Students campaigning for the removal of the statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oxford University are to lead a protest march past controversial landmarks in the city linked to Britain’s colonial past.
The demonstration on Wednesday 9 March, called the “mass march for decolonisation”, will be an alternative walking tour of Oxford, to mark one year since the Rhodes Must Fall campaign began – originally against a statue at the University of Cape Town, with students calling for the decolonisation of education in South Africa.
The Rhodes Must Fall campaign in Oxford has called for the university to remove its monument to Rhodes, a Victorian imperialist who supported apartheid-style measures.
After the statue in Cape Town was pulled down in April last year, students in universities across the globe have been campaigning to draw attention to the colonial legacies of great seats of learning.
Oriel College said it would hold a consultation over the statue’s future but rowed back when many influential donors threatened to withdraw funds if the monument was removed.
Students have also called for the university to take radical action to increase the numbers of black and ethnic minority students attending Oxford.
Sites for Wednesday’s Oxford march, which will begin at midday, include the statue of Rhodes at Oriel College as well as All Souls College’s Codrington library, named after a 17th-century slaver who left money to the university.
It will also pass by Rhodes House, home of the Rhodes Trust, which administers scholarships funded by Rhodes’s legacy, and the Old Indian Institute building, where Indian civil servants were trained under the British Empire.
An Oxford University spokesman reiterated that it was keen to build bridges with students over issues of representation.
“We have invited Rhodes Must Fall to discuss a number of issues including the need to address the representation of BAME [black and minority ethnic] students at the university; the ongoing process of curriculum development and welfare provision for BME students,” he said.
“We hope they will accept the opportunity to work with staff and other students on creating a more inclusive university community.”
On Tuesday a spokesman for Cambridge University said it would remove a controversial bronze cockerel looted from Africa in the 19th century. Students there have also called for the university to end a memorial fund left by Jan Smuts, a South African general and statesman.
The Benin bronze will be taken down from the hall in Jesus College and the university has agreed to discuss its repatriation to Africa.
