Calls for Nelson's Column to be torn down because he was a 'white supremacist'

A British writer has called for Nelson’s Column to be torn down, claiming that Lord Admiral Nelson was a white supremacist.

Her call came after the process of removing statues of Confederate war heroes began in America.

In an opinion piece for The Guardian, barrister Afua Hirsch argued that the celebrated naval hero, who died at the Battle of Trafalgar, was a vigorous proponent of slavery.

She wrote: ‘One of the obstacles all these abolitionists had to overcome was the influence of Nelson, who was what you would now call, without hesitation, a white supremacist. While many around him were denouncing slavery, Nelson was vigorously defending it.

‘Britain’s best known naval hero – so idealised that after his death in 1805 he was compared to no less than “the God who made him” – used his seat in the House of Lords and his position of huge influence to perpetuate the tyranny, serial rape and exploitation organised by West Indian planters, some of whom he counted among his closest friends.’

She also highlighted the apparent hypocrisy of Britain’s response to violence in Charlottesville, and claimed that ‘things get a little awkward’ when it is remembered that a statue to imperialist Cecil Rhodes is still standing at Oxford University.

‘The statues that remain are not being “put in their historical context”, as is often claimed. Take Nelson’s column’, she wrote.

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‘Yes, it does include the figure of a black sailor, cast in bronze in the bas-relief. He was probably one of the thousands of slaves promised freedom if they fought for the British military, only to be later left destitute, begging and homeless, on London’s streets when the war was over.’

Hirsch’s argument has received backlash on social media, with one Twitter user claiming: ‘Nelson was a naval hero and he’s in a Square called Trafalgar. We remember the battle, not his personal views.’

It also appeared to anger former Ukip leader Nigel Farage, who claimed that ‘The left really do hate Britain’.

But it also received support, with one user writing: ‘Liked your Nelson Column. Reminded me of the smaller one in Bridgetown, Barbados. It’s older than Londons and locals want it to come down.’