Justice
In Cape Town, Students Topple a Relic of Apartheid
After a month of protests and sit-ins, a statue of a white imperialist has finally been removed from South Africa's leading university.
Student activists from the University of Cape Town celebrated a hard-fought victory Thursday. The statue of Cecil Rhodes, covered in graffiti and tangled in green straps, was hoisted from their South African campus by a crane.
The monument's removal came after a month of student-led protests and the occupation of administration buildings. Rhodes was instrumental in shaping South Africa's Apartheid history, and the physical removal of the statue was powerfully symbolic. Even more, the events leading up to its removal have recharged debates about whether enough is being done to address racial inequalities in the Rainbow Nation.