US Marine Corps orders removal of all Confederate paraphernalia from bases around the world

The push to erase US civil war history from all walks of American life has reached the military, with the Marine Corps ordering that all materials relating to the Confederacy be removed from its bases around the world.

The order was issued by the head of the Marines, Commandant General David Berger, in a memo to top staff that included a list of initiatives that he is “prioritizing for immediate execution,” Military.com reports. 

Berger’s order came in the wake of a congressional hearing on the rise of extremism in the US armed forces. The US military is deployed in over 150 countries around the world. It is not known if there is a hard deadline for all paraphernalia containing Confederate symbols to be purged from bases. 

Confederate symbols have long been the focus of intense debate in the US. The discussion heated up in the wake of the 2015 Charleston church shooting when local governments across the country faced calls to remove statues and monuments honouring Confederate figures. 

The movement gained wider public support following the infamous 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The fiasco saw white supremacist groups and a loose gathering of right-wingers clash with left-wing and ‘anti-fascist’ protesters over the planned removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E Lee.

A recent survey carried out by The Military Times found that more than a third of all active-duty troops say they have personally witnessed an example of white nationalism or ideologically driven racism from another person within their ranks in recent months.

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