Tag Archives: standpoint magazine

Of Statues And Poems

On 23 November 2016, I wrote my poem “Rhodes”, https://newauthoronline.com/2016/11/23/rhodes/. The poem was inspired by the controversy surrounding the campaign by the Rhodes Must Fall organisation to have the statue of Cecil Rhodes removed from Oriel College Oxford.
I spent much of yesterday evening (26 March), recording and uploading a number of my poems to Youtube, including the “Rhodes” poem. I was assisted in this task by a friend who voiced disagreement with the views expressed in the “Rhodes” poem. Our discussion was friendly but our views on the issue of “Rhodes” where diametrically opposed, with my friend being a passionat advocate for the removal of the Rhodes statue while my opinion remains as expressed in the above poem.

This article on Cecil Rhodes in Standpoint Magazine makes for interesting reading and does, broadly speaking, accord with my view of this complex and interesting character, (http://www.standpointmag.co.uk/node/6388/full).