Mary Beard and David Olusoga on History, Memory and Change | RSA Events

[@rwillardwright]

Excellent debate - the Bridges to the Future series online alone has made RSA membership worth it. Don't stop putting your debates online post COVID. Of course, networking in London after a debate is brilliant but giving access to a much wider audience is invaluable.

[@heathercawte]

An excellent discussion - but I was very angry at the way Matthew Taylor regularly cut Mary Beard short and gave the floor back to David Olusoga. MB was invited to take part, so why keep cutting her out?

[@shubhadavid-john6336]

I've just seen this. Anything with Mary B in is a must watch for me. Totally agree! He not only cut MB short but wanted questions to be answered by DO then MB was asked to add to D's views as if she was just simply an 'add on', just an extra guest. It was supposed to be a fair dialogue between 2 historians but it wasn't. I thought she looked slightly frustrated. So for me it wasn't a great discussion. As usual female opinion was over shadowed!

[@loneDreamer0]

Both were great, and to be fair I do think that if you review the talk with a clock in hand you will see that they both had very similar times. She was passionate to the point where she carried on for long stretches (even apologized for the "monopolization" at some point and interrupted him directly on 2 occasions without being given the floor), and the moderator did a fair effort to balance their opinions and, well... moderating. To be fair, I tend to behave the same as her and get carried away, so I can relate! All in all, very natural, human and respectful conversation on all 3 sides IMHO, so no need to be very angry (or cherry pick for reasons to be so). Just my 2 cents :-)

[@samuelmatz]

Your might consider Thomas Sowell. His book : " Intellectuals and Society "

[@claudiaservin4750]

I absolutely love Mary

[@michaeledwardwhitehand4580]

Twisters off truth or half truths

[@Anglo_Saxon1]

Yes absolutely.

[@59jdb]

Absolutely brilliant event - thoughtful, considered debate, from two of the most engaging historians in the UK.

[@kamiltrzebiatowski9331]

The logical ending to David's sentence "When organisations find financial connections to slavery--" could potentially be "they would find it so abhorrent that they should shut themselves down." Not my personal preference, but that's where this leads. In 1945, Britain was involved in a pact that led to Poland being under the boot of Stalinism and Soviets for the next (almost) 50 years. That did not produce mass happiness in the country where I was born, so might have produced some kind of post-communism trauma. I still don't think that WHSmith should pay reparations for that. They weren't there, they were not to blame. I wish Mary and David addressed what lies at the bottom of this: why is it that you think that future generations have *duty* to pay for the mistakes/wrongs of their mothers and fathers *precisely*? If my father killed someone (he didn't, but if), am I responsible for the trauma of that person's sons? If I commit a heinous crime, should this be revisited on my daughter? That's precisely what the greatest tyrants in the history of this planet did. If you agree with David, then I am entitled to reparations because, having been born in 1978 in communist Poland when you were lucky to get sugar, cheese and detergents in a shop, my life opportunities were lower and determined my entire life. Can I have something from your houses, please? Oh, wait, this would be totally immoral. I won't do that. I'll live my life as it is without letting envy of what other people have devour me.

[@cascharles3838]

What's with the strawman? David wasn't arguing that individuals with little personal connection to past events should be paying reperations. He was saying that if an institution beneffited from slavery or colonialism, to the extent that you can trace those financial benefits to that source, then in order to make amends and tak accountability, it would be a good idea to invest financially back into the communities that were affected by such atrocities. This is about money directly from the slave trade, being given back to the people who still deal with the affects of it today. It has nothing to do with individual citizens.

[@Bothychickens]

I'm calling it a discussion rather than a debate. Thank you, both, it was very enjoyable

[@nancyayton6046]

Terrific, thank you

[@nancyayton6046]

More please!

[@CaitMcD1993]

Really interesting debate with two great historians 👏👏

[@grayscalemike]

Just outside of Mumbai there is a small park populated by bronze statues of the elite who were the rulers of the “British Empire”.

[@williamheywood9115]

Why doesn't David Olusoga talk about slavery happening now in the country of his birth, Nigeria? I might also add if statues are so important and slavery so heinous why hasn't the statue of the notorious BLACK slave dealer Efunroye Tinubu been pulled down?

[@stevengarside]

David blocked me on twitter for politely reminding him that he has been totally silent on the genocide in Gaza. Silence is complicity, especially when you have a platform. Why is he not speaking out against Israel's war crimes and the racism and colonialism experienced by Palestinians? Perhaps he values his career more than justice?

[@allancunningham2347]

Now let me see , erm, how about the name : Efunroye tinubu , and her statue in Africa . A pre colonial female successful slave trader who personally owned 360 slaves .. David olusoga balanced revision required of which you choose constantly to ignore

[@Strickredmusic]

Ignorance is the real mass killer...