself who know more on this.
However the ‘from above’ issue remains.
Arthur Scargill was a great General Secretary of the NUM but at the end of the day that’s an official position which constrains rather than promotes activism, at least to a degree.
The Statue Wars programme ended with brief coverage of the Bristol protests against the Police Bill earlier this year where the police behaved disgracefully and often thuggishly. No real surprise there. However as Mayor, Rees supported the police rather than the protesters, while noting the history of protest Bristol has. That was wrong in my view but as Mayor he might well argue that he had little choice. The possibilities and limits of action from within and above.
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