Plaque-Check: Now is the time to act

Why we must take action to challenge the notion of an official version of history.

I have written at length before about the problems with plaques, including in The Mallard a year ago (It’s time to consign plaques to history) and via Substack last month (Next PM must reject the need to 'explain' our past). So it will suffice here just to summarise them using my comment to Breitbart this week:

“The plaques we’ve seen so far have all failed in their stated aim of bringing balance and objectivity,” Poll said, blasting their “reductive” and “narrow” view of history. “Rather than the promised tools of debate, they’ve proved weapons of propaganda,” he accused.

‘Save Our Statues fact-checks ‘fake history’ defaming historic Britons’, Breitbart 26/08/22

But, despite the anti-plaque argument gaining traction, the plaque remains the go-to solution for any council or institution seeking to bag itself a bit of ultra-fashionable post-colonial guilt.  

So, on Tuesday, Edinburgh Council will vote on the recommendation of its Slavery and Colonialism group to “re-present” any statues or places associated with slavery. Of course they don’t specify which statues, or what “associated” means, or what “re-presenting” entails. But the point is they don’t want to remove anything. They’ve twigged that taking control of the monument and, thereby, the narrative is far more effective.

So the question now presents itself: what can we do?

We can certainly keep writing, raising awareness, opening the eyes of those who still consider plaques some kind of harmless compromise.

But I do believe the time has also come for direct action.

And this is why, earlier this week, I stuck a notice on the information panel recently installed by Guy’s Hospital on the box concealing the statue of their founder, correcting their misinformation on his supposed profits from slavery.

I explained the need for action like this to Breitbart:

We are in a dangerous position where debate and discussion of history is being shut down, with only one acceptable viewpoint and where historians who question it are ostracised. The ‘Plaque-Check’ campaign is about challenging the notion of an official version of history and encouraging people to question what they read.

But the Guy notice was just an opening salvo. For every plaque they put up, we should do likewise. Of course we must not do any damage, which means they’ll likely not last long before being removed. But they will send a powerful signal of intent. They will demonstrate that we are prepared to do more than whinge behind a keyboard. And, in time, they may just cause enough nuisance to dissuade others from taking on the fight.

I have already called for Plaque-Check volunteers to help counter any plaques in their area, including the egregious examples we’ve witnessed in Oxford, Birmingham and Edinburgh. But my vision is that anybody, anywhere in the world, could email a photo of a similar plaque and I will try to provide them with a counter-plaque. I will also try to engage the support of those historians - and there are many - who rightly fear the closing down of debate in their profession.

The battle is on and there’s simply too much at stake to go down without a fight.