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“A group of anti-capitalist councillors in Barcelona are hoping to topple the statue of Christopher Columbus that has stood at the foot of La Rambla for more than a century, arguing that the city should not be celebrating the explorer’s colonial legacy.
The 197ft (60-metre) high memorial, topped with a bronze statue of the Genoan pointing out to sea, has been part of Barcelona’s skyline since 1888. Its base pays homage to Columbus’s colleagues and his patrons, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.
In proposals to be submitted to the city council on Friday, the three CUP Capgirem councillors call for the statue to be taken down along with “all the decorations at the base of the column that glorify the conquest of America and its ‘museumification’ through historical interpretation”.
Far more fitting, they say, would be a memorial reflecting “American resistance to imperialism, oppression and indigenous and African-American segregation”.
The image of Columbus is not the only monument on their hitlist: the councillors also want the statue of the merchant and slave trader Antonio López y López, Marquis of Comillas, removed from its plinth outside the post office building. In its place, the trio propose a monument to commemorate the victims of the slave trade.”
– The Guardian, Call to topple Christopher Columbus statue from its Barcelona perch.
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Indian Country 52
Indian Country 52 is a weekly project by David Bernie that uses the medium of posters that promote issues and stories in Indian Country.
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This work by David Bernie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may download, share, and post the images under the condition that the works are attributed to the artist.
