The debate over whether or not to erect a statue of Mohandas Gandhi on campus is heating up, with a protest now planned for Oct. 2, the same day the statue is supposed to go up.
Although the full-time New York-based activist and creator of the Facebook group “Stop the Carleton University Gandhi Statue” Arvin Valmuci originally said the group was informal and no protest was being planned, an event has now been created for early October.
The statue, a gift from India for the new Canada-India Centre of Excellence, is to recognize Gandhi for his commitment to non-violence and peace. It has drawn controversy both from those who disagree with its proposed location on campus and those who opposed Gandhi himself.
In an open letter to Carleton sent Sept. 7, Valmuci wrote, “Gandhi is a hero only to a select group of upper-caste Hindu Indians. To others, he remains a man who unashamedly and unapologetically constructed a legacy of racism against blacks.”
As of Sept. 14, 38 people were listed as attending on the Facebook protest “Protest Installation of Carleton University’s Gandhi Statue,” with 20 listed as “maybe attending” and 76 listed as “not attending.”
– with files from Anne McKinnon