Reader Steve says a propos of national symbols:
[In South Africa] people seem to fixate on historic statues rather than flags, but the same principle applies. Removing a statue of a long-dead politician does nothing to transform education, but much student rhetoric suggests that students think it does.
This reminds me of a funny true story. In 1958, the statue of the founder of the Soviet secret police was erected in front of the secret police building in Moscow.
In 1991, the statue was pulled down and everything associated with the Soviet secret police was repudiated on a state and popular levels.
And now the statue is being taken out of storage and dragged back to its old place because now the Soviet legacy is considered prestigious in Russia again. It will cost an enormous sum to restore the statue but nobody seems to mind.
It’s just really funny to imagine the Russians running there and back, there and back with the stupid statue.
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