A Labour-run council has created a “toolkit” for navigating the role played by “white male oppressors” in shaping history. Camden Council, which oversees the Prime Minister’s London constituency of Holborn and St Pancras, produced the guidance in a bid to make all public installations “inclusive and representative of our diverse and vibrant communities”. The guide includes a pledge to review memorials to historic figures who held “discriminatory views”, according to The Telegraph.
It was reportedly shared with organisations in the UK and abroad who are responsible for public sites, including Historic England and Arts Council England. The document warned that many such monuments pay tribute to people from “white, male-dominated spheres of life” who may have held “prejudiced beliefs about ethnicity, faith, gender, disability and sexuality”.
The local authority claimed to be endeavouring to counter “the white gaze of traditional memorialisation”, based on a pilot project that added information to a statue of Virginia Woolf explaining her “imperialist attitudes and offensive opinions” last year.
As well as reviewing its own public installations, the council recommended that others make similar changes, with the guide reportedly distributed to the Local Government Association, which supports authorities across England and Wales.
It also included a questionnaire for those in doubt as to whether a historic figure’s views or beliefs warranted corrective action.
The guide reportedly suggested an assessment of whether the person in question “expressed prejudiced, hateful or discriminatory views” or “promoted ideologies that may be considered offensive”.
Camden Council reportedly said a “reinterpretation” of the monuments could be undertaken in a variety of ways, through “counter-memorials” or the installation of new signs or QR quotes adding context.
“Independent research is key to ensure that, as far as possible, the research does not have a bias (e.g. political, societal) or a council-led agenda and is balanced and factual,” the document added.
Camden Council has been contacted for comment.