Monuments intend to reflect our values, and every society deceives itself that its values are eternal: it is for this reason that we cast those values in stone and set them upon a pedestal. But when the world changes, our monuments, and the values that they represent, remain frozen in time. Today’s world is changing at an unprecedented pace, and monuments erected decades or even centuries ago
no longer represent the values we hold dear.

The debates currently taking place over our monuments are almost always about identity. In the days when the world was dominated by old white men, it made sense to them to raise statues in their honour; but in today’s world of multiculturalism and greater gender equality, people are beginning to ask questions.

Every generation longs to free itself from the tyranny of history but history is the basis of our identity. So then, what to do?