Solidarity with the Colston Statue Topplers
4 Defendants face their 1st date in Court on charges of criminal damage, for their alleged involvement of the toppling of the 125 year old statue of Edward Colston, whilst a huge Black Lives Matter protest was taking place in Bristol on the 7th June 2020.
Hundreds of protesters participated in the toppling of the Colston statue, and then dragging it to the harbour before sending Colston to swim with the fishes – the same fate as that experienced by so many enslaved Africans on the transatlantic slaving ships, a business the slave-trader and former Tory MP Edward Colston got rich from.
Campaigners in Bristol have spent years trying to tell the truth about Colston and his kind, and their murderous business practices. They have also tried to bring an end to the continued memorialisation of Colston in Bristol – the statue, paintings & other monuments, buildings, schools, street names etc etc promoting his name are a continued expression of racist oppression & exploitation, perpetuated by Bristol’s white wealthy elites. Because of their class and race supremacist beliefs, Bristol’s elites, led by the Society of Merchant Venturers, have resisted attempts at change, and factual challenges – being forced into only minor reforms & adjustments. The protesters on 7th June clearly decided Colston’s towering racist presence could continue no longer, and pulled him down. Well done we say – We All Did It!
Court solidarity events – 25th January at Bristol Magistrates Court (Court info). This Court date is a ‘Plea hearing’, where defendants plead ‘Not Guilty’, or ‘Guilty’, it is not the full trial.
Exact Protest locations, time & other details to be added here when they are announced!
In the meantime – get ready & get active – here’s some local links that will provide you with all the info, news & comment you need to get upto speed:
Countering Colston campaign – website / FB /
All Black Lives Bristol (organisers of 7th June and later protests) – Instagram / FB /
Bristol Radical History Group – articles on Slavery & Resistance / twitter /
Alternative Bristol – articles
Bristol Cable – articles
Bristol Post – articles over several years by this journalist are well worth a read
Byline Times (8 June article) – 12 Facts that Prove Black Lives Don’t Matter in Britain
St Paul’s Carnival – scroll down here for history resources
Note from Alternative Bristol: we pull in some of these events from other sources, sometimes they lose some info, so if there are any details missing or you need to know more, do an online search for the event) google search or facebook search for the event.
