Cast in Stone

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• 2019, Seventeen of Sixty-Eight art exhibition
  Baltic Artists’ award winner Ingrid Pollard's Seventeen of Sixty Eight (2019) examined the representation of Black figures on pub signs and architecture across the United Kingdom. The title refers to the 68 pubs across the county that had "Black Boy" in their name in 2019. The work was shown again at Turner Contemporary in Margate in 2022.
• 2020 Open letter against the monument to Colbert in Paris
  On August 3, 2020, a collective of anti-racist organizers, scholars, intellectuals, politicians, journalists, and various personnalities co-signed an open letter addressed to the French minister of Justice. The letter openly supports the activist from Brigade Anit-Négrophobie who threw paint at Colbert's statue, underlining Colbert's legacy regarding colonialism and slavery. They point out a contradiction between France's 2001 law recognizing slavery and the slave trade as a crime against humanity, and the fact that the man responsible for this crime was represented in front of the place where the people of France would send its representatives to meet and decide the laws, under the country's motto of liberty, equality, and fraternity: "en 2001, la France s’est dotée d’une loi reconnaissant que l’esclavage des Africains pratiqué pendant plusieurs siècles était un crime contre l’humanité. Malgré cela, en 2020, le Responsable en Chef de ce Crime contre l’humanité, Colbert, trône encore à l’entrée du lieu de rassemblement des représentants de la Nation française dont la devise est « Liberté Égalité Fraternité », Nation qui a décrété dès 1789 que les « hommes naissent et demeurent libres et égaux en droit » (article 1er de la Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen de du 26 aout 1789)". The open letter called for various reparations to the descendents of slavery's victims, and for the removal of Colbert's statue.
• 2020-2021, Guerilla Installation of the Unknown Women Pyramid on the Robert Milligan plinth
• 2020, 'Nazi' sprayed on the statue of Nancy Astor in Plymouth
• 2020, 2d Demonstration around the statue of Paul Bert
  Black Lives Matter" banners were hung on the statue, on the bridge on which it stands, on the Paul Bert street signs downtown and beside the Paul Bert secondary school.
• 2020, Anticolonial graffiti on the monument to Gallieni in Paris
  Following the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in the United States, antiracist protests inspired by Black Lives Matter flourish in France in the Spring of 2020. On June 16, the monument to Gallieni is graffitied with blue spray paint reading "Déboulonnons le récit officiel" (Let's take down the official narrative) on the front plinth, "Dans un musée" (In a museum), and "Etat responsable" (Responsible State) on the other sides. Next to the front graffiti, a different hand wrote: "89 000 † à Madagascar, ni oubli ni pardon" (89,000 deaths in Madagascar, no forgetting nor forgiving).
• 2020, Anticolonial protest on the Gallieni monument in Paris
  On June 18, only a couple of days after the graffiti, antiracist activists climbed onto the monument to Gallieni and covered his statue with a black veil. Police came and arrested the people who had climbed on the statue. It is unclear whether the city pressed charges for "dégradation de bien public". French celebrity Vikash Dhorasoo, former soccer player and left-wing activist, was present and answered a journalist from Russia Today on a video that was published on twitter (see sources). Here is what he said: "On s'est dit après l'allocution de Macron qui avait un peu clos le débat, voilà c'est comme ça on déboulonne pas, on discute pas des noms de rue, des noms de stations de métro, et surtout on soutient les forces de police, on dit deux-trois petits mots sur le racisme... Alors voilà, nous on pense qu'il y a un vrai problème, qu'il y a des vrais combats qui se mènent, alors que le maire de Londres a déboulonné une statue, à Bristol ils ont fait la même chose, et nous on peut pas en discuter. Donc on voulait remettre le débat très vite sur la table. On doit, dans une démocratie, pouvoir en discuter : qu'est-ce qu'on met dans l'espace public ? C'est une question de justice, vraiment. Et puis aussi interpeller la maire Anne Hidalgo parce qu'elle est en campagne en ce moment, alors j'ai l'impression qu'elle est plus à inaugurer des pistes cyclables et des jardins partagés qu'à s'intéresser à ce qui se passe dans sa ville, notamment sur les violences policières. Pourquoi, pourquoi on s'attache à ces symboles du colonialisme, de l'esclavagisme ? C'est quelqu'un qui a tué 700 000 personnes je crois à Madagascar, pourquoi on peut pas en discuter, pourquoi on pourrait pas les mettre ailleurs, et puis raconter une autre histoire ? Parce que ça c'est une histoire des vainqueurs qu'on raconte à chaque fois. Moi je pense qu'on pourrait raconter autrement." Under this video tweet, reactions are mostly hostile, between justifications for the French Empire: "Encore un génocide totalement bidon que l'on met sur le dos des occidentaux. Gallieni a réprimé, éxécuté des caciques hostiles à la France mais développé les écoles, les hôpitaux, le chemin de fer sur l'île. Comme si le peuple de cette ile était plus heureux avant, et après!" ; calls for Dhorasoo to leave France: "Ces donneurs de leçons nous font chier, ça les empêche de vivre ces statues. La France a des traditions et valeurs ainsi qu une histoire. Allez voir ailleurs si le monde est meilleur." ; and inversions of colonial narratives inspired by the Great Replacement theory: "Les colons demandent à ce que les statues des français soient détruites pour être remplacées par celles de non français".
