Critics call for Columbus statue to be taken down

ANTI-CAPITALIST councillors in Barcelona are attempting to have the famous statue of Christopher Columbus located at the end of Las Ramblas demolished.

The left wing group believes that the city should not be celebrating the explorer’s colonial legacy, and that the 60-metre high memorial should be replaced with a monument that reflects “American resistance to imperialism, oppression and indigenous and African-American segregation.”

A proposal will be submitted to the city council on Friday, September 30, in which the three CUP Capgirem councillors will call for the statue to be removed, alongside “all the decorations at the base of the column that glorify the conquest of America and its ‘museumification’ through historical interpretation.”

The memorial was erected in 1888, and comprises a bronze statue of the Genoan captain pointing out to sea, while its base pays homage to Columbus’ patrons King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella.

Other than the Columbus monument, the councillors would like the statue of merchant and slave trader Antonio Lopez y Lopez removed from outside the post office building, Spanish flags removed from municipal buildings, and October 12, the day on which Spain celebrates Columbus’ discovery of the Americas, turned into a normal working day.

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