Statues misrepresent history

There can be little doubt that the unveiling of the statue of Millicent Fawcett is an important feminist victory, being the first one of a woman to "be immortalised in Parliament Square", and the New Statesman correctly devoted its Leader and its "In the Picture" section to it (The voice of courage cannot be denied, 27th April, 2018). The Letter of the week also concerned a statue, this time supporting one of Sylvia Pankhurst. All of this begs the obvious question whether statues offer the best "chance to remember" the significant events of our history.

         The trouble with statues is not only that they do not offer a fair balance, both in terms of politics and gender, to the story of Britain`s past, but that they help to perpetuate a distorted view of history. For a start, they result from exaggeration being applied to the significance of the work of individuals rather than collective effort, and contribute to a mythologised view of history, which tends to understate the roles played by women generally, by working people, and by other races. For instance, the UK`s statues give the impression Britain`s wars have been won single-handedly by white men.

   In view of Brexit and the Windrush scandal, never has there been a more obvious need for the truth about our past to be learned. The British governments` policy of destroying and hiding documents from historians has been instrumental, both in perpetuating intolerance, and in the refusal to acknowledge what can only be described as shameful events in our past. Would not a more effective method of learning from history be to open more museums based on a less masculine-orientated version of the past, and secondly, to review all schools` curricula, including those in the private sector, to encourage the study of the roles of women and other races in our past?

 How can a history based on the manipulation of facts begin to teach what is right or wrong, or even what is worthy of remembrance? Statues of suffragettes are important symbols, but do little to remedy the problem of historical myopia.