Why Mickey Mouse protest is still relevant
It was three decades ago that Michael Sandle took a symbol of American success and turned it into an iconic protest against the Vietnam war.
At the time, the bronze sculpture of Mickey Mouse firing a machine gun was shocking, anti-establishment and unforgettable. Standing as a comment on capitalism, foreign policy and rulers with an insatiable appetite for power, A 20th-century Memorial was a bold statement from the British artist. No-one would be happier than him if the sculpture, which took eight years to complete, was now considered irrelevant, but as it goes on display at Dean Clough he says, sadly, the harsh lessons of history haven't been learnt.
"The reasoning behind the Iraq conflict is as stupid and flawed as Vietnam," says Sandle. "We joined the invasion to satisfy Tony Blair's vanity and now one million Iraqis are dead.
"We all know that Saddam Hussein was a terrible man, but does the country really have a better future now?
"Mickey Mouse politics governed the 1970s. Unfortunately the situation hasn't changed."
Originally called A Mickey Mouse Monument for Amerika, Sandle amended the title after realising his own perception of who the bad guys were had been skewed by popular thinking. Researching the origins of the Vietnam war, he discovered that his own country had sewn the seeds of the devastating conflict.
"The initial inspiration for the piece came when I saw America's National Guard put down a student protest against the war at Berkeley University," he says. "It was brutal and like most people it confirmed what I already thought – Americans were the bad guys.
"However, when I did my homework I realised that actually the Vietnam war had been started by the British under Clement Attlee. Hardly anyone knows that the British Army fought against Ho Chi Minh alongside the Japanese immediately after VJ Day. It was this action which forced the country's movement into Communism and which led to 30 years of appalling horrors.
"Today the consequences are still being felt. According to one source, the Vietnamese have the fourth largest army in the world and some fear they may yet go to war with China over their control and near devastation of the Mekong River."
However, while Sandle's sculpture's resonance has continued, it has for many years been hidden from view. Bought by the Tate some years ago, his work was often overshadowed by the new crop of young British artists.
"In recent years the art world's head has been turned by work which I would describe as flimsy and by artists who come up with some airy-fairy idea and get someone else to execute it," he says.
"It's fantastic the public will once again be able to see Memorial and in the room next door there will also be regular showings of Sharmeen Obaid's film Iraq: The Lost Generation about the civilian victims of the invasion of Iraq. War and all its horrific consequences are as stark today as they were in the 1970s and the futility of it all is something we need to be reminded of."
Michael Sandle: A 20th-century Memorial, Dean Clough, Halifax, to August 6.
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