Manchester students paint over classic Kipling poem ‘If’

Irate students have painted over a mural Rudyard Kipling’s ‘If’ – repeatedly voted the nation’s favourite poem – because they believe he was a racist.

The much-loved 1895 work, which is inscribed over the entrance to Wimbledon’s Centre Court, was put up to inspire undergraduates and staff.

But within a week students had replaced it with ‘Still I Rise’ by Maya Angelou, branding the university’s decision ‘deeply inappropriate’ and upsetting to ethnic minorities.

Sara Khan, who is the campus’ Liberation and Access Officer, was part of the team to remove Kipling’s verses and accused the university of insulting students by putting it up without consulting them.

But critics have called the protesters ‘snowflakes’ and accused them of ‘outrageous cultural vandalism’.

The stand against Kipling is one of a number against famous British historical figyres including Cecil Rhodes, Edward Colston, Winston Churchill and many others linked to the country’s imperialist past. 

Victorian writer Rudyard Kipling’s most famous poem ‘If’ has been removed and replaced with Maya Angelou by irate University of Manchester students

Sara Khan was among the protesters and the students' union has since apologised for not consulting them before putting up the nation's favourite poem

Sara Khan was among the protesters and the students’ union has since apologised for not consulting them before putting up the nation’s favourite poem

The 1895 work contains no reference to race, but the students said it was still offensive because some of Kipling’s other works are about colonialism.

His 1899 poem The White Man’s Burden has been criticised in modern times for advocating colonialism and portraying other races as inferior.

Why is Rudyard Kipling a polarising figure? 

Once revered as the Bard of Empire, Rudyard Kipling has often been viewed as something of an embarrassment in the post-colonial world. 

Critics have pointed to his poem Gunga Din (1890), which is written from the point of view of an English soldier in India about an Indian water-bearer, and lines from his novel Kim (1901) such as ‘My experience is that one can never fathom the Oriental mind’ as examples of how he was a racist. But academics also say that he had a deep affinity with India and was often affectionate towards the Indian subjects of his work.

Last night Rana Mitter, professor of the history and politics of modern China at Oxford University, who has a Bengali family background, described Kipling as ‘very respectful of India as a culture and society’.

He said: ‘Kipling understood India better than his British contemporaries. If you read a poem like Gunga Din you’ll see that it isn’t contemptuous of India at all, but is respectful.

‘However, Kipling was a product of late- Victorian Britain and had prejudices that were commonplace at that time.’

Professor Mitter said Kipling’s The Ballad Of East And West, which contains the famous line ‘East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet’, is more problematic.

Born in Bombay in 1865, Kipling was sent away to school in England when he was five.

In 1882 he returned to India, where he worked for newspapers. Aside from his poetry, among his best known work is The Jungle Book from 1894, which became a children’s classic and inspired a film produced by Walt Disney in 1967. He died in 1936.

And his much-loved work The Jungle Book has also been branded racially insensitive.

Staff at the Manchester students’ union commissioned a local artist to paint ‘If’ to motivate undergraduates in their studies.

But on Friday the union’s student representatives complained that they had not been consulted and decided to have it removed.

They replaced it with the 1978 poem Still I Rise by American civil rights activist Maya Angelou, which was read by Nelson Mandela at his presidential inauguration in 1994.

Welfare officer Deej Malik-Johnson told The Tab website: ‘On Friday, we noticed an artist had painted a Rudyard Kipling poem in the students’ union. This was done without our consultation or approval.

‘This was especially problematic given the poet’s imperialistic and racist work such as The White Man’s Burden, where Kipling explains how it is the responsibility of white men to “civilise” black and Asian people through colonialism.

‘We decided to paint over that poem and replace it with Still I Rise by Maya Angelou, a poem about resilience and overcoming our history by a brilliant black woman.’

On Facebook, Liberation and Access Officer at the University of Manchester Students Union Sara Khan, wrote:  ‘A failure to consult students during the process of adding art to the newly renovated SU building resulted in Rudyard Kipling’s work being painted on the first floor last week.

‘We, as an exec team, believe that Kipling stands for the opposite of liberation, empowerment, and human rights – the things that we, as an SU, stand for. 

