From a norwegian newspaper and point of view on this topic regarding Churchill as there has this week been a call to demolish his statue here in Norway, where Churchill is quite popular after all he did for us during ww2 :
Google translate :
Over 3,000 people have signed a petition to remove statues of Ludvig Holberg and Winston Churchill.
STORTINGET, OSLO (Nettavisen): - There is obviously a part that needs a history lesson, Stortinget representative Stefan Heggelund (H) tells Nettavisen.
Since the demonstrations against racism reached Norway, the fight has now become a little wider than before. This prompted Oslo citizen Yasmin Zannachi to make a call to remove the "slave trader statues in Norway".
In the appeal, she describes that the statues of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and author Ludvig Holberg should be demolished.
Blant annet på Solli plass og Nationaltheatret i Oslo står det statuer av henholdsvis Winston Churchill og Ludvig Holberg, sistnevnte investerte stort i slavehandel. Winston Churchill var en rasist og mente at den hvite rasen var overlegen. Det er uhørt at rasistiske hvite menn som synes det var greit å undertrykke svarte mennesker så til de grader skal ha en plass i våre gater, skriver Zannachi i oppropet.
Extreme sauce
At the time of writing, 3315 people have signed the petition. That is why Right-wing politicians Stefan Heggelund and Peter Frølich put the coffee in their throats.
- If this is the level of debate going forward, we will face tough times. These are just far-flung sauces, says Frølich.
"Arrived Norway as a king"
It was in 1948 that Winston Churchill came to Oslo and spoke for the Norwegian people. According to Aftenposten, Churchill was received "as a king, and a saving angel."
- The statue stands there as a thank you for giving us freedom back, and was erected in connection with the hundreds of thousands of people hearing Churchill speak. There were people who had known the war on the body, he says. He is voiced by Heggelund: - We honor him for helping to free Norway and Europe from the clutches of Nazism. It is absurd to see this call, you almost have to rub your eyes. Of course he will have a statue in the center of Oslo.
- But did Churchill not advocate racist thought?
- That's a pretty absurd argument. He is probably the individual who has done the most to fight racist thought and fascism, on behalf of liberal democracy, says Peter Frølich.
In the first edition of the call, Churchill was also referred to as a slave owner, but slavery was banned in the UK about 100 years before he was born.
Frølich draws a parallel to the 1984 book by George Orwell, which describes a dystopian and authoritarian society. Part of the description is about removing everything from history in society, replacing it with what the state thinks is "correct".
“All archives had been removed or forged, every book rewritten, every image repainted, every statue and building renamed, and all dates changed. The process continues day by day and minute by minute. The story has stopped. Nothing exists except an endless present where the party is always right, ”Orwell wrote in the book.
- A society where everything should be wrapped up to the perfect and the correct. It is simply a pretty unattractive society. We must see history for what it is. Not everyone can live up to the 2020 values, says Frølich.
- Absurd
One of the most common charges against Winston Churchill is that during his time as deputy state council for the colonies, he led his actions to mass results in India. Frølich strongly rejects this.
- Even one of the most critical Churchill writers, Arthur Herman, strongly rejected this claim. The reason for hunger in India was that Japan occupied Burma, and the rice supplies did not come as normal. It is true that Churchill acted late, but that he is responsible for any genocide is just absurd, he says.
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And at the end there was a poll. 4% wanted to demolish the statue. 96% did not.