Mark Andrews on Saturday: Some people are never happy unless they're raging about something
To all the Oxford University students demanding that the statue of Cecil Rhodes to be removed from Oriel College, perhaps its time to consider a change of tactics.
The demonstrations and placard-waving are all very well, but if they want to really demonstrate their distaste for the college's imperialist benefactor, they should really vote with their feet.
Wouldn't it be a great symbol of commitment to the cause if a few hundred of them said: "So offended am I by Cecil Rhodes's part in British colonial rule and how my college has benefited from his dirty money, I wish to forego all the privileges that come from attending this elite institution, and instead enrol on an obscure degree at the former Teesside Polytechnic."
Don't all rush at once...
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Of course, one thing the protesters are right about is that there can be no possible justification for statues of slave traders, although some of the outrage does seem a trifle confected. How many of the middle-class young people who now feel so strongly about these monuments, actually knew of their existence this time last week? And let's be honest, how many of us walk past statues every day without giving a second thought to who they represent? Some people are never happy unless they're raging about something.
All that said, it is hard to see how any right-thinking person would object to removing tributes to anybody involved in this most barbaric of trades. Slavery is a stain not just on this nation, but on humanity as a whole. As for those who drone on about the philanthropic work these people did, just how they would feel about having a statue of Jimmy Savile outside their homes?
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As always, though, the surest way to turn a good idea into a bad one is to take it to the extreme. And sure as night follows day, there is now a witch-hunt on for every historic figure whose values are deemed not sufficiently representative of 21st century mores. Paint has been thrown at Lord Nelson's statue in south London, the Robert Peel statues in Tamworth and Birmingham are on a hit list. In Poole the statue of Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the Scout movement, now requires 24-hour protection to prevent it being trashed by those who consider his views not sufficiently progressive. Even William Gladstone, the reformist Liberal prime minister who gave the working classes the vote and called for "the utter extinction of slavery", is a target, because his father was a slave owner. Where will this hysteria end?
In a few months time we are likely to be facing the worst recession in living memory, with potentially millions of jobs lost because of the coronavirus. Experience suggests people from ethnic minorities will suffer disproportionately.
Maybe, just maybe, it is time to focus on preparing for that rather than sitting in self-righteous judgement on figures from the distant past.
