The Rhodes Must Fall campaign said it was cautiously optimistic after the college was announced.
London, United Kingdom:
An Oxford University college voted to drop a statue of 19th-century colonialist Cecil Rhodes, less than two weeks after thousands of protesters demanded its removal.
Oriel College said it also wanted to set up an independent inquiry into the “key issues” surrounding the statue of the Victorian mining magnate.
“These two decisions were made after a long period of debate and reflection and with full awareness of the impact these decisions are likely to have in Britain and around the world,” he said on Wednesday. in a press release.
The move comes after a large Rhodes Must Fall campaign demonstration on June 9, with protesters chanting “Take it down!” and “Decolonize!”
The campaign to remove the statue, which began four years ago, was revived by the worldwide explosion of Black Lives Matter protests, after the murder of the African American George Floyd in the United States by a white policeman .
Activists had also requested changes to the Rhodes Scholarship, which has been awarded to more than 8,000 foreign students to study at the University of Oxford, since 1902.
Rhodes – a white supremacist like many builders of the British Empire – gave his name to the territories of Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe and Zambia, and founded the diamond company De Beers.
He studied at Oxford and left money at Oriel College after his death in 1902.
Oriel’s statement said that he would examine how to improve access and attendance for black Asian and minority ethnic undergraduates and graduate students.
The independent commission of inquiry would also examine “how the college’s commitment to diversity in the 21st century can more easily fit into its past”.
Debate on the colonial past
Statues commemorating Britain’s colonial past have become the subject of anger in recent weeks, most dramatically with the overthrow of a memorial to the slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol.
In addition, a London statue of British warlord Winston Churchill was controversial after the anti-racism protests.
The Rhodes Must Fall campaign said it was cautiously optimistic after the college was announced.
“However, we have taken this path before, where the Oriel College committed to taking a certain measure, but did not act: in particular, in 2015, when the college committed to engaging in a six-month democratic listening exercise, “he said in a statement.
“Therefore, although we remain hopeful, our optimism is cautious,” he said, urging the college to commit to removing the statue.
Susan Brown, the head of Oxford city council, said she welcomed the news from Oriel College and paid tribute to the activists.
“The city council would welcome the rapid submission of a formal planning request from Oriel to support and contribute to the review process,” she said in a statement.
“I would like to pay a special tribute to the Rhodes Must Fall campaign which saw its objectives approaching today, as well as to the activists of Black Lives Matter who have relaunched this debate on our history and how it should be recognized. “
Earlier Wednesday, the Minister of Universities, Michelle Donelan, declared herself opposed to the removal of the statue, calling it “myopic”.
“Because if we can’t rewrite our history, what we have to do is remember it and learn from it,” she said at a Higher Education Policy Institute event, reported the PA Media news agency.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
