Statement on vandalisation of war memorials in this week's protests

STATEMENT ON THE VANDALISATION OF PUBLIC MONUMENTS AND WAR MEMORIALS IN THIS WEEK'S PROTESTS

As a body dedicated to preserving and honouring our state’s military heritage, the Military History of New South Wales is disturbed by the defacement, vandalisation and misuse of numerous public monuments, including war and veterans memorials, across the United States and other countries in the past week.

Monuments which have had slogans spray painted on them include the Lincoln Memorial, World War II Memorial on the National Mall, the equestrian statue of General Casimir Pulaski and the statue of Thaddeus Kościuszko in Lafayette Park, all in Washington DC, the  Shaw 54^th Regiment Memorial in Boston and the Alamo Cenotaph in San Antonio, Texas. In London, the Cenotaph had signs placed on it and protestors climbed the flagpoles.

These were attacked gratuitously while others are the subject of longstanding local grievances. Monuments to Generals Robert E Lee and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson in Richmond, Virginia, were defaced and statues of Confederate soldiers in Alexandria, Virginia, and Montgomery, Alabama, had to be removed.

Nevertheless resort to acts of physical destruction as a means of political expression should be condemned unreservedly. These attacks represent an infringement of community rights. They are an illegitimate substitute for the democratic processes by which these monuments are properly managed with broad popular consent. This is true even if controversy surrounds the very existence or purpose of the monument in question.

In the case of war memorials, they dishonour the sacrifice, and insult the relatives, of those who gave their lives for the precious freedoms that protestors exploit. They desecrate shrines to all that we cherish and hold dear. We agree with American Legion National Committee Commander James Oxford who, in a statement on Monday, called the vandalism on war memorials “an absolute disgrace”.

Civil authorities at all levels of government should condemn the attacks in explicit terms. Public monuments and war memorials must not become props in the theatre of violent protest. Our leaders must apply all necessary measures, including criminal sanctions, to ensure that the highly-publicised events of the last week do not serve to legitimise or mainstream such attacks as an acceptable form of political activism.

- Council of the Military History Society of New South Wales

Related item: Statement on vandalisation of the Bathurst Boer War Memorial on 20 June 2019.