IN 2023, Liverpool came under international spotlight for its amazing hosting of the Eurovision Song Contest. But many other fascinating events took place that didn’t get the full blown TikTok job.

I was privileged to review the Liverpool Biennial, https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/c/carry-weight, festival of contemporary art which addressed Liverpool’s turbulent history, including wealth-based on the slave trade. Many of the art works and videos not only exposed our past but also explored how we may find redemption from the horrors of history by active repair and healing, a genuine plea for positive change. 

Likewise, the International Slavery Exhibition,  https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/c/liverpool-and-slavery, at Liverpool’s Maritime Museum not only revealed to me the brutal truth about the slave trade, but how that truth is still being distorted. 

On further research, I discovered that in 2014, Michael Gove, then education secretary, removed from the curriculum the explicit focus on racial and ethnic diversity in Britain to a celebration of “the distinguished role of these islands in the history of the world.” In effect, the teaching of black history has become optional while the mainstream continues its focus on names and dates in order to pass exams. 

This needs to change so that young people at school can develop a deeper understanding of today’s legacies, which means learning the truth about our colonial past. 

Art, literature, theatre, exhibitions, all have the potential to expose our minds to different views and perspectives, which can, and often does, mobilise us to take action. 

I reviewed Constant Maud’s book No Surrender, https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/c/sister-act, now republished 100 years on as a graphic novel. The hero of the story, Jenny Clegg, is a Lancashire mill worker who, through the injustices she has experienced, puts principles first regardless of personal costs. Her activities and struggles as a Suffragette results in her encountering unflinchingly described violence and imprisonment. 

Suffragette movements can be traced back to the mid-19th century, but those early peaceful approaches that highlighted the issues were ignored by those in power. This resulted in the creation and sensational growth of the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), where direct action, often dramatically enacted, was the key motivation. 

Today, with fossil fuel destroying our planet and peaceful demonstrations in the main being ignored by those who have power and control, many people, particularly the young, in an attempt to bring about political change, are doing likewise and, with changes to the laws governing protest, face arrest and jail sentences. All they are doing is urging us to take action to save Mother Earth, our planet, and it’s their future which is at stake. 
Art and literature cannot tell us what to do, but by stimulating our bodies and minds, it can spur thinking, engagement, activism. 

In this year, 2023, the books I reviewed and the exhibitions I visited brought this message home to me, proof that learning is life long with most of it taking place out of the classroom. 

History is literally present in all we do, providing frames of reference, identities and aspirations to “rise like lions after slumber in unvanquishable number ... Ye are many — they are few.”

Deeds not words.