• 2020, Article on "statues that hurt the eye" like Germain
  Cet article fait le lien avec la mobilisation pour George Floyd et les déboulonnages de statues. Sont mentionnées les statues de Jacques Chirac et de François Hollande, tous deux élus de Corrèze, inaugurées en septembre 2020, le monument Germain et les statues de Bugeaud.
• 2020, "Stop colonialism" collage on the monument to General Faidherbe
  A march against police violence is organized in Lille, during which demonstrators put forward the idea that the structural racism that generates violence stems in part from colonial history. A "stop colonialism" collage is affixed to the pedestal of the Faidherbe monument, and a banner calls for the destruction of colonial statues "from Lille to Boston".
• 2020, Critical social media posts about the monument to Gallieni in Paris
  Following the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in the United States, antiracist protests inspired by Black Lives Matter flourished in France in the Spring of 2020. On June 10, the popular content creator behind Histoires Crêpues, a YouTube channel, Instagram and Twitter account, shared a 4 minutes Instagram video in front of Gallieni's statue. He reposted various versions of it on Twitter and YouTube in the following days. He mentioned that on June 7, antiracist protesters took down the statue of Edward Colston, and pointed out that in France also, the streets were full of homages to colonizers and slave traders. He gave historical context on Gallieni's colonial career, his invading the then called French Sudan, in Tonkin (Vietnam), and sent to quash resisting forces in Madagascar. He linked sources to Gallieni's writings, including a passage of Gallieni's Rapport d'ensemble sur la pacification, l'organisation et la colonisation de Madagascar, where Gallieni talks about "la politique des races", a military occupation strategy where France would pit Madagascar's different ethnicities against one another, focusing on destroying the ethnic group that was the most hostile to French colonialism. The content creator argued that Gallieni was in that sense relying on Arthur de Gobineau's racist theories. While racist ideologies underpinned the entire French colonial project, with the idea that France was superior to the populations it invaded and submitted to its rule, Gallieni's doctrine required to study local power dynamics and the cultural specificities of each ethnic group to France's advantage. He asked why Gallieni had so much presence in French public space, citing a métro station, and the avenue Gallieni in Paris, a prestigious street that connects the Seine to the Invalides building, deploring that it was dedicated to the colonial hero who designed "la politique des races". He deplored that not knowing this history was making it more difficult to combat racism in contemporary France. (From the video: "elle est consacrée au héros colonial concepteur de la politique des races. C'est à peine croyable, comment peut-on espérer lutter contre lutter contre le racisme en France quand personne ne connaît cette histoire ?") He then goes around the monument and describes its component, insisting on the allegories of the pedestal, point out that they are "clichés" linked to Gallieni's colonial career and that the Africa woman is bare-chested. He also points out that the monument was commissioned by the Ligue Maritime et Coloniale Française, reading the inscription on the plinth. "Ce sont ces quatre personnages qui représentent les peuples qui ont été colonisés par Gallieni et qui le portent. Franchement, c'est extrême. Franchement, je sais pas, en tant qu'afrodescendant, tu te balades dans la rue, et tu vois ce genre de monuments en l'honneur d'un héros colonial, ça fait mal en fait, c'est... franchement, je sais même pas quoi dire." He ends this video asking whether these public homages are still necessary, or if more context would be needed to fully understand the history alluded to by the monument, suggesting that it might be better to place it in a museum. Finally, he asked municipal and state power what the message was to the population, by keeping these colonial monuments without explanation, and urged for more education about history of French colonialism and slavery to combat racism today. "Est-ce que nous avons vraiment besoin de tous ces hommages coloniaux ? Ne seraient-ils pas mieux dans des musées qui pourraient clairement nous expliquer cette histoire ? Je m'adresse directement à la mairie du 7e arrondissement de Paris, au Ministère de la Culture, et à Emmanuel Macron, président de la République française. Je demande : quel est le message que vous voulez nous faire passer en conservant ces hommages coloniaux sans nous donner aucun contexte historique pour mieux les comprendre ? On veut des réponses. Je crois que continuer à creuser notre histoire coloniale c'est un bon moyen de lutter contre le racisme tel qu'il existe aujourd'hui dans notre pays la France. Un racisme directement lié à notre histoire coloniale et notre passé esclavagiste français." In the following days, comments and reposts on social media engage with the contents of the video about the monument, both critical of Gallieni, and critical of Histoires Crêpues.