‘Well-known as author of the racist poem ‘The White Man’s Burden’, and a plethora of other work that sought to legitimate the British Empire’s presence in India and de-humanise people of colour, it is deeply inappropriate to promote the work of Kipling in our SU, which is named after prominent South African anti-Apartheid activist, Steve Biko.’

Fatima Abid, the general secretary of Manchester’s SU, added on Twitter: ‘Today, as a team we removed an imperialist’s work from the walls of our union and replaced them with the words of Maya Angelou- God knows black and brown voices have been written out of history enough, and it’s time we try to reverse that, at the very least in our union.’

Fatima Abid told followers of her pride that they had removed 'an imperialist's work' from their wall

Fatima Abid told followers of her pride that they had removed ‘an imperialist’s work’ from their wall

Rudyard Kipling (pictured) is considered a great English writer- with his poem's often featuring as some of the nation's most popular

Students at the University of Manchester have replaced 'If' by Rudyard Kipling with 'Still I Rise' by Maya Angelou (pictured)

Rudyard Kipling (pictured) is considered a great English writer- with his poem’s often featuring as some of the nation’s most popular. Students at the University of Manchester have replaced ‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling with ‘Still I Rise’ by Maya Angelou (pictured)

The Union has also apologised. 

Students’ continued protests against Britain’s historical figures

This is not the first time students have decided to take action against a historical figure them deem offensive.

At Oxford University some students were protesting against the  Victorian imperialist Cecil Rhodes- handily named the ‘Rhodes Must Fall’ protest.

In recent years, students have taken part in a ‘Mass March for Decolonisation’ in the city and have taken exception about about the presence of the statue.

Demonstrators have chanted ‘tear it down’ and ‘Rhodes must fall’ and argued that the mining magnate was racist.

In another incident in January a number of people stormed a Churchill- themed cafe- the students,were led by members of’s School of African Studies (SOAS).

The protesters suggested Winston Churchill was a ‘colonialist’ and also a ‘racist’.

In October last year Cambridge University Student Union’s women’s officer  Lola Olufemi penned an open letter titled ‘Decolonising the English Faculty’

 The letter, signed by around 150 university students, said: ‘For too long, teaching English at Cambridge has encouraged a ‘traditional’ and ‘canonical’ approach that elevates white male authors at the expense of all others.

‘What we can no longer ignore, however, is the fact that the curriculum, taken as a whole, risks perpetuating institutional racism.’

Campaigners at a number of institutions have now argued that some teaching excludes female authors and people from an ethnic minority background.

A spokesman said: ‘We understand that we made a mistake in our approach to a recent piece of artwork by failing to garner student opinion at the start of a new project. We accept that the result was inappropriate and for that we apologise.’

He added that the union would make changes to ‘guarantee that student voices are heard and considered properly’ so that ‘every outcome is representative of our membership’.

‘We’re working closely with the union’s elected officers to learn all we can from this situation and are looking forward to introducing powerful, relevant and meaningful art installations across the students’ union building over the coming months,’ he said.

Chris McGovern, of the Campaign for Real Education, criticised the Manchester students saying: ‘This is outrageous cultural vandalism. Kipling is a much beloved poet.

‘These students are closing off access to one of our most popular poems and it is Liberal Fascism.

‘They are snowflakes who should not be indulged. Forcing your views on other people should have no place in British society.’

The University of Manchester said it would not be appropriate to comment because the students’ union is an independent body.

It comes after Oxford University students led an unsuccessful campaign to tear down a statue of the 19th century imperialist Cecil Rhodes. They also forced the university authorities to move a portrait of Theresa May by putting up signs saying she was ‘hostile’ to immigrants.

At Bristol, students tried to force the authorities to change the name of a building named after benefactor Henry Overton Wills III, a cigarette maker whose family company was said to have benefited from slavery.

Critics have said it is wrong for students to try to censor the past and that they should instead view writers and figures in their historical context.

‘If’ by Rudyard Kipling 

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,

And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;

If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!

‘Still I Rise’ by Maya Angelou 

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I’ll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don’t you take it awful hard

’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines

Diggin’ in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I’ll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I’ve got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history’s shame

I rise

Up from a past that’s rooted in pain

I rise

I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

 

 

 

  

 



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