A British university is facing criticism for its plans to instal a life-sized statue of 18-year-old Swedish Andolanjeevi Greta Thunberg on its Hampshire campus. Local residents have stated that she has nothing to do with the city.
According to the reports, the Winchester University in the UK had commissioned a life-size bronze statue of the controversial ‘activist’ Greta Thunberg at the cost of £24,000. The bronze design sculpture of the alleged activist – named ‘Make a Difference’ – was commissioned by the University as an “inspiration for all students”.
The statue that was commissioned by the university in 2019 was created by British artist Christine Charlesworth. The statue is set to be unveiled on March 30.
“The university wanted a sculpture of Greta because it is a very ‘green’ university, and they feel that Greta will be an inspiration to all the students,” Charlesworth said.
The statue is the first life-sized depiction of the 18-year-old Swedish school drop-out, who gained international attention after protesting against climate change in 2018 with the help of a widespread PR campaign.
Locals, students criticise university for commissioning statue of Greta
The decision to install the statue of Greta Thunberg within the university campus has not gone well both with the locals and the students of the university.
“What a total waste of money,” local resident Simon Dixon said, according to the Hampshire Chronicle. “Total waste of money. I wonder whose bright idea that was,” he added.
Another University student Henry Osbourne said he wondered why he and others at the school were not given a vote to decide on whose statue should be installed inside the campus.
Michelle Coombs, another resident said, “I think the statue sculpture itself is very good. But Greta has no connection with Winchester, or am I wrong?” he added.
Some locals also suggested that the university could have commissioned a statue as a tribute to Kev, the local Big Issue seller, who is more popular than Greta.
Anne Goodchild said someone else who could have been immortalised in statue form, saying, “Kev the guy who sells the homeless paper, definitely a Winchester icon”. Gary Shotter said, “How about a statue of the legendary Murray Walker, a Hampshire man!”
Kev Collick is a local activist in the city who has been raising funds for children in need.
Greta Thunberg and her attempts to create chaos inside India
Last month, the so-called ‘activist’ Greta Thunberg had created a massive controversy by trying to mobilise violent protestors who have been opposing India’s farm reforms. The controversial activist had expressed her support in favour of rioters who had stormed iconic Red Fort and desecrated the Indian national flag to protest against the three farm laws passed by the democratically elected Indian government with a majority vote in the parliament.
Greta Thunberg had also accidentally released a toolkit that her supporters could use to propagate lies and misinformation about farmer protests. In a follow-up tweet, she shared a document that she called a ‘toolkit’ that can be used to understand what the protests are about and how her followers can support the cause.
The Toolkit, however, revealed how certain people, political parties, media agencies, national and international organizations and Khalistani sympathizers are using the farmer protests to propagate their agenda under a Global conspiracy against India.
