Attacks on statues associated with social injustice and militarism: New Zealand as a case study
We aimed to explore the potential relationship between social injustice and militarism and attacks on statues in one case study country: New Zealand. We performed Internet searches for the existence of the statues and historical attacks in New Zealand (NZ), combined with field visits to all identified statues to examine for injuries and repairs. Of the 123 statues identified, nearly a quarter (n=28, 23%) had been attacked at least once (total of 45 separate attack events), with the number of attacks increasing from the 1990s. Attacks involved paint/graffiti (14% of all statues at least once), nose removal/damage (7%), decapitation (5%), and total destruction (3%). The risk of attack was relatively higher for statues of royalty (50%), military personnel (33%), explorers (29%), and politicians (25%), compared to other reasons for fame (eg, 0% for sports players). Statue subjects involved in colonialism and harm to Māori, had 6.61 (95%CI: 2.30 to 19.9) greater odds (adjusted odds ratio, aOR) of being attacked than other subjects. Similar results were found for statue subjects having any involvement with the military (aOR= 4.17; 95%CI: 1.65 to 11.3). Most of the statue subjects were of men (87%) and Europeans (93%). Other ethnicities were 6% Māori (NZ’s Indigenous population comprising 15% of the population) and 1% each for Asian and Pacific peoples, who comprise 12% and 7% of the population respectively. In conclusion, there is evidence that attacks on these statues may reflect the role of statue subjects in past social injustices and militarism. Furthermore, the demography of the statue subjects in this country represent historical and current social power relationships – with under-representation of women and non-European ethnic groups.