As the Statues Fall
In the US, Civil War statues are under attack, but is it ever right to destroy the past? Lawrence Pollard and guests look back at the history of iconoclasm.
From Saddam Hussein in Iraq, Cecil Rhodes at Oriel College or Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville - public statuary is a lightning conductor for popular protest and unrest. But why are these figures of the past - often erected in another era with different moral expectations - so often in the front line of political conflict today? Lawrence Pollard and guests gather in the sound archives to listen to the symbolic moments that statues fall and explore the difference between iconoclasm by the powerful and powerless and what these events tell us about history, identity and nature of collective memory. With Dr Madge Dresser, Dr Rahul Rao, Afua Hirsch and Dr Tiffany Jenkins.
Producer: Viv Jones.
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- Sat 16 Sep 2017 20:00±«Óãtv Radio 4
- Fri 3 May 2019 21:00±«Óãtv Radio 4