LONDON (UK) – Public funding for cultural institutions could be called into question if they remove statues or other objects that are the target of protests or complaints, said the government.
Ever since the statue of a slave trader was removed and tipped into the water in Bristol in June, the issue of how the nation should look at its role in slavery and colonialism has been the focus of debate.
After the Bristol event, officials have removed the monument of another slave trader in London. A Bristol concert hall has also rechristened itself.
Culture Minister Oliver Dowden said in a letter sent to the British Museum, the National Gallery, the Tate Gallery and other important cultural institutions that the government did not favour the removal of monuments.
“Some represent figures who have said or done things which we may find deeply offensive and would not defend today,” Dowden said in the letter, sent on Sept. 22. “But though we may now disagree with those who created them or who they represent, they play an important role in teaching us about our past, with all its faults.”
Some British institutions in question did receive generous funding from slave traders or contain collections taken from distant colonies without the consent of the subjects there.
However, the minister said that publicly funded institutions should not take actions based on activism or politics.
“It is imperative that you continue to act impartially, in line with your publicly funded status, and not in a way that brings this into question,” he said, stressing it was important at a time when government spending is facing strain.
Labour parliamentarian David Lammy of the opposition criticised the stance taken by Dowden.
