Thread by @jamesrmcd

Full text of Oxford professors' letter possibly appearing in today's @Telegraph, in case they present this as a manifesto for the destruction of Western civ or sth 🤷‍♂️: Our University’s Vice-Chancellor makes two unwarranted claims ...

("Nelson Mandela would have opposed Rhodes Must Fall Campaign", 11 June). First, Prof. Richardson draws on Nelson Mandela’s words, seven years after his death, to defend colonial-era statues.

This would be inappropriate ventriloquizing in any context. It is especially so now, when Universities need to listen to, not presume to speak for, black students and people of colour.

Second, she claims that the campaign amounts to "hiding our history." The opposite is true. What is being demanded is a full and frank accounting for Britain's history, in place of the selective commemoration of "great men" whose wealth was made by white supremacy.

Your article refers to a speech made by President Mandela in 2003. Earlier that year, he spoke of Rhodes and others who "enriched themselves at the expense and exclusion of others."

He also spoke of the South African constitution's promise to "recognise the injustices of our past" and to build a country that "belongs to all who live in it." RMF and BLM demand nothing else for Britain. We support those demands.

James McDougall, Professor of Modern and Contemporary History, Elleke Boehmer FRSL, Professor of World Literature in English, Robert Gildea FBA, Professor of Modern History, Sandra Fredman FBA QC (hon.), Professor of Law, Richard Reid, Professor of African History

Stephen Tuck, Professor of Modern History, Miles Tendi, Associate Professor in African Politics, Faisal Devji, Professor of Indian History, Ankhi Mukherjee, Professor of English and World Literatures, Lloyd Pratt, Professor of American Literature,

Patricia Daley, Professor of the Human Geography of Africa, Miles Larmer, Professor of African History, Faridah Zaman, Associate Professor of the History of Britain and the World, Simukai Chigudu, Associate Professor of African Politics, University of Oxford.

In case anyone feels the need for footnotes, Mandela’s speech referred to in the 11 June article is here: mandelarhodes.org/downloads/nrm-…

... and the earlier 2003 speech referred to be us is here: mandela.gov.za/mandela_speech…