The US President Donald Trump has previously rejected calls to remove the names of leaders from the Confederate era during the Civil War, most of whom were fierce advocates of the slavery, that is, removing their names from US military bases.
In tweets, Trump called for respect for the US military, while the Pentagon was ready to consider these calls.
On the other hand, Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives, called for removing statues of officials from this era from the Capitol building, describing the matter as "an honor for hatred, not heritage".
All came amid efforts to combat racism over the issue of the George Floyd case. The military bases whose activists want to change their names are all in the south of the country and bear the names of southern military leaders during the civil war, most of them defending the slave system.
The primary cause of the civil war that tore the United States between 1861 and 1865 was the slave system over which the country was pided between northern states that fought this regime and the southern ones that refused to liberate slaves and announced its separation from the federation and founding a confederation.
These calls emerged during the historical protests that were sparked by the death of George Floyd, the black citizen who died after a white policeman knelt on his neck while he was arrested in Minneapolis weeks ago.
The incident revived the sensitive debate in the United States about the legacy of slavery in the country embodied by memorials that glorify the Confederate army and demand that many be removed.
Moreover, these anti-racism and colonial protests extended to Europe, had momentum when statues and monuments of figures who had a role in perpetuating slavery and colonialism -were targeted.
In France, some associations and blocs seek to dismantle the statues and demand that the authorities remove symbols of the figures who contributed to the slave trade and repression during the colonial period, but President Emmanuel Macron stressed that his country will not remove any statue of a French historical figure.
Among the targeted statues in France is the statue of John Baptiste Colbert, located in the center of Parliament square. This man was one of the main ministers during Louis XIV's rule, and he was the owner of the "black law" that legalized slavery in the French-African colonies. Some believe that his place should be in the museum, away from Parliament, which represents everyone.
In the northern city of Lille, there is the statue of General Louis Faidherbe, the controversial man, who is considered a heroic figure by his resistance to the Prussian invasion of France, but he is known for his deepening of slavery, colonialism and murder during his campaign against the African state of Senegal.
In the United States of America, some statues of men who led or participated in a failed war aimed at independence, during the Civil War, are placed in main places in the Capitol building; such as a bronze statue of Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America, and another marble figure of Alexander Stevens, Vice President of the Confederation.
Pelosi pointed out that the statues of these two men who were convicted of treachery against the United States are located in the "statues hall" which is considered one of the most popular tourist destinations in the Capitol.
Pelosi recalled some harsh words spelled by Stevens in a keynote speech made in 1861, in which he said that the Confederation was based on "a great fact that the Negro is not equal to the white man."
In Britain, the city of Bristol witnessed the fall of a statue of a slave merchant, Edward Coulston from the seventeenth century, amid the wave of protests against racism in the kingdom over Floyd also. A broadcast was posted on social media, featuring demonstrators chanting, removing his statue and throwing it into the river.
America and European countries are now in a new phase following the death of George Floyd and the anti-racism youth movement; and those countries will live for a long time between the demands or removing some names from the memory and those who say that history should not be erased as they need symbols, even if the collective memory is shocked.
But the generation of young people does not have this second position, which foreshadows difficult protests in the future, given that any protest in one country generates similar protests in other countries.
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