• 2020, De la peinture blanche est à nouveau versée sur le buste
  Inscription "White Lives Matter" sur le socle
• 2020, Déboulonnage du buste d'Ernest Deproge
  Le buste et son socle sont renversés et laissés sur place.
• 2020, Demande de retrait du monument Colomb
  La Confédération Unie du Peuple Taïno de la Guadeloupe, section de l’United Confederation of Taino People, rejette le projet de la mairie de placer à nouveau une statue représentant un « Indien caraïbe » à côté de la statue et demande le retrait de la statue
• 2020, Members of the Collectif Moun Gwadloup repaint the Maroon statue
  Four male members of the collective repaint the statue with gold paint, as a sign of political action to valorize the statue and the figure it embodies. The message is clear, and broadcast on social networks
• 2020, Destruction de la statue de Joséphine
  Activists, aided by onlookers, destroy the statue and broadcast the video of their action almost live on social networks. The video shows the group using ropes to force the statue, which is still standing on a pedestal that has already been partially destroyed. As it falls, shouts of joy erupt, followed by people jumping on what's left of it.
• 2020, Dispute between The Daily Telegraph and York Minster over Constantine statue
  On June 29, 2020, The Daily Telegraph published an article claiming that York Minster's statue of Constantine was being 'looked at' following alleged complaints that the Roman Emperor had supported slavery. However, York Minister denied that they had received any such complaints, with a spokesperson stating that "Contrary to what has been reported, we have not received a single complaint about Emperor Constantine’s statue” and “We are not removing Emperor Constantine’s statue. Nothing is happening: there is no discussion, action, intention or even thoughts about it".
• 2020, Equestrian statue of Prince George is graffitied
  The plinth and front relief of the statue were graffitied with BLM (Black Lives Matter) tags.
• 2020, Equestrian statue of William III in Glasgow graffitied
• 2020, Graffiti and paint thrown at the monument to Colbert in Paris
  On 23 June 2020, an activist from Guadeloupe, member of the Brigade Anti-Négrophobie (BAN), spray painted the words "Negrophobie d'Etat" in red, onto the plinth of Colbert's monument in front of Assemblée Nationale. He also threw red paint onto the statue's chest, and onto the document it is holding in its hands. The police, always in front of the AssembléeNationale, intervened immediately and arrested the activist on the spot. The State pressed charges for "dégradation de bien public". A video of the action and the activist's arrest was posted on BAN's Twitter account. The activist explained: “Vous voyez, les racistes sont de l’autre coté de l’Assemblée. Ça c’est une statue qui vient prôner la négrophobie, le meurtre des Noirs, le viol des Noirs, la torture des Noirs”.
• 2020, Graffiti on the Winston Churchill statue
  The Churchill statue's plinth was graffitied with the words 'was a racist' during the Black Lives Matter protests.
• 2020, Graffiti on the Winston Churchill statue
  The Churchill statue's plinth was graffitied with the words 'is a racist' during a climate change demonstration.
