OLD CONTENT
This is an issue which has been given far too little media attention, and even discussion by ourselves, when in fact it is (much like the more high-profile issue of toppling of colonialist statues) a very good way to raise introductory-level awareness of colonial history, as you get to directly look at the sheer quantity of stolen property and how proudly it is all displayed in Western museums, evidence of nonexistent Western remorse towards colonialism.
The True Left must demand returning to original owners ALL museum artifacts acquired by violence during the colonial era, as well as providing apology and compensation to all victims. To examine just one example out of many such museums (arguments equally applicable to all similar museums):
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Museum#Controversy
It is a point of controversy whether museums should be allowed to possess artifacts taken from other countries,[7][91] and the British Museum is a notable target for criticism. The Elgin Marbles, Benin Bronzes and the Rosetta Stone are among the most disputed objects in its collections, and organisations have been formed demanding the return of these artefacts to their native countries of Greece, Nigeria and Egypt respectively. Parthenon Marbles claimed by Greece were also claimed by UNESCO among others for restitution. From 1801 to 1812, Elgin's agents took about half of the surviving sculptures of the Parthenon, as well as sculptures from the Propylaea and Erechtheum.
In recent years, controversies pertaining to reparation of artefacts taken from the Old Summer Palace in Beijing during the Anglo-French invasion of China in 1860 have also begun to surface.[92] The ransacking and destruction of the Chinese palaces has led to unhealed historical wounds in Chinese culture. Victor Hugo condemned the French and British for their plundering.[93] The British Museum and the Victoria & Albert Museum, among others, have been asked since 2009 to open their archives for investigation by a team of Chinese investigators as a part of an international mission to document lost national treasures. However, there have been fears that the United Kingdom may be asked to return these treasures.[94] As of 2010, Neil MacGregor, the Director of the British Museum, said he hoped that both British and Chinese investigators would work together on the controversial collection, which continues to result in resentment in China.[95]
The British Museum has refused to return these artefacts, stating that the "restitutionist premise, that whatever was made in a country must return to an original geographical site, would empty both the British Museum and the other great museums of the world".[96] The museum has also argued that the British Museum Act of 1963 legally prevents any object from leaving its collection once it has entered it. Nevertheless, it has returned items such as the Tasmanian Ashes after a 20-year-long battle with Australia.[97]
The British Museum continues to assert that it is an appropriate custodian and has an inalienable right to its disputed artefacts under British law.
In ethical terms, the British Museum clearly has no leg to stand on. If one individual steals from another, does the thief have an "inalienable right" to retain the stolen property just because he has kept it on display inside his house for the viewing pleasure of his own guests (who may or may not be required to pay a viewing fee)? If not, then how is it different merely that the entity doing the looting plundering stealing was the British Empire?
And no, this has nothing to do with returning objects to the "where they were made", a shameless attempt at obfuscation. If an object was made in X, sold to Y and then stolen by Z, the artefact should be returned to Y, not to X. This is about returning objects to their true owners.
And yes, returning them would indeed empty "the great museums of the world". Would anyone take seriously a complaint by a thief that he should not return stolen property because it would empty his "great house"? (Is this the same "great" as the one in M[insert Western country here]GA?) Here is some of the stuff that has to be returned:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Museum#Department_of_Ancient_Egypt_and_Sudan
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Museum#Department_of_the_Middle_East
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Museum#Department_of_Asia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Museum#Department_of_Africa,_Oceania_and_the_Americas
As for the British Museum Act of 1963, that is an explicitly colonialist law right there, the very kind of law we want to bring attention to. If a thief asserts that a law exists applicable inside his house that makes it illegal for property to leave his house once it has entered it, would you take him seriously? He is basically saying that
it is OK for him to steal from you, but not OK for you to seek redress! (Is this what rightists actually mean when they say "It's OK to be white"?) This is literal Talmudism.
And here we come to the reality: if the British Museum, true to its colonial heritage, maintains its Talmudist attitude, how do we get back our stolen property? We must simply disregard the British Museum Act of 1963, just as we disregard all laws which are based on ingroup/outgroup double-standards. If they will not give it back, we simply take it back.
Corbyn appears to be on our side:
www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/06/03/jeremy-corbyn-says-would-return-elgin-marbles-greece-elected/Jeremy Corbyn will order the British Museum to return the Elgin Marbles to Greece if elected Prime Minister, opening the door to dozens of historical artefacts being repatriated under a Labour government.
