A small Italian town can teach the world how to defuse controversial monuments

In the face of calls to both ‘destroy’ and ‘preserve’ a fascist monument, the town of Bolzano opted for what appears in retrospect a far smarter strategy.

The quote by Hannah Arendt implies that we cannot in good faith disclaim responsibility for things we have the power to act upon – such as the monuments we inherit from our history. Even letting them stand untouched is a way of affirming something in the present. The question is what we want that message to be.