Labour council creates guide to history of ‘white male oppressors’ | UK | News
A Labor-run council has created a “toolkit” to identify the role “white male oppressors” have played in shaping history. Camden Council, which oversees the Prime Minister’s London constituency of Holborn and St Pancras, has produced the guidance with the aim of making all public installations “inclusive and representative of our diverse and vibrant communities”. The guide also includes a commitment to review monuments to historical figures who hold “discriminatory views”. Telegram.
This information has reportedly been shared with organizations in the UK and abroad with responsibility for public sites, including Historic England and Arts Council England. The document warned that many such monuments were homages to people from “white, male-dominated walks of life” who may have “prejudicial beliefs about ethnicity, faith, gender, disability and sexuality”.
The local authority claimed it was trying to counter the “white gaze of traditional memorialisation”, based on a pilot project last year that added information to a statue of Virginia Woolf explaining her “imperialist attitudes and aggressive views”.
As well as reviewing its own public facilities, the council has recommended others make similar changes, with guidance reportedly also distributed to the Local Government Association, which supports authorities in England and Wales.
It also included a survey for those who doubt whether a historical figure’s views or beliefs warrant corrective action.
The guidance reportedly recommends assessing whether the person in question “expresses prejudiced, hateful or discriminatory views” or “promotes ideologies that may be considered offensive.”
Camden Council has reportedly said that “reinterpretation” of the monuments could be done in a variety of ways, through the installation of “counter-monuments” or QR quotes that add new signs or context.
“Independent research is key to ensuring that, as far as possible, research is not biased (e.g. political, social) or has a council-led agenda and is balanced and fact-based,” the document said. The statement was included.
Camden Council has been contacted for comment.
