Page 54 - All About History - Issue 180-19
P. 54
a PerManent MeMorial
Artist Jeremy Deller unveils
plans for his Peterloo memorial © Joel Fildes
number of events to bring
more attention to Peterloo,
PaUl FitzgeRald such as this gathering with © Harriet Monkhouse
protestors carrying the
Peterloo massacre names of the 1819 victims
Campaign chairman
How did the campaign for a permanent was a nightmare of anger and frustration. They You’ve just published a graphic novel
memorial to the victims of the Peterloo exerted a really shocking level of control over it, about Peterloo. What can you tell us
Massacre get started? and despite our efforts to pressure them, they about that project?
I’m a professional political cartoonist, and was revealed the design and held a token consultation Yeah, it’s all come round in a circle regarding
drawing a cartoon that used Tiananmen Square in late 2018, too late for any serious objections or my ‘day job’! Myself, Eva Schlunke and historian
as a metaphor about the rise of capitalism and revisions. Since then we’ve all been drowning in Professor Robert Poole recently finished Peterloo:
consumerism in China, and kept getting this bitter irony at how undemocratic the process of Witnesses To A Massacre. We deeply hope it’ll
weird feeling that it reminded me of something... choosing a memorial to democracy has been. It’s all prove a very accessible and populist way for
but what? very telling, eh? people to find out more. Just researching it was
Then the penny dropped. It’s Peterloo. I very an amazing experience.
quickly began asking why Manchester has no How was the final design concept for the
memorial to an event that changed the UK and the memorial decided upon? Much of the text is actually
world. We know why the regime in China wouldn’t We pushed hard for an open design competition, from reporting and government
commemorate Tiananmen, but what excuse did but ultimately it would seem very few people in correspondence from the day. Why did
my home city have? the Council hierarchy had a yes or no say about you choose this approach?
About the same time some delegates at the artist Jeremy Deller’s design. We did, however, Everything in it, in a white narrative or speech
Labour Party annual conference, which was being manage to get our ‘RIP’ criteria for the memorial bubble, is simply 100 per cent accurate, and
held very near the site of the massacre, were incorporated into the process: Respectful, taken from the huge range of sources that exist;
wandering about in a break, seeing if they could Informative and Permanent/Prominent, and I courtroom transcripts, spy’s reports, journals,
find any indicators of what happened there, and think those have been met. But it seemed to take diaries and so on. They alone, without the images,
couldn’t. We ended up joining forces with them a formal Freedom of Information demand to pry make for an astonishing and moving read, with
after our launch. that inner door open. deeply contrasting attitudes from the huge range of
characters. We think this may be the world’s first
What have been the biggest challenges to How well known are the events of ‘verbatim’ graphic novel!
getting approval for the memorial? Peterloo to the people of Manchester?
It was a pretty open door in terms of the basic yes Until recently, it was the norm not to know Peterloo: Witnesses To A Massacre is available
to the idea. The really big challenge was to push about it in the city. There really has been a 200- now. Visit peterloo.org for details. For more
the Council to make sure there was a genuine and year whitewashing of its memory. We hope our info on the under construction Peterloo
of course profoundly appropriate democratic input persistence over the years has helped combat that, memorial go to peterloomassacre.org
into what the design should consist of, and that and that Mike Leigh’s film does the same.
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