Decolonization of public space

This protest gained particular import in 2020, when the emotion aroused by the murder of George Floyd in the United States spread in the Western world, relaunching the Black Lives Matter movement.

As a result, there were then many militant depredations, destructions, and removals of statues that activists expressed a desire to de-commemorate,[1][2] such as those of Christopher Columbus in the United States (contested by the Native Americans), of the explorer James Cook,[3] and of the British naval commander John Hamilton in New Zealand (contested by the Māori people),[4] of the Confederate President Jefferson Davis, of the slave traders Edward Colston and Robert Milligan in Bristol, England, of Queen Victoria,[5] of the former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill (whose remarks on racial issues sparked controversy) and of Robert Baden-Powell, founder of world-wide Scout Movement, after being accused of racism, homophobia, and links with the Nazi regime.

or even commercial signs (Café du négro in Bayonne,[9] Pharmacie de la Négresse in Biarritz, and Au Nègre joyeux in Paris).

Erected in 1934 in gratitude for the land he left to the university, the monument paid tribute to Cecil John Rhodes, former prime minister of the Cape Colony, white supremacist, and symbol of British imperialism at the end of the 19th century.

At the University of the Free State, it was against a backdrop of violent racial and social tensions that the statue of Charles Swart, president during the apartheid era, was set on fire, toppled, and thrown into a pond.

[14][15] A statue of Leopold II, inaugurated in 1928 by Albert I, was installed in Kinshana (named Leopoldville in his honor until 1966) in front of the Palais de la Nation, the current presidential building.

[16] In 2005, Congolese Minister of Culture Christophe Muzungu decided to put the statue back in place, arguing that colonial history should not be forgotten "so that this does not happen again".

Rehabilitated in 2010 with the help of the United Nations Mission in Congo (MONUSCO), it is accompanied by the statue of his successor Albert I, of founder of Leopoldville Henry Morton Stanley, as well as a sculpture in memory of the Congolese soldiers of the colonial army.

Finally, Northern Rhodesia, which also gained independence, abandoned its reference to Cecil Rhodes as a symbol of British imperialism at the end of the 19th century, and became Zambia in 1964.

Formerly called Southern Rhodesia in reference to the British colonizer and businessman Cecil Rhodes, the country was renamed Zimbabwe ("stone house" in the Shona language).

[28] In countries with Spanish culture or language, October 12 is an official date of commemoration of the landing of Christopher Columbus in the Bahamas in 1492, marking the beginning of the European colonization of the Americas.

"[42] But things changed in July 2021 when a group called "Revolução Periférica" (Peripheral Revolution) set fire to a statue of the bandeirante Manuel de Borba Gato (1649–1718) located in São Paulo.

One of their main goals is for Chile to become a "plurinational state" like neighboring Bolivia, granting indigenous peoples greater political autonomy, as well as official status for their languages.

[46] In March 2017, the bust of Chilean general Cornelio Saavedra Rodríguez, known for leading the bloody "pacification" of the heart of the Mapuche country in the 19th century, was destroyed by unknown persons and later replaced.

[46][48][49] On October 31, unknown persons destroyed the statue of Milanka, which had been made of cardboard and papier-mâché by students from the La Nuez school and installed after a ceremony by the Diaguita community, in homage to the women who maintained the customs, traditions and languages of the indigenous peoples.

[49][50][51][52] On October 29, 2019, in the center of Temuco in the Araucanía Region, a group of Mapuche militants overthrew the bust of the Spanish conquistador Pedro de Valdivia (1497–1553), lieutenant of Pizarro in the war of conquest and extermination in Peru, and governor of Chile from 1541 to 1547.

[53] On the same day, in the city of Concepción, which Pedro de Valdivia founded in 1550, demonstrators tore down his bust, grilled it, and impaled it at the foot of the statue of his historic enemy, the Mapuche leader Lautaro.

According to Radio Habana Cuba, Saavedra is considered one of the greatest military genocidaires during the occupation of Mapuche territories by the army, the oligarchy, and the political class in the 19th century.

[62] On May 7, 2021, in the capital Bogotá, protesters from the Misak community, originally from the southwest of the country, overthrew the statue erected in 1960 of the Spanish conquistador Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, founder of Bogota: "Historically, he was the greatest murderer, torturer, thief and rapist of our women and children" declared the group in a statement.

[64] On June 11, 2021, Colombian authorities moved the bronze statues of Christopher Columbus and Spanish Queen Isabella the Catholic that stood in the center of the capital Bogota, after two days of standoff with protesters from the indigenous Misak people who planned to topple them.

[65][66] On October 10, 2020, the statue of Christopher Columbus, erected on the Paseo de la Reforma, the main artery of the center of Mexico City, was removed from its pedestal by the authorities in order to submit the monument "to an examination and possible restoration".

The statues of the two queens, seen as symbols of the country's colonial history, were targeted amid tensions over the discovery of children's remains near residential schools in Canada in May and June 2021.

"[79] That same evening, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said he used to teach his students that many Minnesotans saw the Columbus statue as a "legacy of genocide," and added that it was time to "take a hard look at the outdated symbols and injustices around us.

[85] Interpreted as a representation of a Native American being driven from his land, this symbol has been criticized for its negationist vision of the violence committed against indigenous peoples during the European colonization of Minnesota.

The new navy and sky blue banner features an eight-pointed star in white for "L'Étoile du Nord", the French symbol and motto of the state.

[100] In 2016 in Auckland, anti-colonial activists attacked the "Zealandia Memorial" which commemorated the imperial and colonial soldiers who fought for Britain during the New Zealand Wars between 1845 and 1872, which killed 2,154 anti-government Māori according to historian James Cowan.

[99] Also in 2016, a statue of Captain James Cook in Gisborne was repeatedly defaced with red paint, sparking vigorous debate about the legacy of colonialism in New Zealand.

Nixon was considered a hero by settlers when, in 1864, his troops attacked the unfortified village of Rangiaōwhia, home to elderly men, women and children, and set fire to the church, killing 12 people hiding there.

The mayor of Auckland and the activist spoke and agreed not to remove the statue but to "ensure that the events of that time are explained and that the victims of the war are properly acknowledged...

[103] On January 11, 2018, the "Zealandia Memorial" was again vandalized by activists, who stuck an axe to the statue's head and a poster on the base of the monument, which read "Fascism and White Supremacy are not Welcome Here".