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Post by kj on Aug 4, 2020 9:31:12 GMT
If people like this were in charge, there would literally be nothing left. The magic words 'diverse' and 'vibrant'. "As Ireland becomes an increasingly diverse and vibrant society, we cannot simply ignore the fact that our museum collections are home to hundreds of objects plundered from Africa and Asia in the era of colonialism, that the architectural jewels of our cities and our great country houses were, in some cases, built with the proceeds of the slave trade and colonial exploitation and that our streets and statues almost solely honour men from the late 19th/early 20th century, some of whom have very dark connections to Empire." Author also may be ignorant that his university was founded by Queen Victoria, the Famine Queen. Guess that'll have to go too. Decolonising our public heritage |
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Post by cato on Aug 4, 2020 19:04:20 GMT
Much of the current fuss about slavery priviledges one period of history and ignores the context of slavery in wider history. So the role of Africans in providing slaves to European traders is glossed over and .the role of militant Islam in slavery including enslaving white Europeans is rarely mentioned.
There was a rather tastless debate on line downplaying the horrific experience of tens of thousands of Irish men women and children sold into indentured service- practical slavery in the 17th century. Technically they were term limited servants but that was little consolation if you died en route or during a harsh compulsory service. No one group has a monopoly on grief , injustice or historical victimhood.
Templebar in Dublin was the site of a Viking Slave market which lasted for a couple of centuries. There is a horrible slave chain in the national museum which was probably worn by one of our compatriots unfortunate enough to get kidnapped by our Norse friends. Few in Ireland are aware of this.
Some white Europeans had a role in the despicable and inhuman slave trade but some Europeans actively opposed it . It was white people who eventually closed it down based on a moral awakening and deserved shame. A bloody Civil war was fought mainly by whites to resolve the issue of slave ownership in the USA . his was the most costly war in American history in terms of human lives lost.Ironically it was the Democratic party who undermined the Union victory by supporting jim Crow discrimination laws in the aftermath of that conflict. Dixie democrats were the most entrenched supporters of prejudice and anti black discrimination for almost a century after Lincoln freed the slaves.
History is complex and messy. Those who respect it should be loathe to encourage people to turn it into a good versus bad struggle with us naturally as the heirs of the goodies. It's sad a historian would seem to be encouraging those who wish to cleanse our urban heritage as part of what is an elitist largely white middle class campaign . See the Irish Times article in KJs original post.
Slavery exists in contemporary Mali and Sudan. Estimates range but millions of people have no legal freedom in those places. Some one bought human beings, owns them and can work them to death. That's in 2020 not in 1820. Millions more are emigrant workers with few rights in rich Arab states. Nearer home we have trafficked women and children , often imported as sex slaves. Their lives matter too but few bend the knee for them.
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Post by Séamus on Aug 9, 2020 6:48:55 GMT
Dublin's heritage councils are at least objecting to statue removal without prior consultation.
I notice Fr Damian of Molokai is now in the firing-line following a statement by one American politician,who I'm assuming is at least part Hawaiian,and who speaks of missionary oppression and the need to be represented as a state by an indigenous woman. While Catholic newsprint and a major Belgian paper are happily refuting any claims of oppression,it can't be denied that St Damian was a European male. It also can't be denied that appreciation for his work among lepers was rewarded with symbolic honours by Princess Lili'uokalani,one of the most famous native ladies in their written history and their last monarch before they were absorbed in the American republic. Even in 1999 part-Hawaiian singer Kate Ceberano happily played the role of this Damian-collaborator in the 'Molokai' film.
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Post by cato on Jan 11, 2021 14:53:40 GMT
According to the Sunday Times yesterday the National Museum of Ireland is reviewing its collection of approximately 15,000 objects aquired by Irish soldiers and collectors during the heyday of the British Empire. Mentioned was the grass skirt of King Cetshwayo of the Zulus held in some Irish museum vault. The bulk of this collection is never seen and no religious taboos were violated as far as I know so this appears as more PC posturing.
There is a new subject of Museum ethics that I only became aware of last week. It was invoked when Michael Collin bloodstained officers cap from Beal na Blath was removed from public view - lest his family members get upset! Collins was shot 98 years ago so it's hardly fresh grief. His remaining relations were annoyed but at do gooders removing the display! They have asked for it to be returned . This censoring of history is absurd and detaches people from the cruel reality of political murder. It also stems from a certain ignorance as we saw in the Shelbourne statue debacle.
I was reading a book on poverty in 19th century Ireland recently. It included faces of inmates of psychiatric institutions but the faces were blurred. Lest their relations get upset? Why include them at all if they are morally problematic. Where does that leave photos of genocide victims in Germany Russia China or Cambodia?
This busy body ideological interfering is troubling and is ultimately about the power of an elite to censor what it judges to be distasteful. Welcome to neo-victorian values.
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Post by Séamus on Mar 29, 2021 9:01:58 GMT
"Kew Gardens is to decolonise sugar cane and other plants with signs reflecting links to racism and the slave trade. New signs will tell visitors how plants fitted into history. A spokeswoman for Kew in Southwest London said,'we will move quickly to decolonise our collections, reexamining them to acknowledge and address any exploitative or racist legacies and develop new narratives'"(cf international express). Not sure if Glasnevin is onto it?
I'm assuming the much maligned crown-of-thorn starfish will be renamed to avoid recalling Roman imperialism.
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Post by cato on Mar 29, 2021 15:28:23 GMT
"Kew Gardens is to decolonise sugar cane and other plants with signs reflecting links to racism and the slave trade. New signs will tell visitors how plants fitted into history. A spokeswoman for Kew in Southwest London said,'we will move quickly to decolonise our collections, reexamining them to acknowledge and address any exploitative or racist legacies and develop new narratives'"(cf international express). Not sure if Glasnevin is onto it? I'm assuming the much maligned crown-of-thorn starfish will be renamed to avoid recalling Roman imperialism. The Sunday Times reported more of this idiocy a few weeks back when they described an investigation into whether coffee and sugar plants in the Dublin Botanic gardens were obtained via slaving channels. Perhaps adequate penance will consist of us all refusing to drink coffee or consume sugar in future. Or maybe that will only apply to the non BAME Irish. The BBC world news last night announced calls to abandon the BAME (Black and minority ethnic ) label as it is basically branding all non whites as a distinct category while ignoring that many Asians are actually smarter, more disciplined, hard working and richer than their white neighbours. |
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