Latest news with #statueRemoval
CNN
9 hours ago
- Politics
- CNN
Kyrgyzstan removes towering Lenin statue from second city
Authorities in the second-largest city in Kyrgyzstan, Osh, have removed a towering statue of Vladimir Lenin thought to be the tallest of the revolutionary Soviet leader in Central Asia. The 23-meter (75-foot) monument was erected in 1975 when Kyrgyzstan was part of the Soviet Union. Photos appeared online Saturday showing the statue flat on the ground after being lowered by a crane. While many countries formerly part of the Soviet Union have moved to downplay their ties to Russia as part of efforts to reshape national identity, the monument was taken down with little public fanfare and officials in Osh framed the removal as routine city planning. In a statement, Osh City Hall called the move 'common practice' aimed at improving the 'architectural and aesthetic appearance' of the area. Officials also noted that Lenin monuments have been 'dismantled or moved to other places' in Russian cities including St Petersburg and Belgorod, and said that the issue 'should not be politicized.' The monument, they said, will be replaced by a flagpole, as was the case when a different Lenin statue was relocated in the capital, Bishkek. The move came a week after Kyrgyzstan's ally Russia unveiled a monument to brutal Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin at one of Moscow's busiest subway stations.
CNN
9 hours ago
- Politics
- CNN
Kyrgyzstan removes towering Lenin statue from second city
Authorities in the second-largest city in Kyrgyzstan, Osh, have removed a towering statue of Vladimir Lenin thought to be the tallest of the revolutionary Soviet leader in Central Asia. The 23-meter (75-foot) monument was erected in 1975 when Kyrgyzstan was part of the Soviet Union. Photos appeared online Saturday showing the statue flat on the ground after being lowered by a crane. While many countries formerly part of the Soviet Union have moved to downplay their ties to Russia as part of efforts to reshape national identity, the monument was taken down with little public fanfare and officials in Osh framed the removal as routine city planning. In a statement, Osh City Hall called the move 'common practice' aimed at improving the 'architectural and aesthetic appearance' of the area. Officials also noted that Lenin monuments have been 'dismantled or moved to other places' in Russian cities including St Petersburg and Belgorod, and said that the issue 'should not be politicized.' The monument, they said, will be replaced by a flagpole, as was the case when a different Lenin statue was relocated in the capital, Bishkek. The move came a week after Kyrgyzstan's ally Russia unveiled a monument to brutal Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin at one of Moscow's busiest subway stations.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
After stops and starts and a lot of standing still, the Monaghan statue will be removed, City Council says again
May 12—After years of debate over the future of the controversial statue of Ensign John Monaghan that has stood next to a busy downtown Spokane intersection for nearly 120 years, the Spokane City Council has given its final stamp of approval for the statue's removal. Probably. The statue will likely be moved to the Monaghan family mausoleum in Fairmount Memorial Park, and members of Monaghan's family have reportedly given their blessing for the move, according to Megan Duvall, historic preservation officer for the city. The board of the Fairmount Memorial Association has also reportedly agreed to accept the statue, according to city spokeswoman Erin Hut. Attempts to reach members of Monaghan's family or the leadership of Fairmount Memorial or its board were unsuccessful. Monaghan was a U.S. Navy ensign killed in 1899 near Apia, Samoa, during a war between colonizing and native factions over control of territory on the islands. The statue, which the city does not own but is located on city property, was commissioned by local residents. The council voted Monday night 5-2 to support removal during planned construction to straighten out that intersection. Councilman Michael Cathcart argued the roadwork served as smoke and mirrors to obfuscate the council majority's desire to be rid of the statue, though the majority has made no secret of that desire. One plaque on the statue describes the Samoans who killed Monaghan as a "savage foe," while another depicts those Samoans as wielding primitive weapons, which activists have called historically inaccurate and racist. The Spokane Council of the Navy League of the United States has previously argued that aspects of the memorial should be updated, but the statue should remain because Monaghan acted heroically to protect a fellow sailor in battle. Some in the community, including Cathcart and Councilman Jonathan Bingle, have argued instead that either the offending plaques be removed or additional plaques be added for extra historical context. "I think it could have given us an opportunity to acknowledge some of the sins of the past, but also to make an aspirational statement of where we're going," Bingle said. Cathcart also argued that the process to remove the statue had been lacking. "If we think back on the process here, there was one and yet there wasn't one," he said. There have been perennial debates about whether to remove the Monaghan statue since 2017, coinciding with the white supremacist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, protesting the removal of Confederate memorials, which appears to have had the unintended effect of redoubling negative attention on potentially offensive statues. But official complaints calling the language of the plaque racist date back at least to March 2000, when local resident and artist Mark Lanterman called for its removal. In recent years, city officials, council members and local activists have said their efforts to remove the statue were stymied by the city's lack of a formal procedure for "deaccession," or the formal removal of art from the city's possession. On Jan. 29, 2024, following a convoluted, monthslong fight, the Spokane City Council created just such a formal process. Under the new law, the Spokane Human Rights Commission would handle complaints requesting the removal of potentially offensive art or street names, and would make any initial determination if the landmark was "likely to cause mental pain, suffering or disrespect in a reasonable person ..." If so, the commission would forward the request to the Office of Civil Rights, Equity and Inclusion, which will perform additional review in consultation with city of Spokane attorneys, other city organizations and relevant stakeholders. While the need for a formal process to remove potentially offensive art was discussed at the time in the broadest of terms, it was clearly only about one artwork: the Monaghan statue. Not a single application has been submitted for the review of any other piece of art since the process was created in early 2024. And once the City Council approved the process, the majority argued it applied retroactively to a similar one the Human Rights Commission had already undergone, so there hasn't been a single review since the law was debated and approved more than 16 months ago. City officials have more recently returned to the City Council claiming that there had, in fact, been a process for deaccession in place since at least 2007, and that this process had not been followed. That being the case, Monday's resolution reaffirmed a decision that had essentially been made a year prior and arguably even earlier through a process that may have been redundant but could give the City Council some distance from any similar fight that breaks out in the future. Monaghan's statue, at the very least, will likely be put to rest later this year. The transfer is expected to happen during planned work on the roadway to modify a right turn off Monroe Street onto Riverside Avenue. The statue is currently located on a concrete island next to the turn that would be modified by this construction work. Councilwoman Kitty Klitzke, a longtime traffic safety advocate, barely touched the statue with her comments Monday night but expressed satisfaction that the convoluted, warped intersection Monaghan has overlooked for 119 years may finally start getting straightened out. "It's such a long crossing (at Riverside), it's such a chaotic intersection, and the intersection before it (Monroe and Main) is even more chaotic," Klitzke said. "We need to do something to address the chaos there."
