SCOUTS HONOUR
Baden-Powell statue: Why is he being called a ‘racist’?
SCOUTS founder Lord Robert Baden-Powell's statue is to be removed from its plinth in Poole Quay.
So who is he and why is his statue being removed?
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Who was Baden-Powell?
Lieutenant General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, was born February 22, 1857, in Paddington, London.
He was a British Army officer, writer and founder and first Chief Scout of the worldwide Scout Movement, for which he wrote the first scouts guide book.
He served between 1976 and 1910 and fought as a cavalryman in the Second Boer War among others, serving predominantly in Africa and India.
He became a British national hero during the Second Boer War in South Africa for defending a garrison town for 217 days from 5,000 Boer troops.
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On August 1, 1907, he and 20 others pitched their tents on Brownsea Island, in Poole harbour, effectively founding the worldwide movement that now has 54 million members.
He wrote Scouting For Boys in 1908 and upon leaving the army he formed the Scout Association in 1910.
He also co-founded the worldwide Girl Guide/Girl Scout Movement with his sister Agnes.
Following his Africa years he wrote several books on military reconnaissance and scouting.
He died January 8, 1941, in Nyeri, Kenya.
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Why is he being labelled a 'racist'?
Black Lives Matter supporters added the Poole statue to its "Topple The Racists" list claiming he was enthusiastic about Nazism and an admirer of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf and his Hitler Youth movement.
Following the founding of the scouts, Baden-Powell became sympathetic to Hitler, writing in his diary of 1939: “Lay up all day. Read Mein Kampf." calling it “a wonderful book, with good ideas on education, health, propaganda, organisation etc”.
He was an early admirer of Italian fascist Benito Mussolini, whom he wrote fondly of after a visit in 1933.
It's notable that 1911 "Thanks Badges" had swastikas on them, but this is believed to have been linked to the traditional Indian meaning of luck due to his time there, rather than Nazism.
The scouts stopped using it after it was adopted by the Nazis in 1920.
The Nazis also banned scouting in 1934, calling it "a haven for young men opposed to the new State".
Baden-Powell was blacklisted in the 1940s as a person to be detained should they have conquered the UK.
His biographer, Tim Jeal, argued that Baden-Powell's support of fascism was due to a distrust of communism at the time that pushed him toward the far right.
Some modern historians have also branded Baden-Powell racist because he starved locals so he could feed his own soldiers.
He forced people in Africa out on cattle drives by threatening them with floggings and forcibly requisitioning food from households for British troops.
Where is his statue and why is it being taken down?
The statue is in Poole Quay, Dorset, near where the Scouts were founded. It was put up in 2008.
Robert Baden-Powell’s sculpture will be placed in storage by a council after concerns over his “Nazi sympathies”.
The statue is on a map mentioning 78 statues and road names across the UK that racial equality protesters want to have pulled down or renamed after Edward Colston's statue was torn down in Bristol.
There are also fears among local cops that the site could spark “disorder or anti-social behaviour”.
black lives matter
Council leader Vikki Slade said: “Whilst famed for the creation of the Scouts, we also recognise that there are some aspects of Robert Baden-Powell’s life that are considered less worthy of commemoration.
“Therefore, we are removing the statue so that we can properly involve all relevant communities and groups in discussions about its future, including whether a more educational presentation of his life in a different setting might be more appropriate.”
The council claims that Dorset County Scouts was “supportive” of its decision, but they have released a statement saying they were not consulted.
Locals have turned out to defend the statue too, saying they don't want it to go.
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