Westminster Square is not what it seems
Westminster Square seems to thrum with tourists and protests, often at the same time. But the Square becomes a whole lot more interesting when you focus not just on the statues, but the dialogue that exists between the statues. The contradictions & layers to the statues chosen to be in the square appear mostly ignored.
Churchill's statue has born the ire of protestors1, and yet if you just focus on Churchill you're missing out on the tension and complexity of the square.
A few statues down we have the figure of Jan Christian Smuts - a 'complex figure' to put it diplomatically (given his later move to slightly more liberal views on race relations in South Africa), but undoubtedly someone who deserves the ire of any anti-racist protest given his role in laying the groundwork for the apartheid state. Smut stands, however, seemingly forgotten - ignored by tourists and protestors alike.
Westminster Square has more layers though - on the other side, there is a statue of Nelson Mandela. I genuinely did a double take when I saw it. It seems those in charge of designing the square hadn't quite thought it through - surely Mandela could have replaced Smut? - or maybe they were keen to push Mandela's ability to focus on reconciliation to the extreme. [Though it's worth noting that Mandela handled the situation & juxtaposition with his usual grace. At the unveiling of his own statue in 2007, Mandela shared a memory from a visit to London 45 years earlier with fellow activist Oliver Tambo. He said, "We half-joked that we hoped one day a statue of a black person would be erected here alongside that of General Smuts."2]
As if that wasn't enough for one place, there is also the statue of Mahatma Gandhi to consider! He pioneered his non-violent form of protest in South Africa (so far so good), but we can't ignore that he didn't exactly embrace racial unity, and often excluded Black South Africans from his work.
[The connections to South Africa deepen again when you consider Churchill's role as a reporter during the first Boer War.]
So, in one place we have a bunch of contradictory narratives playing out. We have Smut standing alongside Mandela, and Gandhi in between them both - all with conflicting relationships to race and South Africa. Westminster Square really is the best place to see the contradictions of how those in charge have chosen to shape our public memory of the past - and for that reason I highly recommend a visit!