Amplia Group's Friday Five
By Kathy Kyle, Co-Founder
Every Friday, we curate and share content that is timely and relevant. This is our Friday Five - it’s what we see happening right now, in our weekly round up.
Here’s a snapshot of what’s inside:
Are female leaders more effective at defeating the Coronavirus crisis?
What to do with the statues: How the US can learn from post-Nazi and post-Soviet Europe and What some scholars recommend the UK does with its statues, including thoughts by Sir Godfrey Henry Oliver Palmer OBE and UCL historians.
Is England prepared to ease lockdown? See how it compares to the rest of Europe
The fits and starts of living through the Coronavirus Pandemic
Cities and towns continue to come out of lockdown around the world with varying outcomes. According to the LA Times, Oregon has paused its reopening for seven days, to monitor the situation as daily infections increase. Wired simply asks: Is England easing restrictions too soon? As of June 11 Public Health England data indicates 291,409 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 41,279 deaths. The NHS Contract Tracing App was released on 28th May but has been delayed. Here’s an update on how the UK is now manually tracking Covid-19 cases.
Wuhan conducted 1.4 million tests on a single day on May 23 and Singapore, South Korea and Hong Kong are following suit. In France, one month after the country eased its strict eight-week lockdown, there has been no rise in coronavirus cases. The number of new cases also continued to drop as citzens followed social distancing and protection measures. New Zealand has announced no new cases of Covid-19 and the government is investing an extra $15 million in support of mental well-being support programmes.
It has been noted that countries led by women have fared better against coronavirus. In this article, an expert discusses the similar qualities these leaders possess (hint: it’s not all based on gender).
Finally Donald Trump plans to begin campaign rallies on June 19 - also known as Juneteenth - in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The day commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S., and two weeks after the 99th anniversary of the Tulsa race massacre (also known as the 1921 Greenwood Massacre) in which about 300 Black people were killed by a white mob that also burned the neighborhood known as “Black Wall Street.”
Attendees are being asked to sign a waiver of liability for illness or injury.
History wars
It is not a new phenomenon to remove statues with links to a nation’s oppressive past. Eight out of ten local government councils in the UK are considering what to do next with controversial statues. Written after the “Unite the Right’ white nationalist rally and subsequent violence that erupted in Charlottesville in 2017, here is a perspective taken from post-Nazi Germany and post-Soviet Eastern Europe by Paul Cooper.
In Bristol, the statue of slave trader Edward Colston was pulled down by protesters, thrown into the harbour and subsequently dredged up. Bristol Council plans to put into a museum. David Olusoga writes,
“The toppling of Edward Colston's statue is not an attack on history. It is history.”
There is ongoing debate regarding what to do with existing statues linked to the slave-trade or an imperialist past. Citizens across the UK are petitioning their local governments to replace statues with an imperialist past with local icons that they are proud to support.
Research Associate at the Pitt Rivers Museums and a doctoral candidate at the University of Glasgow, Marenka Thompson-Odlum, and Sir Godfrey Henry Oliver Palmer OBE, Professor Emeritus in the School of Life Sciences at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland and a human rights activist, provide their thoughts this here.
Interested in this? Learn more about statuary depictions in the UK here and what UCL historians have to say about it.
Innovation in digital
Snapchat has just topped Apple in keynote talk coolness - and possibly partnership building. At Snapchat’s Partnership Summit, the company’s talk was a little bit of an inspiration. From its mission to its messaging, the completely virtual talk is a mix of art and technology that very neatly sums up what Snapchat is all about.
Warning: you might end up watching the entire thing, so get comfortable.