Lukes Discusses Protests and Monuments In Radio Prague Interview
Igor Lukes, Professor of International Relations and History at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was interviewed by Radio Prague on recent international protests against police violence and the destruction of monuments to discoverers, military leaders, and politicians.
In the interview, Lukes discusses the complexity of historic monuments throughout the world that have now been the subject of criticism in recent weeks – monuments to Robert E. Lee, Winston Churchill, and the like. Lukes states that these figures were the myths and heroes of the 19th and 20th, but monuments of the future should be dedicated to ideals and virtues, not historical figures of questionable morality. He goes on to argue that there shouldn’t be a statue or anything else that symbolizes something that offends some of our citizens, because it reminds them of some dark period from the past.
An excerpt:
Commenting on statues of historical figures being toppled in the United States, Great Britain, and Europe, Lukes argued that, henceforth, statues should represent inspiring ideals, not flawed people: ‘The problem with people is that they might resort to evil methods on the way toward a good objective. Or that good people may be on the wrong side. Or that thoroughly bad people may work on behalf of a good project. In short, with humans, good and evil is an endless continuum. The world is ethically complex.’
The full interview and recap can be accessed here.
Igor Lukes is a past winner of the 1997 Metcalf Award for Excellence in Teaching and the 2020 winner of the Gitner Prize for Faculty Excellence at the Pardee School. He writes primarily about Central Europe. His work has won the support of various other institutions, including Fulbright, Fulbright-Hays, the Woodrow Wilson Center, IREX, and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Read more about him here.