Freedom on the Quay
Robert Baden-Powell was undoubtedly one of the most interesting people of the late 19th and early 20th century. He first came to the attention of the nation in 1899 when he led the defence of the small town of Mafeking during the Boer War. It was Britain's only success of that war and it made Baden-Powell a national hero. After a 30 year military career, Baden-Powell returned to Britain and re-wrote some of his earlier published military movement works to suit youthful readership and as a result Scouting for Boys was published in 1908. It went on to sell approximately 150 million copies worldwide and was the fourth best-selling book of the 20th century.
As I am sure you are aware, out of these books came the Scouting Movement, probably the finest youth movement the world has ever seen. And it all started on Brownsea Island in the middle of Poole Harbour, where Baden-Powell lead the first camp. Across the bay on Poole Quay, a statue of Baden-Powell stands looking out to where it all began. It is an understated statue, pretty much life-size; its depicts him with cane in hand, at rest, admiring the view over the Purbeck Hills to Corfe Castle, with Brownsea in the foreground; it doesn’t even bear his name.
With all that has gone on with the world over the last 10 days, there have been calls for the statue to be removed because of his sympathetic views towards the education, health and propaganda ideals outlined in Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf. The Bournemouth, Christchurch & Poole Council are looking to remove it. My answer to the views on his so called sympathies. So what? He was never associated with any of the Nazi supporting groups that sprung up in the country before the war. His movement removed the swastika (originally a century’s old meaning for ‘good luck’ in the sub-continent) from scouting badges which had been used from 1911, when the Nazi’s adopted it in 1920. He also drew pictures depicting scouts assisting refugees fleeing from the Nazi’s and Hitler[1]. Finally, the great man died in 1941, nearly 80 years ago, there are seldom any people alive today who know the true context of Baden-Powell's words or that of Mein Kampf. If we are to castigate Baden-Powell, what's to stop the damnation of anyone else who has ever read anythign even slightly controversial. I've read Karl Marx' writings, I find them fascinating, does that make me a communist?
Instead the BCP Council should heed words said by Ian Hislop in respect to George Orwell during a lecture in 2016, in which he stated that despite someone’s failures in certain respects, in the eyes of certain people, that does not mean that everything else he ever said or did about anything should be dismissed out of hand. At any one time, there are 400,000 young boys and girls within the Scouting movement, an astonishing number. And it's been going for 113 years. For 3 of those years, I was one such member, I regularly took part in camps and activities that unbeknown to me at the time, young people had been doing roughly the same for a century before me. It is inspiring to know that I was part of that number and it all came from Baden-Powell and those early 20th century influences on his writing.
At a time in which it seems we are crying out for the better education of the young people on 20th century history, George Orwell and his writing is a subject on which many could resonate with in the present day. For example, his essay entitled Freedom in the Park from 1945, from which this essay takes its name, discusses the role freedom of speech will play in the post war-period. Many of the points he makes are valid today, for many of us are struggling to see how the freedom of speech will make it through 2020. He rightly states that the relative freedom which we enjoy depends on public opinion and how the police enforce the laws, which are no protection to public opinion, depends on the temper of the country. Events over the last week have coincided with Orwell’s views that if public opinion on freedom of speech is sluggish, inconvenient minorities will be persecuted, even if laws exist to protect them.
Freedom of speech, especially in the current climate, seems non-existent. It seems you are not allowed to say what you want, or rather, what other people don’t want to hear. That is the crux of the issue. There seems to be, again to reflect Orwell’s writings, an intolerance of disagreement in public debate. People, often armed with few facts, point blankly dismiss the facts from the opposition, become angry, offended and intolerant, no matter how sound or reasonable the argument may be. In summation, again I would have to quote Orwell again, who in 1942 stated that, “When I talk to anyone or read the writings of anyone with an axe to grind, I feel that intellectual honesty and balanced judgement disappear, thought is forensic and a deliberate suppression of his or her opponent’s point of view exists”. Social media, obviously doesn't help freedom of speech, but then, I doubt those who invented it, really foresaw what a poisonous place it would become, everyday there is so much new hate directed towards certain members of society and it is a detriment to our society and often incites further and more wide ranging problems.
As stated earlier, a cure for intolerance should be education, we need to educate a society and a generation on not only history, but also tolerance, debate and freedom, so that people should be able to debate their thoughts on all things without the fear of being dismissed or called a nastier word. How we get that to happen, your idea will be as good as mine, I don’t know but it is a must. It seems that ignorance is strength for the younger generation, myself often included. Voltair's quote "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend your right to say it", wouldn't go amiss being part of such an education.
It seems that in the case of Robert Baden-Powell, people should take a moment, read up on what the man actually said, wrote and did, before defacing or removing a small statue in a small town, where before last week, I imagine 80% of the population would not have realised a statue stood there.
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