Rees: ‘Symbolic actions have to be underpinned by policy and structural change’

Marvin Rees said an anti-debate approach is out of line with Bristol in response to attempts to prevent people from visiting the new Colston display.

A group calling itself Save Our Statues mounted a campaign to block book slots to the M Shed’s new exhibition, which features the toppled statue of the slave trader, in a bid to stop members of the public from viewing it.

M Shed changed its booking system and is accepting walk-ins where possible, as long as numbers in the museum are still Covid compliant.

Speaking during a press briefing on Wednesday, the mayor said understanding of different viewpoints is imperative in facilitating meaningful discussions around the city’s history.

Responding to concerns that nothing has changed over the course of the last year, he also said it was naïve to think symbolic acts alone will lead to meaningful change without considering the policy and structural shifts needed.

“I’ve set out, since the beginning, to say we need to try and understand each other to engage in a meaningful discussion around this,” said the mayor about the Colston statue.

“Our approach in Bristol is trying to understand where people are coming from, facilitate a conversation between all the very different experiences of Bristol and experiences of Colston and perspectives on the city. An anti-debate approach, just trying to block people from even having the discussion, to me, is out of line with the city and is out of line with a thoughtful approach to shaping our city and our country’s future.”

A year on from the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston during a Black Lives Matter protest, many in the city and beyond are reflecting on the past year and whether there has been any meaningful change.

Rees said: “ It would be naive to have felt at the time or even since that a statue being hauled down has a direct link to changes in policy and structures of racism that have been built up over 500 years.

“That’s always been my point about many of the actions that have happened in Bristol, even around Kill the Bill. Yes, action and protest is part of Bristol, but it also has to be linked to specific outcomes that are being sought.”

He continued: “There’s another dynamic; Covid has come and disproportionately hit us over the last year that has to be taken into account. By definition, it’s hitting the poorest, most marginalised hardest and they are least well placed to benefit from any uptick in the economy.

“So, all of those underlying drivers driving inequality, be they race or class-based, have been enforced over the course of the last year, irrespective of whether the statue was pulled down or not.

“Statues are hugely symbolic; they send messages and they make statements. But symbolic actions have to be underpinned by policy and structural change, they are not enough to start systemic change.”

He went on to list steps taken over the last five years – from the Stepping Up programme and recruitment of magistrates to work on mental health and housing – to address inequalities.

Rees called it the “hard yards of activism”, saying “it’s not all glamorous and Tweetable. Sometimes the things that we have to do to tackle inequalities are invisible, policy-led”.

Main photo by Martin Booth

Read more: ‘I helped drag Colston’s statue into the water’