Statues In The News

 

They Come and They Go -- and Then They Come Back
  Enough has been written in Mulcahy's Miscellany about the elimination of statues and the erasure of names. Briefly stated, I think the statues should be allowed to stand and the names on things should remain. For one sample among the many posts about these subjects see: "Simple Solutions". 
  Just because I have chosen to remain silent about statues and names does not mean that others are not concerned about them, and here I will simply offer a bibliographic synopsis of the statue news over the last few days from three countries. My coverage does not extend to the municipal level, but I will note that one guy's name was erased from a street here in London, but you will still be able to locate Plantation Road on a map.

Russia
   The stimulus for this post is Stalin, who has been restored to a proper pedestal at a station in the Moscow Metro. He is not alone since there are 120 other Stalin statues elsewhere, 105 of which have been erected over the last quarter of a century. To refresh your memory:
   "Stalin was responsible for mass purges, including the Great Terror of 1936 to 1938, when more than 700,000 people were executed, including military leaders, intellectuals, members of ethnic minorities, landowning peasants and others. Under his leadership, entire ethnic groups, like Crimean Tatars, were expelled from their homelands. His policies contributed to mass famine across the Soviet Union, including in Ukraine."
BUT, nostalgia for the Soviet era is strong, especially among older generations traumatized by the painful transition to capitalism, reinforcing memories of Stalin as a strongman who imposed order on a sprawling country and led it to victory against Nazi Germany. His admirers see purges, famines and mass deportations as “excesses” for which overzealous local officials were mostly responsible."
   There is real value in reading about foreign examples of issues which concern us and in this case one finds a suggestion for the names problem. Simply alternate them, for example, "Volgograd" and "Stalingrad." ("Volgograd itself briefly reverted to its former name on May 8-9 for Victory Day celebrations and will be temporarily renamed five more times this year to mark related wartime anniversaries.") I suppose this solution works for electronic signs, but it must be problematic in most cases.

The United States - Plant A Garden Full Of Statues
  In all the musings about names and statues in MM, I admit that I never thought about the simple switching of names to satisfy the S.W.I.N.E. ("Students Wildly Indignant About Nearly Everything"), and many others. Nor did I think of creating a large garden of statues, an idea taking root in the U.S. I have to admit that this is a very efficient solution, which will be clearly evident during harvest time. 

Canada
  About statues and names in our country, you will likely know everything, but I will offer a few sources for Stanley Cup watchers who may have missed them. Basically, interest in statues has surged because Sir John A. Macdonald is being let out of his box. Names are again in the news since an attempt is being made, in Toronto at least, to slow down the erasing of them. It is too late for the old Ryerson Public School here in London, but I suppose the old and new names could be switched on occasion, although the new one is rather bland - "Old North Public School.' 

Sources:
  For Russia this will do: "Stalin’s Image Returns to Moscow’s Subway, Honoring a Brutal History," Ivan Nechepurenko, NYT, May 29, 2025. 
  For the Garden in the U.S., see this press release and the following article: "NEH Announces Grant Opportunity to Create Statues of Iconic Americans for the National Garden of American Heroes," April 24 and:
"Trump Administration Seeks Artists for ‘Garden of Heroes’ Statues: Those selected would receive up to $200,000 to create one of the 250 sculptures, which will be paid for in part with canceled grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities," Jennifer Schuessler, NYT, April 24, 2025. 
  "The garden, which was announced during Mr. Trump’s first term, will feature life-size renderings of “250 great individuals from America’s past who have contributed to our cultural, scientific and political heritage,” according to a news release. The endowment is now requesting “preliminary concepts” for individual statues from artists who must be American citizens; those who are selected will receive awards of up to $200,000 per statue, which must be made of marble, granite, bronze, copper or brass."
   For Canada, there have been many about the Macdonald statue and this recent benign piece by the G&M editorial staff, still elicited over 300 comments: "Sir John A. Macdonald’s Statue Should Stand, but Not Alone, May 5, 2025:
  "The statue of Sir John A. Macdonald in front of Ontario’s legislature is expected to return to public view this summer after being vandalized five years ago. That’s a good move, but it does not go far enough.…To reflect Macdonald’s legacy properly, remove the protective box now hiding his statue – and erect an equally prominent memorial to the victims of residential schools."
  The folks over at The National Post wouldn't agree and selected pieces from that paper are provided below. If you don't have time, there is even a Wikipedia entry which offers a summary of Monuments and Memorials in Canada Removed in 2020-2022.
- Ontario Decides to Let Sir John A. Out of Box; Comment Decision to unbox queen's park statue of Canada's first pm marks significant reversal of current government thinking, Tristin Hopper, National Post, May 29, 2025.
- "Is Sir John A. Macdonald Being Set Up For a fall? We won't stop the statue-botherers without proper enforcement and prosecution," Chris Selley, NP, May 30, 2025.
- "John A. Macdonald's return to Queen's Park an Opportunity for Historical Literacy: The reappearance of his statue at the Ontario legislature is not the end of the conversation. It should be the beginning,"  Greg Piasetzki, NP, June 4, 2025. 
  About the names of schools in Toronto: "Ontario Education Minister Steps in to Prevent Erasure of Sir John A. Macdonald, Ryerson and Dundas from Toronto Schools: The new legislation, introduced by Ontario education minister Paul Calandra will require a board to apply before changing the name of an existing schools," Stewart Lewis, National Post, May 30, 2025.