Documentary follows Mayor in weeks after statue’s fall
On the anniversary of the toppling of the Colston statue, Post reporter Tristan Cork spoke to Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees
THE inside story of the Mayor of Bristol in the days and weeks after the statue of Edward Colston was toppled in Bristol last year will be told in an hourlong documentary screened by the BBC this week.
Statue Wars - A Summer in Bristol will be shown on BBC2 on Thursday, days after the first anniversary of the toppling of the statue thrust Bristol and its mayor into the global spotlight.
The documentary was filmed by Uplands Television, the TV production company of Bristolbased historian Professor David Olusoga, one of the executive producers for the programme.
A film crew was granted access to the Mayor’s Office within just a day or so, as Marvin Rees dealt with the fall-out from the statue being toppled.
Within a week, a counter-demonstration was staged in Bristol, the police handling of the demonstration was criticised by Westminster politicians and the questions about what should happen next to the statue, the police investigation and prosecutions loomed large.
“The programme goes behind the scenes at City Hall as mayor, Mr Rees, is faced with rising tensions, counter protests, the appearance of a new statue, and racist abuse directed at him personally,” said a BBC spokesperson.
“The tensions in Bristol are also explored through the eyes of its residents who each have a connection to the statue and the events that played out last summer. They as well share a fascinating insight into the complexities, spirit and divisions that exist in the city.”
Statue Wars - A Summer in Bristol airs on BBC2 at 9pm on Thursday, June 10.
THE Mayor of Bristol has called on the city to give itself the ‘space to breathe’ and the respect to ‘live with our differences,’ on the first anniversary of the toppling of the statue of slave trader Edward Colston.
Marvin Rees told the Post that the events of last June 7 were positive in that they acted as a gateway to change, and raised awareness of Bristol’s history, but also carried the danger that the statue and the arguments around it had become another issue in the ongoing culture wars.
In the week a fly-on-the-wall documentary is due to air showing Mr Rees’ office dealing with the fall-out of the statue being toppled last summer, the Mayor said he wanted to move forward and encourage everyone in Bristol to listen to each other with respect over what has become a contentious issue in the city.
“The city’s been through a trauma,” he said.
“Whether you’re happy that the statue’s being pulled down and the way that it happened, whether you are sympathetic at the statue coming down, but not happy at the way that it happened, or whether you think that the statue coming down means that you’ve lost a piece of yourself, and you hate the way it’s come down, we’ve been through a shock as a city.
“What we need is the space to draw breath,” he said.
“Now, if the leaders and those of us creating and helping shape the context use language that is nuanced, is considered and shows respect,” he added.
To mark the first anniversary of the statue being toppled, the statue of Edward Colston has been put back on public show, with a temporary exhibition in the M Shed. And even that sparked controversy, with some objecting to the presentation of the statue lying rather than upright, and still covered in the graffiti that had been sprayed on it that day.
One campaign group calling for statues to ‘be saved’ even attempted to sabotage the booking process to allow people in to the M Shed to see it, by block booking timeslots they had no intention of taking up, so the museum would be fully booked but empty – something the M Shed attempted to overcome yesterday.
The first anniversary was also marked by a new unauthorised plaque being put up at the spot next to Pero’s Bridge where the statue was tipped into the docks, by a celebratory gathering at the plinth, and by the launch of the People’s Platform, a hi-tech media and arts project which allows people to view augmented reality statues, sculptures and artworks on top of the empty plinth, using just their phone.
The M Shed statue display includes a survey asking people what they want to see happen next with the statue, the plinth and Bristol’s own telling of its transatlantic slave trade history.
Mr Rees said he wanted people to listen to and respect each other’s points of views on the issue.
“I may disagree with someone who wants the statue up there, I may say it’s inappropriate, but I still have to respect the fact that that person actually may draw meaning from that statue that is about them, and if I refuse to understand that, how am I going to have an adult conversation with them? And how am I going to earn the right to expect them to understand my position?
“There comes a point in a complicated city like Bristol that if you’ve got integrity, you’ve thought things through and you’ve drawn a different conclusion ... and if I think you’ve got integrity and you think I’ve got integrity, then we can probably live with our differences well, because we know we’re not being fast and loose with the truth – and that’s where we’ve got to get to.
“Cities are like that. Cities are going to be places where sometimes you get what you want, sometimes you won’t get what you want, and sometimes you will actually get what you didn’t want.
“To keep us together, you need to believe that the processes have been fair, respectful, inclusive and that on another day you might get what you want, but you need to know that the background machinery is considered and thoughtful and that’s how we hold Bristol together, I think.”
Mr Rees said he was open to the idea that the We Are Bristol History Commission he set up after the toppling could remain a rolling project that is constantly re-evaluating many aspects of the city’s history.
“Success from the History Commission is that Bristol is more aware of the fullness of its history,” he said.
“Colston is the departure point but it’s not the destination.
“That History Commission is there to talk about the history of women in Bristol, to talk about the history of union activists and people who have fought for the rights of dockers, for example, to talk about all the industries that have flourished – so actually we come to a fuller understanding of who we are.
“Bristol is more than just Colston. “There are lots of people and dynamics and forces, there are many people who have been lost to our sense of our history who have made interventions in Bristol that have been of critical significance to shaping our city and our country, and that fuller telling of Bristol’s story is massively important.”
❝ The city’s been through a trauma ... What we need is the space to draw breath
Mayor Marvin Rees