• 2020, Tag on the statue of Churchill
  Inscription : "big racist"
• 2020, Tag onthe bust of Gandhi, Fort-de-France
  "Gandhi, le négrophobe"
• 2020, Graffiti sur le buste de Gandhi à Fort-de-France
  Peinture blanche sur le nez et sur les yeux "Raciste"
• 2020, Graffiti on the Marchand monument
  Let's Decolonize Paris
• 2020, Graffiti sur le socle de la statue de Jacques Coeur à Bourges
  "Colonialisme" écrit à la peinture rouge en bas du socle. Aucune revendication n'explique les liens entre Jacques Coeur et le colonialisme. Sa statue à Bourges insiste sur ses liens avec la Méditerranée orientale en puisant dans le registre de l'orientalisme. On peut également supposer que cette accusation reprend l'image de Jacques Coeur comme "financier colonial" construite en 1928 par un ouvrage d'inspiration colonialiste qui présente Jacques Coeur comme un lointain précurseur de la domination française en Syrie et au Liban après la première Guerre mondiale. Ouvrage dont quelques pages sont consultable sur Gallica et qui a été réédité en version numérique en 2020.
• 2020, Incendie au pied de la statue de Belain d'Esnambuc
• 2020, Artistic installation of a rope on the neck of the Bugeaud statue
  ADNX and Klemere set up the installation “Tirons sur la corde, dans le sens de l'Histoire” (Let's pull on the rope, in the direction of history): they passed a rope around the neck of the statue of Marshal Bugeaud, inviting the public to pull on it in order to bring the statue to the ground.
• 2020, Jake Thompson's petition to remove the statue of Robert Clive in Shrewsbury gathers more than 5000 signatures
• 2020, Jet de peinture sur les allégories des colonies d'Asie et d'Afrique à Marseille
  Défilé militant devant les statues au pied des escaliers de la gare Saint-Charles pour dénoncer l'héritage colonial et exotique dont elles sont l'allégorie. Inscriptions : "Les colonisés d'Afrique niquent la France” (sur la statue d'Afrique en bas à droite) et sur l'autre plaque (celle de la statue d'Asie, en bas à gauche) : "Les colonisés d'Asie nikent la France".
• 2020, La statue de Belain d'Esnambuc est arrachée de son socle
  La statue est abattue et décapitée, sa tête est traînée dans les rues et déposée sur les grilles de la préfecture
• 2020, The de Gaulle statue is smeared with yellow paint
  On the night of June 12-13, 2020, the face of the de Gaulle statue was smeared with yellow paint, as was the plaque commemorating the battle of Bir Hakeim. June 13 is a day of demonstrations in France against police violence, called by the Collectif Vérité et Justice pour Adama Traoré (Truth and Justice Collective for Adama Traoré), and in the context of worldwide protests against police violence led by the Black Lives Matter movement.
• 2020, The statue of François de Mahy is plastered with red paint.
  Activists cover François Césaire de Mahy's hands and face in red paint. The color red represents the blood that flowed during the Madagascar wars, of which he was one of the instigators. At the same time, the street sign bearing his name was covered in black paint.
• 2020, La statue de Lyautey et la stèle des Goums mixtes Marocains sont aspergées de peinture rouge
  De la peinture rouge est lancée sur la statue de Lyautey et sur la stèle des Goums mixtes Marocains. Des inscriptions sont également peintes sur le socle de la statue. Inscriptions : : "Guerre du RIF / 1921-1926 / tu as gazé le RIF / Abdelkrim t'a vaincu / Pétain a dû / venir à l'aide" // "Colonisateur / Vive / Le RIF"// "Vive / La République / du / RIF / 1921-1926"
• 2020, La statue de Napoléon Ier est recouverte de peinture rouge
  2020, The statue of Napoleon I is covered in red paint
• 2020, Victor Schœlcher statue is destroyed in Fort-de-France
  On May 22, 2020, the day commemorating the abolition of slavery in Martinique, the two statues of Victor Schœlcher located in Fort-de-France and Schœlcher were destroyed by activists who knocked them off their plinths. The destruction was filmed and the videos posted on social networks. The activists also publish a press release, entitled “May 22, reparation through reappropriation”, recalling that the decree abolishing slavery was signed on May 22 following the slave revolts and asserting “No, Schœlcher is not our savior”. The communiqué calls for recognition of the memory of the ancestors of the Martiniquais, and proposes the replacement of street names and public institutions.
