Twitter Users Ponder Statues That Actually Enhance Their Surroundings

By Petr Knava | Social Media | June 11, 2020 |

Statues commemorating racists are coming down. Isn’t it a beautiful sight? After years of ‘sanctioned’ and ‘proper’ campaigning which by establishment design achieved nothing but ‘polite’ deferral and bureaucratic quagmire, statues which a just society would have never put up in the first place are now coming down, one way or another, thanks to direct action. What a grim indictment of how our society is structured and upon whose bones it was built it is that they were allowed to be erected and elevated at all—and what a display of abhorrent hubris, and brazen contempt for the descendants of the victims of capitalism’s original sin, that they were deemed worthy of staying up; their existence a potent metaphor in many ways for how the legacy of brutal colonialism which built Western capitalism is still so alive and well around all of us, and their fall a moving symbol of some tiny degree of belated justice. Our society is profoundly criminal, and the very act of monument building—done more often than not by the powerful who benefit from that criminality—frequently reflect that character. Twitter user and historian James Barr posed a question that addressed this when he challenged people to, ‘Name a statue that actually enhances its surroundings.’

Name a statue that actually enhances its surroundings.
— James Barr (@James_Barr) June 10, 2020

So here are some more deserving statues that do enhance their surroundings, instead of poisoning the very earth they stand upon with the noxious glare of some long dead uber-racist who turned his passion for evil and magnified it into even greater evil by turning it into a money-making venture.

Can I put a vote in for Sheffield’s ‘Women of Steel’? #sheffieldissuper pic.twitter.com/IwsTGBjHbD
— Kate Bottley (@revkatebottley) June 10, 2020

Robin Hood, Nottingham Castle. pic.twitter.com/BhbewgzVNc
— Queen of Scotties #SocialistCampaignGroup (@RedWoman1552) June 10, 2020

pic.twitter.com/5Bi7yk6His
— Dave Zirin (@EdgeofSports) June 10, 2020

Freddie Mercury statue, Montreux pic.twitter.com/NF9UGAr0wE
— Rob Walker (@llamedos77) June 10, 2020

As someone who loves both the city of Boston, and the book Make Way for Ducklings, I’ve always been rather fond of this one. pic.twitter.com/sXTdhTv3KD
— Comrade Misty is Putin’s Buddy 🍀 (@SarcasmStardust) June 10, 2020

a gardener, a waitress, a cleaner, a street sweeper. love how they honor otherwise invisible workers. são paulo, brazil pic.twitter.com/eTOPBOHGPE
— belga da pizza🙃 (@choracuica) June 10, 2020

pic.twitter.com/TItjyzAE8D
— Mira Al Hussein (@miraalhussein) June 10, 2020

there are only two statues of women in Leicester the unnamed seamstress and the great #AliceHawkins https://t.co/w7mI9g3aSZ pic.twitter.com/Yy9sbTkZbW
— (((Tim Morton))) (@TimMorton2) June 10, 2020

St Luke’s church Liverpool - the #ww1 football truce at the site of a war damaged church pic.twitter.com/03ng6yRqwh
— David Hanson (@RTHondavehanson) June 10, 2020

Emmeline Pankhurst, standing on her chair in #Manchester's St Peter's Square. pic.twitter.com/y4KRFacPSD
— Flippin Eck Tucker (@losttourist) June 10, 2020

God of the Sea.

