英オックスフォード大、植民地政治家セシル・ローズ像撤去へ

【ロンドンＡＦＰ＝時事】英オックスフォード大学のオリオル・カレッジは17日、19世紀植民地時代の政治家セシル・ローズの像を撤去することを投票で決定した。この像をめぐっては2週間ほど前から撤去を求める大規模な抗議活動が行われていた。（写真は英オックスフォード大学オリオル・カレッジに設置されている、植民地時代の政治家セシル・ローズの像）
　オリオル・カレッジは、ビクトリア朝時代に鉱物採掘で巨額の富を築いたローズの像にまつわる「重要な問題」の独立調査を開始する意向も示し、「これらの決定は議論と再考を重ねた熟慮の期間を経て到達したものだ。決定が今後、英国や世界各地に影響を及ぼすだろうということは十分認識している」と述べた。
　今月９日にはローズ像の撤去を求める大規模なデモが行われ、参加者らは「像を倒せ！」「植民地解放！」などと訴えた。
　４年前に始まったローズ像の撤去運動は、アフリカ系米国人のジョージ・フロイドさんが白人警官の拘束下で死亡した事件を受けて世界中に広がる「Ｂｌａｃｋ Ｌｉｖｅｓ Ｍａｔｔｅｒ（黒人の命は大切）」運動によって再燃した。
　デモの参加者たちは、１９０２年以降オックスフォード大学で学ぶ留学生８０００人以上に授与されてきたローズ奨学金の見直しも要求している。
　大英帝国形成の多くの貢献者と同じく、ローズも白人至上主義者であり、現在のジンバブエとザンビアに当たる植民地に自身の名前を冠し「ローデシア」と名付けた。またローズは、ダイヤモンド生産大手のデ・ビアス社の創立者でもある。
　ローズはオックスフォード大学で学び、１９０２年に亡くなるとその遺産はオリオル・カレッジに寄付された。
　オリオル・カレッジは、独立調査委員会を設置して黒人やアジア人、少数民族の大学生・大学院生の入学や進学状況の改善策について検討すると述べ、「２１世紀における大学の多様性への取り組みを、過去とどのように調和させていくか」見直していくと表明した。
　英国ではここ数週間、植民地時代の過去をたたえる像に怒りの矛先が向いている。奴隷商人エドワード・コルストンの像がデモ参加者らによって引き倒されたブリストルでの一件は、そうした社会情勢を特に象徴する出来事となった。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/06/19-09:54）

An Oxford University college has voted in favour of removing a statue of 19th-century colonialist Cecil Rhodes, less than two weeks after thousands of protestors called for it to be taken down.
Oriel College said it also wanted to set up an independent inquiry into the key issues surrounding the statue of the Victorian mining tycoon.
Both of these decisions were reached after a thoughtful period of debate and reflection and with the full awareness of the impact these decisions are likely to have in Britain and around the world, it said in a statement Wednesday.
The move comes after a large protest by the Rhodes Must Fall campaign on June 9, with demonstrators chanting Take it down! and Decolonise!
The campaign to remove the statue, which started four years ago, was reignited by the global explosion of Black Lives Matter demonstrations, following the killing in the United States of African-American George Floyd by a white police officer.
Campaigners had also demanded changes to the Rhodes scholarship, which has been awarded to more than 8,000 overseas students to study at Oxford University, since 1902.
Rhodes -- a white supremacist like many builders of the British empire -- gave his name to the territories of Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe and Zambia, and founded the De Beers diamond company.
He studied at Oxford and left money to Oriel College after his death in 1902.
Oriel's statement said it would examine how to improve access and attendance of Black Asian and minority ethnic undergraduate and graduate students.
The independent commission of inquiry would also review how the college's 21st-century commitment to diversity can sit more easily with its past.
- Debate over colonial past -
Statues commemorating Britain's colonial past have become the focus of anger in recent weeks, most dramatically with the toppling of a memorial to the slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol.
In addition, a London statue of British wartime leader Winston Churchill was controversially boxed up after anti-racism protests.
The Rhodes Must Fall campaign said it was cautiously optimistic after the college's announcement.
However, we have been down this route before, where Oriel College has committed to taking a certain action, but has not followed through: notably, in 2015, when the college committed to engaging in a six-month-long democratic listening exercise, it said in a statement.
Therefore, while we remain hopeful, our optimism is cautious, it said, urging the college to commit to removing the statue.
Susan Brown, the leader of Oxford City Council, said she welcomed the news from Oriel College and paid tribute to the campaigners.
The city council would welcome an early submission of a formal planning application from Oriel to accompany the review process and feed into it, she said in a statement.
I would like to pay particular tribute to the Rhodes Must Fall campaign who have seen their aims come a big step closer today, and also to Black Lives Matter campaigners who have reinvigorated this debate about our history and how it should be recognised.
Earlier on Wednesday, universities minister Michelle Donelan said she was opposed to removing the statue, calling it short-sighted.
Because if we cannot rewrite our history, instead what we should do is remember and learn from it, she told a Higher Education Policy Institute event, the PA Media news agency reported.