• 2020, The statue of Victor Schœlcher is destroyed in Schœlcher
  On May 22, 2020, the day commemorating the abolition of slavery in Martinique, the two statues of Victor Schœlcher located in Fort-de-France and Schœlcher were destroyed by activists who knocked them off their plinths. The destruction was filmed and the videos posted on social networks. The activists also publish a press release, entitled “May 22, reparation through reappropriation”, recalling that the decree abolishing slavery was signed on May 22 following the slave revolts and asserting “No, Schœlcher is not our savior”. The communiqué calls for recognition of the memory of the ancestors of the Martiniquais, and proposes the replacement of street names and public institutions.
• 2020, The Maroon statue receives white paint
  Memorial statue covered in white paint, presumably as a racist attack
• 2020, The bust of Charles de Gaulle is painted over and the base is tagged
  The bust is painted red, and inscriptions in French and Creole are applied in red and black paint: "Respé", "1944 Massac, Massacre de Thiaroye", "Nou pa Franssé", "Tirey Isalop", "Criminel Assassin".
• 2020, The bust of Charles de Gaulle is coated in orange paint
  The bust of Charles de Gaulle is coated in orange paint. The word "esclavagiste" is stenciled on the base.
• 2020, The bust of Christopher Columbus is sprayed with red paint and the base is tagged
  The bronze bust is painted red. The same paint is used to inscribe “murderer”, “rapist” and “slaver” on the base
• 2020, The bust of Victor Schœlcher is removed
  On the night of July 23-24, 2020, the bust of Victor Schœlcher was removed from its base and taken away. The gendarmes find it after more than a day's disappearance in the wild on the route des mamelles, more than 40 kilometers from Basse-Terre, damaged and with its face smashed in. The base was also tagged. The damage occurred three days after the annual Day of History and Remembrance organized by the Société des amis de Victor Schœlcher, founded in 1992 and chaired by Brigitte Rodes, a lawyer and departmental councillor. The base had been repainted for the commemoration, and wreaths of flowers laid by the commune's mayor.
• 2020, The Laproptaz nout péi collective calls for a commission to be set up to consider street names and monuments in Reunion's public spaces
  On the day of remembrance of the slave trade and its abolition instituted by Unesco, le collectif Laproptaz nout péi publishes a press release: "We propose that you set up a public commission to study and consult on the names of streets and public squares, on the names of schools, high schools, colleges and universities, on public buildings and on the place and locations of honorary statues, so that we can achieve a balance with regard to the representation of the history and memory of this country". The collective is thus calling for the reconstruction of a public space around local historical figures who embody the principles enshrined today in the various declarations of fundamental human rights
• 2020, The Victor Schœlcher Memorial is tagged
  On May 27, 2020, the Victor Schœlcher pedestal in Vieux-Habitants was tagged with a red pen or pencil: the word “RACISTE” was inscribed in very large vertical letters. Smaller inscriptions appear, such as “mascarade”, “pas de raciste comme symbole !!!!”.
• 2020, The Schœlcher monument is coated in red paint
  On the night of July 1 to 2, both the young man and Schœlcher were painted red, a syringe was placed in Schœlcher's right hand, and what the newspapers interpreted as a torn-out heart was placed at the foot of the young man, symbolizing a freed slave.
• 2020, Le monument à Schœlcher est renversé
  On the night of July 17-18, 2020, the statues were knocked off their plinths. Cayenne town hall feared that the statues would be damaged or destroyed, as had happened on June 22 in Martinique. A police car had been stationed on Place Schœlcher on June 10, the day of the commemoration of the abolition of slavery in French Guiana.
• 2020, The monument to General Faidherbe is tagged
  On the night of June 20-21, 2020, the words "colon", "assassin", "Sénégal", "Algérie" and "Kabylie" were inscribed in white paint on the monument's base.
• 2020, The monument to General Faidherbe is sprayed with red paint
• 2020, The foot of the horse, the base and the pedestal of the statue of Napoleon receive red paint
  On the night of June 24-25, 2020, the monument to Napoleon Bonaparte was sprayed with red paint
• 2020, Christopher Columbus' face is coated in red
  Christopher Columbus's face is coated in red paint. The plaque bearing his name and dates of life and death is covered in red paint.