Lest we forget a progressive heritage

In "1984" it was the control of history that was one of the chief tools of control. So what price the amnesia which we seem to suffer in the UK about the historical struggles for suffrage, rights, collective action and all sorts of things we now take for granted?

The stories, monuments and myths that traditionally linked progressives with their heroic past have steadily retreated from public consciousness. This amounts to something akin to a loss of collective memory. And so it should come as no surprise that we have difficulty rallying any broader, popular enthusiasm for our political process when we lack an appreciation of our democratic heritage. Now more than ever we need to refit progressives' memories by using our existing heritage infrastructure to celebrate our radical and democratic inheritance - as much as we do our military and regal history.

It may surprise us but the USA are better at this than we are.

we have much to learn from the United States' approach. In museums, displays and Liberty Trails across Washington, Boston and Philadelphia, the republic's radical heritage is evocatively celebrated. Of course, their national narrative of rebellion and revolution lends itself more easily to this heroic tale

Worth checking out the article's first stab at a list of historical sites of progressive and radical action in the British Isles.
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Filed in: history, UK, progressive, radical, heritage