Why a 'disrespectful' man was ejected from Festival of Politics event on slavery at the Scottish Parliament
An expert on slavery says the comments at the Festival of Politics event at Holyrood show Scotland still has a long way to go
A man was thrown out of the Scottish Parliament after making a festival audience feel “disrespected” with his comments on slavery.
One of the panel experts at the event said the incident showed Scotland still had not done enough to make amends for the transatlantic slave trade. The Holyrood discussion on Wednesday was part of the Festival of Politics, and focused on Scotland’s involvement in the British Empire and the slave trade.
However, the discussion was disrupted almost immediately, with a man making comments that made one woman feel so uncomfortable she had to leave her seat to get away from him.
At the start of the talk, the man brought the panel to a standstill by shouting out: “Who sold those Africans? Those other Africans, tribal leaders, and then Arab slavers. Don’t they bear some responsibility? It’s not all about us.”
One of the panellists, Irene Mosota, chair of the Edinburgh slavery and colonialism implementation review group, said: “Two evils don’t make it right.”
The conversation then moved on to what should be done about plaques, monuments and street names associated with the transatlantic slave trade, when the man interjected again, saying: “What do you want to do, melt them down?”
He then addressed panellist Zandra Yeaman, who is the curator of discomfort at Glasgow University’s Hunterian Museum, and said: “I have no respect for this woman that’s talking. I don’t want people like you to get away with it.”
Panel chair, Scottish Labour MSP Sarah Boyack, said the man had been “disrespectful” and the panellists demanded he be ejected from the room. After he was removed, Ms Yeaman said: “Are we doing enough? No, and I think the gentleman who started interjecting the panel discussion is testament to that.
“We are still in a situation where people’s confidence trumps people’s experience when we have these discussions around shared history.”
A woman who had been sitting next to the man in the audience who was ejected then stood up to speak, saying she had felt so uncomfortable she had to move to a seat at the back of the room.
She said: “It goes back to people not having respect - he was so agitated and I had to go and sit at the back. As a black person, sometimes you feel you need to be tough and face these things and turn the other cheek.
“But I appreciate that he had to leave the building because it came from a place of disrespect - we need to be careful of how we speak.”
One of the talking points of the event was what should be done about statues, buildings and street names memorialising slavers and colonialists in Scotland.
Ms Mosota said she felt “haunted” by some of these buildings, and stressed the aftermath of the slave trade was still being seen today by the racism in society.
She said: “The first step is to acknowledge the issue of a public apology on behalf of the city of Edinburgh, and recognise the impact of those people who suffered the consequences of slavery.
“Our public places, museums and galleries, educational institutions, they bear those histories, and if those histories bear the legacy of slavery and colonialism and they are not critically looked at, they become aspects of oppression and glorification of empire.
“The Dundas Statue is something I actually try to stay away from, because I find it is divisive.”
Also known as the Melville Monument, this statue in Edinburgh’s St Andrew Square Garden was erected in 1827 to honour Henry Dundas. He was a defender of the British Empire and its expansion, and was said to be instrumental in delaying the abolition of the slave trade, resulting in the enslavement of half a million Africans. His descendants, however, say he was an abolitionist.
A plaque was put up at the statue earlier this year re-contextualising the monument and the legacy of Mr Dundas.
Ms Yeaman added: “Nobody’s asking to dismantle these buildings, we want to dismantle racism.“ She said removing statues completely should not be off the table when discussing what should be done about Scotland’s colonial past.
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