UK Muslims angry at plan to bring back historic statue of wild pig

industry watch ^ | 2004-03-21

[dennisw]

The Boar War ; Muslims angry at plan to bring back historic statue of wild pig Source: Mail on Sunday; London (UK) Publication date: 2004-03-21 Arrival time: 2004-03-22

FOR more than 100 years it stood proudly as the centrepiece of England's oldest public park before being decapitated during a Second World War air raid. Now a row has broken out after plans to replace Derby's historic Florentine Boar statue were abandoned for fear of offending Muslims, whose religion considers pigs to be 'unclean'.

A replica of the statue, a crouching wild boar, was intended as the jewel in the crown of a Pounds 5 million National Lottery- funded restoration of the city's Arboretum Park.

But councillors have called for the proposal to be scrapped amid sinister warnings that the statue would be vandalised or stolen.

The Florentine Boar statue stood from 1840 until 1942 when it was beheaded by a German bomb. But it was last week branded 'offensive' during a meeting of Derby Council's minority ethnic communities advisory committee.

Councillor Suman Gupta, a Labour representative for Derby's Derwent ward, told the meeting: 'If the statue is put back in the Arboretum, I have been told it will not be there the next day, or at least it won't be in the same condition.

'We should not have the boar because it is offensive to some of the groups in the area.' The park is in an area known for its large Pakistani community.

Shokat Lal, a community leader, said at the meeting: 'In Normanton the majority of residents are Pakistani Muslims.

'I'm not saying we have to lose the boar, but we could put the boar in the city centre so it does not cause offence to people.' Local historian Christopher Harris told The Mail on Sunday: 'We are living in a multicultural society and I hope that would include English culture.

'If the boar had never been destroyed in 1941, these people would have grown up with it and would not have noticed it.

'Activists have jumped on the chance to make a statement. It is one that damns English culture-But the wild boar is part of Derby's culture.' He said a small minority of Muslims with extreme political views had issued veiled threats to the council over the statue.

The land for the park was donated to the council in September 1840 by Joseph Strutt, the first mayor of the Borough of Derby, a wealthy cotton mill owner who wanted to give the public a place to exercise.

He commissioned architect J.C. Loudon to landscape the area. The hollow ceramic boar was donated by Mr Strutt.

Sculpted on commission by W. J. Coffee - and based on drawings of a similar statue in the Market Nuovo in Florence - it was intended as a gift to the working classes of Derby.

Last week's committee meeting proposed that a statue of Mr Loudon should be erected at the Arboretum with a new site for the boar in the city centre.

Last night, Councillor Gupta told The Mail on Sunday: ' Communities change.'

Tory leader Philip Hickson said: 'The community is strong enough to stand a statue of a boar in a park. But we live in an age where sometimes things are a little more politically correct than they ought to be.'

Publication date: 2004-03-21

[The Great RJ]

I'd be for donating one for Mecca. So much for the religion of toleration and peace.

[Dec31,1999]

Hmmm. But aren't pigs unclean to orthodox Jews, too?

[Ben Hecks]

"Maybe if we put up pictures of pigs everywhere in this country, it will keep Muslims (at least the crazy fundamentalist ones) from moving here."

You might also send a bag of Bill Elliot Pork Rinds to your local mosque.....
or put them on the mailing list for Jimmy Dean Sausage recipes.

[SENTINEL]

Give 'em a break guys, those poor muslims have had some bad experiences with WARTHOGS !

[mathurine]

islam sucks; it has no redeeming social value. It constructs nothing and ultimately destroys everything, wherever it goes. The devil created it.

[Bogey78O]

It'd be pointless. Orthodox Jews would have the same reaction as Islamacists.

[Blue Scourge]

Lol....no wonder they are terrified of pigs....bet they also hate Falcons, Eagles, Night Hawks, Aardvarks, Hornets, Tomcats and guys with the name Abrams.

[Bogey78O]

Only Libyans have a problem with aardvarks.

[whereasandsoforth]

Pigs are clean animals. Muslims are not near as pure, inside or out.

I'd rather spend the weekend with a pig.

[Monty22]

So basically everything in the world now has to be 'approved' by the islamics.

Great.

[SENTINEL]

Don't forget COBRAS !

[Sabatier]

What about Porky Pig? Pooh and Piglet? Can Muslims "pig out"?
Can Muslim kids ride piggyback? The entire Anglo culture is rife with pigs! Bacon cheeseburgers! Barbecue ribs! Bacon bits! Pork rinds! Miss Piggy! Where will it all end!

[farfromhome]

Yes, but I've always heard this in relation to eating pigs (and other animals), not to seeing them, or statues of them.

[Dan from Michigan]

If it's offensive, then they are certainly welcome I'm sure to go back to Pakistan.

[Blue Scourge]

Oh sorry....of course they hate Cobra's, people called Apache, Black Hawk, and a bunch of guys called Reagan, Eisenhower, Nimitz, Kennedy, Roosevelt...etc..

[Libertina]

Here's an idea... YOU go BACK to where you came from. Call us LATER when you have learned to behave as part of the human race and we'll get back to ya, promise.

[Libertina]

LOL Awesome shot!

[Robert_Paulson2]

Why is it that this makes my blood boil?

[Dec31,1999]

I wonder what the Koran says about it. I've seen the parts about the infidels and the Jews, but not the part(s) about the pig! Anybody got any references handy?

[Robert_Paulson2]

Are these people mentally ILL?

Is it genetic?