About ScienceNordic About ScienceNordic 中⽂ 中⽂ Health Society & Culture Environment Technology Agriculture & Fisheries Natural Sciences Blogs Keywords: Politics Send PDF Print By: Torgrim Sneve Guttormsen Neo-Nazis and far-right nationalists gathered to prevent the statue of Confederate Civil War General Robert E. Lee from being removed from Emancipation Park in Charlottesville, Virginia. The protests ended after a woman was killed and 19 people were injured when a right-wing extremist drove his car into a crowd. (Photo: Joshua Roberts / Reuters / NTB scanpix) May 13, 2018 - 06:20 OPINION: Politicians, managers and researchers must be able to use their voices when cultural heritage contributes to discrimination, hatred and violence. With the right-wing, populist-nationalist wave rolling over Europe and the United States, monuments from a dark part of our history are being pulled out of oblivion and despair. They are used ideologically and politically to draw attention to these groups in society and put researchers, managers and politicians on trial. It's hard to understand and to reflect upon the tragic and violent events in Charlottesville, where right-wing extremist demonstrators used violence to show their dissatisfaction with city authorities’ desires to remove the equestrian statue of General Robert E. Lee. The burning hatred and Nazi greetings that resulted are now part of the city’s history. At the centre of these riots stands a monument of a shadowy national past. The question that arises is whether the monument has a place in our time – should it be retained or removed? US President Donald Trump argued that it may be wrong to remove the statue because it is undemocratic and denies the fact of history. Thus, he justifies “the white riot” and at the same time undermines the political majority’s decision in Charlottesville to remove the statue. Historical monuments removed in Norway In Norway, historical monuments representing a shadowy use of the past, such as Nazi monuments raised in honour of Norse heroes, have been destroyed to conceal or wipe out this difficult past. Several of the monuments raised during the war by the Nasjonal Samling (NS), a Norwegian far-right party active from 1933 to 1945, such as the Snorre Monument erected in 1941 in the Royal Garden in Oslo and the NS monument erected at Stiklestad in 1944, were destroyed when the war ended. There is currently no survey of this kind of cultural heritage in Norway, as has been done in other countries, including Denmark and Sweden. In my opinion, this will be an important future task because facing cultural aspects that are difficult, divide and or are shameful May. 28 Selfies: Why We Love (and Hate) Them May. 27 Tips for people who want to start training — and stick with it May. 25 Female leaders are catching up with their male colleagues Oct. 3 Ancient grain reveals the development of the earliest cities Sep. 17 Danish scientists disprove popular Parkinson’s myth May. 29 Women in the armed forces – changes over time Sep. 17 Join in on the Norwegian National Science Week, 17–28 September Jul. 8 Research pays off for companies and society Jul. 4 New minimum basic funding requirements in Norway Jul. 2 Visiting Oslo? Guided campus tours PhD Scholarship Positions in Logistics Molde University College Professor/ Associate Professor in Informatics/ Digitalizati o - two positions Molde Universit y College Female leaders are catching up with their male colleagues News from University of Stavanger The secrets of St. Clement’s church News from NIKU - Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research Peacemaking in the Middle Ages News from The Centre for Advanced Study (CAS) Lawful casualty or victim of a war crime? News from University of Oslo Houses reused for over 1000 years during Stone Age News from Gemini, NTNU Trondheim - Norwegian University of Science and Technology All inside news Is it right to destroy monuments over our dark past? | ScienceNordic http://sciencenordic.com/it-right-destroy-monuments-over-our-dark-past 1 av 4 28.05.2018, 14.23