CAMPAIGNERS against a memorial to 19th century explorer H M Stanley have called for a public debate on the controversial man’s life.
They claim a proposed statue in Denbigh to Stanley would be inappropriate as his career was based on slavery and exploitation.
Selwyn Williams, a retired lecturer at Bangor University, born in Denbigh, began the campaign in the hope that it would encourage a debate about Mr Stanley.
“I heard about the plans to install the statue and thought it a strange idea,” said Mr Williams.
“I’d read quite a bit about the Congo’s history, and the more I learned, the more I thought this must be questioned; and the more I’ve learnt about Stanley, the more convinced I am that we need some sort of debate.”
Mr Williams said that he did not object to the idea of having some form of historical exploration of Stanley’s life, and that history ought to present more than one side.
He added that people in Europe needed to start facing up more to their role in atrocities committed by colonists, and that a statue would obscure this.
“There was a hidden holocaust in the Congo,” he said.
“We’ve been very, very reluctant to face up to that history.
“We should be moving along the lines of truth and reconciliation.”
Mr Williams did not object to a museum or historical retrospect on Stanley, but believed that building of a statue of him would celebrate his life and career, rather than examine it.
“We need to have a debate, not putting such a man on a plinth as a character to be respected or emulated.”
Dr Rhiannon E Lloyd, another member of the group, who works in the Congo said Stanley was one of the ‘cruellest colonisers in history’.
“The intention of raising a statue to commemorate H M Stanley fills me with horror.
“I work in the Democratic Republic of Congo, running reconciliation workshops.
“It is only recently that I have discovered the facts about Stanley and how much his memory is hated in the Congo.
“Though King Leopold of Belgium is chiefly responsible, Stanley became one of the cruelest colonisers in history.”
Dr Lloyd said H M Stanley was responsible for the deaths of ‘eight million Congolese’, and the mutilation of ‘thousands more’.
“These are undeniable, established facts,” she added.
“The toppling of his statue in Kinshasa compares with the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s statue in Baghdad.
“The more I discover about him, the greater my shame concerning my fellow-Welshman.
“Everywhere I go in Congo, I ask forgiveness for what he did.
“I am more than happy for us to honour and commemorate our heroes,” she added.
“But to honour someone whose memory brings shame to us as a nation is wrong.
“I hear that there is widespread support for this venture, but that can only be in ignorance of the historical facts.”