Many yrs ago the Warden of #RhodesHouse said to us. “Cecil Rhodes was a great man. That doesn’t mean that he was a good man.” He was an eminent philosopher. We mulled over the important distinction whereby someone could unleash tremendous events while being morally bankrupt 1/
While Rhodes Scholarship stands today for academic excellence/is open to many developing country students (but still heavily tilted towards Americans whom #Rhodes wanted to woo) the Q remains how to denounce his racist & imperialist legacy while recognising his founding of the 3/
Scholarship. For some time now calls for pulling down his statue quite strident. Will it upend & tear down deep structural mechanisms of exploitation based on colonial era looting & extraction? Likely not. Can we retain recollection of his historical role if we remove statue? 4/
Yes we can. It’s possible to remember without exalting. Is the symbolism of removing his statue imp for descendants of those who suffered under such hegemonies, esp those enslaved & indentured? I believe so. And they appear to answer with a resounding yes. It is ironical that 5/
those who have never spoken for reforms in modern European school syllabi to expose real dark deeds of a Clive or a Leopold are arguing that removal of such statutes is erasure of history. Fine. Plonk them in museums next to texts that tell the truth. Their looming presence 6/
in public squares, seemingly sneering down on those walking below their oversized presence rudely indicates that not only are their wicked machines of dominance intact but that noone even dare object to these physical embodiments of power. Assuredly both require bringing down 7/7
Cecil Rhodes was a quintessential colonist & exploiter of his time. He did set up #RhodesScholarship but to bring brightest young men of imperial nations together at Oxford. Over the yrs its ambit & mandate evolved, developed & responded to more egalitarian sensibilities 2/
@threadreaderapp “unroll”
