Decline and Fall: The Statues of Empire

Andrea: Unhappy is the land that breeds no hero.

Galileo: No, Andrea: Unhappy is the land that needs a hero.

— Bertholt Brecht, Galileo

We can be Heroes
We can be Heroes
We can be Heroes
Just for one day
We can be Heroes

— David Bowie, Heroes

All statues are propaganda.

Today, we are witnessing the pulling down, by members of the public both in America and in England, of certain very specific statues that have long been a source of contention and frustration and, (if not and indeed more so than at any other time that I can remember), of visceral hatred and anger.

In America the statues of Confederate Generals and Secessionist Leaders are being disappeared whilst in England we are witnessing the removal of persons associated or directly involved in the slave trade and in Empire building. Both statuary categories are of course the result of slavery and it is slavery that defines the legacy that today's young people in particularly both in America and England have to live with and have to deal with.

Although a war was fought in America to emancipate the slaves in America and Britain abolished slavery…