London Art Commission Rejects Mandela Statue

There has been a campaign to erect a statue of Nelson Mandela in London’s Trafalgar Square, “close to South Africa House, the scene of 40 years of anti-apartheid demonstrations and 28 years of protests against Mr Mandela’s imprisonment.” But the government’s public art commission has rejected the statue on aesthetic grounds. London’s Mayor Ken Livingstone disagrees with the decision. “I am appalled that an all-white committee sitting in Westminster can dismiss the idea of putting a great international statesman in this prominent place.”