Neptune/Poseidon, Melenara Beach, Gran Canaria pic.twitter.com/5GxAUbxd1o
— Schadenfreudian ☘ (@Kasrth) June 11, 2020

The statue of the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa in Lisbon, sitting next to the esplanade where he himself was regularly found pic.twitter.com/Kow6NPepNj
— WG Saraband 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇵🇹🏳️‍🌈 (@wgsaraband) June 10, 2020

The Green Lady in @HeliganGardens pic.twitter.com/DsmzwMpkjk
— ⚫ robkb2 is staying at home… (@robkb2) June 10, 2020

Hatchiko, the world’s most loyal dog, outside of the Shibuya train station in Tokyo, obviously. pic.twitter.com/9pt3gKxiLo
— Aki Peritz (@AkiPeritz) June 10, 2020

South Dakota Indian Statue Dignity (a.k.a. Dignity of Earth & Sky) 50-foot high stainless steel statue by South Dakota artist laureate Dale Lamphere. pic.twitter.com/CGg6sCbVlz
— Tracey-anne McCartney (@jasmoonbutterfl) June 10, 2020

pic.twitter.com/Ktd4xF80ES
— Robert McNees (@mcnees) June 10, 2020

The answer is always DOLLY PARTON. pic.twitter.com/wQlxu2LHQq
— Matt Polidoro (@Polidorable) June 10, 2020

Let’s not kid around here: This Gundam in Tokyo (Odaiba) pic.twitter.com/Xa4YGjAW5U
— Nes (@AlphaHeartt) June 10, 2020

The Headington Shark, Oxford. pic.twitter.com/LcXTiPatz1
— Beau(cial distancing) (@DrBeauBeaumont) June 10, 2020

pic.twitter.com/aA3ir7tkDC
— Kelsa Morgan (@MorganKelsa) June 10, 2020

Peanuts, St. Paul, Minnesota, hometown of Charles Schulz. pic.twitter.com/hy30PHXI4K
— ben schwartz (@benschwartz_) June 11, 2020

This one in Glasgow celebrates fighting fascism in Spain pic.twitter.com/3WstB78734
— Janey Godley (@JaneyGodley) June 10, 2020

Alan T at the University of Surrey pic.twitter.com/SKc5czGi9X
— S (@Skinselley) June 10, 2020

pic.twitter.com/dv22dPcgru
— The Other Beth, who hates all of you (@BethLynch2020) June 10, 2020

The famine memorial in Dublin is pretty powerful. Statues should honour the victims, not the oppressors. pic.twitter.com/wR4Cys8sDD
— Cailín Corcra (@_Cailin_Corcra_) June 10, 2020

Istanbul - of course pic.twitter.com/hqg9DXNXGG
— Hannah Lucinda Smith (@hannahluci) June 10, 2020

pic.twitter.com/quEoLnWAjp
— The Church Of Satan (@ChurchofSatan) June 11, 2020

pic.twitter.com/JFIUeg71OB
— Elie Mystal (@ElieNYC) June 10, 2020

Anton Chekhov’s dogs, outside Moscow pic.twitter.com/JGH84DKtnL
— Michael Tisserand (@m_tisserand) June 10, 2020

Kindertransport, Liverpool Street Station pic.twitter.com/nWALjy68Fx
— (((Tim Morton))) (@TimMorton2) June 10, 2020

Ahem pic.twitter.com/Z5tsVP1o2L
— The Sauce Locator (@SourceLocator) June 10, 2020

Sir Nicholas Winton at Maidenhead Station. He organised the ‘Czech Kindertransport’, rescuing 669 Jewish children who would otherwise have ended up in Nazi concentration camps. pic.twitter.com/PEga3QgMaG
— Janny Girl (@SilkCutBlue) June 10, 2020

Mary Seacole in the gardens of St Thomas’s Hospital. pic.twitter.com/guwi1MdcNR
— Michelle Casey (@MichelleCasey76) June 10, 2020

Kindred Spirits in Middleton, Cork. Commemorates Choctaw aid to the Irish people during the famine. Extremely moving. pic.twitter.com/iLshdlYwD9
— Emmett Houlihan (@emersonhex) June 10, 2020

Växjö Sweden.

Commemorates housewife Danuta Danielsson whacking Neo-Nazi Seppo Seluska.

That's a worthwhile subject for a statue.

Danuta's mum was an Auschwitz survivor. pic.twitter.com/sfwUPBGd7F
— Pete M (@fastcarspete) June 10, 2020

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