Once again, we hear the flawed argument that removing statues is equivalent to "censoring history." This assertion has been parroted by Gavin Williamson and a member of the Policy Exchange thinktank, despite being untrue. The presence of statues and monuments serves to celebrate a person or event, and does not inherently record history. Instead, historical records persist in documents, archives, books, imagery, and the minds of individuals. The removal of a few statues does not censor, erase, or change history.
As a representative of the Oxford Zimbabwe Arts Partnership (OZAP), a collective made up of Zimbabweans and Oxford citizens, I write to offer our perspective on the debate surrounding the Rhodes statue at Oriel College. Our team was formed to provide a productive and forward-thinking artistic response to this issue.
We are extremely disappointed that the college has chosen not to follow their own desires, the majority decision of commission members, and the leader of Oxford city council to remove the statue. As an alternative, we proposed a creative repositioning of the statue as part of a new installation. This proposed installation includes a statue which celebrates African liberation created by a prominent Zimbabwean sculptor, alongside an artwork designed collaboratively online by young people working together across Oxford and Zimbabwe to represent our global future.
Our installation wouldn’t deny Britain’s imperial past, but instead, engage with it creatively in a thought-provoking way. This installation would also establish an educational partnership between the university and a local Blackbird Leys African School.
We hope that future British policymakers will alter planning regulations to enable modern reinterpretations of history, such as our proposed installation, to become possible.
