European Academic Research ISSN 2286-4822
ISSN-L 2286-4822
Impact Factor: 3.4546 (UIF)
DRJI Value : 5.9 (B+)
Article Details :
Article Name :
Statues, Memories of History and Their Impact in International Relations
Author Name :
Joseph Ruiz Patrick
Publisher :
Bridge Center
Article URL :
Abstract :
In Southeast Asia, Koreans see building of comfort women statues (euphemism for women enslaved by Japanese military) as a way to remember the atrocities committed by the Japanese imperial government during World War II. This has been very unpleasant to the Japanese government and caused diplomatic conflicts between the two countries. On the other side of the globe (in the West), statues that glorify slave trade owners, have long been on debate for removal - during the 2020 anti-racism protest by Black Lives Matter, statues were torn down by protesters. The contrast in this phenomenon is that, while in the West the victims want the statues removed, in the East the victims are the ones erecting the statues. Through qualitative research on electronic articles and books, this study seeks to understand why the reactions of both victims are contradicting. This study has found out that the contrast in this reaction to statues is explainable by the differences between these two terms "memorials" and "monuments." The paper affirms that the differences of these two terms impact the reactions to statues in the West and in the East which leads to international conflicts.
Keywords :
Comfort women statues, slave trader statues, international conflict, memorials, monuments, memories of history, statue conflicts, statue destruction, images from history, statue protest, Statue diplomacy, social injustice

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