[BRIEF NOTE] Unlikely Statues
Feb. 6th, 2005 12:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldVia Phil Hunt:
Given the new historical consciousness regarding the crimes of the Congo Free State, this is, as Phil notes, just as bizarre an action as the Polish government placing a statue of Hitler on a plinth in downtown Warsaw.
BBC News - British Edition
Friday, 4 February, 2005, 15:26 GMT
DR Congo's Leopold statue removed
Confusion surrounds the brief return of a statue of Belgian colonial king Leopold II in the Democratic Republic of Congo capital, Kinshasa.
It was taken down just hours after being re-erected on Thursday.
The culture minister said the statue had been put up as "a trial to see if the concrete could support the weight".
But correspondents say other ministers fiercely opposed having a memorial to a man who exploited Congo's resources and contributed to up to 10 million deaths.
Given the new historical consciousness regarding the crimes of the Congo Free State, this is, as Phil notes, just as bizarre an action as the Polish government placing a statue of Hitler on a plinth in downtown Warsaw.
