Students have published an open letter addressing Manchester City Council to demand that plans to erect a statue of Mahatma Gandhi outside Manchester Cathedral are scrapped.
The open letter calls for Manchester City Council reconsider the decision on the basis of “Gandhi’s well-documented anti-black racism” and “complicity in the British Empire’s actions in Africa”.
Authors of the letter, including University of Manchester Students’ Union Liberation and Access Officer Sara Khan, call on the council to reconsider its decision and instead “redistribute these funds to instead commemorate a Black anti-racist activist with connections to Manchester, such as Olive Morris or Steve Biko”.
They also call for the council to release a public statement “acknowledging Gandhi’s anti-black racism” and issue an apology for approving a statue that is “an insult to the Black community and the Kashmiri community in Manchester”.
The letter also states: “In modern times, Gandhi is used as a propaganda tool to cover up human rights abuses by the current Indian government under Modi, which is engaging in an effort to erect Gandhi statues globally to create an image of India as an anti-imperialist state.”
“We demand that Manchester City Council refuse to be complicit in this, especially given the city’s history of anti-racist action, and to stand in solidarity with Manchester’s Black and Kashmiri communities.”
The 9ft statue was approved by Manchester City Council in August and is set to be unveiled on 25th November.
Shrimad Rajchandra Mission, a worldwide spiritual movement based in India, proposed the statue. The group were inspired by the people of Manchester for their “strength, decency and community” in the aftermath of Manchester Arena attack which killed 22 people.
Featured image: Mexican Pets, Nobody’s Working Title – Blunt Records Pinning down a genre as sprawling as indie-rock is as futile as painting your living room with gravy instead of emulsion. However, we can at least set some boundaries. We can drill down through layers of subgenres and microgenres, but ultimately, a broad definition of…
Punk Rock Factory have gained a growing following over the years for their punky covers of well-known Disney songs. The lovingly named ‘Sausage Army’ turn up en-masse, clad in Motörhead and Ramones merch for a night of silly, classic rock and roll. Bringing the pop back to the punk, Bronnie brings the warm-up stretches in…
Featured image: Jackie Lee Young / Shorefire Media Houston trio, Khruangbin, headed to the Apollo on Monday to play a double set, starting with running through their latest, more stripped-back album A La Sala in full. From the first hum of Mark Speer’s guitar, the swarming audience prepared to be baptised with a night of…
Featured image: Sonic PR Ahead of their three-night residency at the Apollo in December, music journalist Leah Small takes a look at the evolution of IDLES across their five studio albums. With fists raised and a rambunctious energy like no other, self-proclaimed ‘angry’ ensemble IDLES burst forth from Bristol in 2009, possessing a raw and…
Leave a reply