---
Surprisingly, the US actually has a somewhat decent policy on this issue. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) became law in 1990.
The Act requires federal agencies and institutions that receive federal funding[1] to return Native American "cultural items" to lineal descendants and culturally affiliated Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations. Cultural items include human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony. A program of federal grants assists in the repatriation process and the Secretary of the Interior may assess civil penalties on museums that fail to comply.
...
Lastly, NAGPRA makes it a criminal offense to traffic in Native American human remains without right of possession or in Native American cultural items obtained in violation of the Act. Penalties for a first offense may reach 12 months imprisonment and a $100,000 fine.
...
Since the legislation passed, the human remains of approximately 32,000 individuals have been returned to their respective tribes. Nearly 670,000 funerary objects, 120,000 unassociated funerary objects, and 3,500 sacred objects have been returned.[5]
The statute attempts to mediate a significant tension that exists between the tribes' communal interests in the respectful treatment of their deceased ancestors and related cultural items and the scientists' individual interests in the study of those same human remains and items. The act divides the treatment of American Indian human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony into two basic categories. Under the inadvertent discovery and planned excavation component of the act and regulations, if federal officials anticipate that activities on federal and tribal lands after November 16, 1990 might have an effect on American Indian burials—or if burials are discovered during such activities—they must consult with potential lineal descendants or American Indian tribal officials as part of their compliance responsibilities. For planned excavations, consultation must occur during the planning phase of the project. For inadvertent discoveries, the regulations delineate a set of short deadlines for initiating and completing consultation. The repatriation provision, unlike the ownership provision, applies to remains or objects discovered at any time, even before the effective date of the act, whether or not discovered on tribal or federal land. The act allows archaeological teams a short time for analysis before the remains must be returned. Once it is determined that human remains are American Indian, analysis can occur only through documented consultation (on federal lands) or consent (on tribal lands).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_Graves_Protection_and_Repatriation_Act
Western plunderers complain that this repatriation causes "science" to "lose out" on the artifacts which are being taken away from dusty museum shelves. Contrary to Western hubris, Native American groups are actually very interested in studying their past, and many recent studies in archaeology and genetics have been conducted by researchers who actually bother to consult with Native American communities and engage in respectful dialogue about the purpose and scope of the studies.
Who would have thought that this approach of treating people with respect would be more effective at generating knowledge than plundering and treating the groups being studied as dehumanized 'test subjects'?
---
"Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act"
Could the spirit of this Act be extended such that the US demands foreign museums (e.g. British Museum) to return stolen American artefacts? Having the US join in the voices demanding for return of stolen property would symbolically side the US with the victims of colonialism, as we wish it.
"Western plunderers complain that this repatriation causes "science" to "lose out" on the artifacts which are being taken away from dusty museum shelves. Contrary to Western hubris, Native American groups are actually very interested in studying their past, and many recent studies in archaeology and genetics have been conducted by researchers who actually bother to consult with Native American communities and engage in respectful dialogue about the purpose and scope of the studies."
I despise the notion that we must placate such complainers. The attitude we should be promoting is:
if "science" does "lose out", SCREW THEM. Even if Native American groups had no interest in subsequently cooperating with researchers, they still deserve stolen artefacts back. One of the reasons why we are here is to destroy the Western notion that research justifies initiation of violence.
"Who would have thought that this approach of treating people with respect would be more effective at generating knowledge than plundering and treating the groups being studied as dehumanized 'test subjects'?"
I re-emphasize:it DOES NOT MATTER whether treating people with respect is more effective or less effective at generating knowledge. By arguing that treating people with respect is more effective at generating knowledge, you allow our enemies to argue that IF disrespect is more effective at generating knowledge, THEN disrespect is acceptable. Only by ceasing to view generating knowledge - a form of accumulationism - as valuable in itself are we truly de-Westernized.
---
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/benin-bronzes-british-museum-nigeria-stolen-imperialist-treasures-return-loan-elgin-marbles-looted-a8414661.htmlNigeria might be willing to let Britain, the imperial power that stole its Benin Bronzes, return them on just a loan basis rather than giving them back permanently, it has emerged.
While other countries, like Greece over the Elgin Marbles, have refused to accept anything other than a permanent return of treasures seized during the colonial era, it seems that some Nigerian officials might be willing to settle for borrowing back what was stolen from them.
Nigeria has been seeking the return of the bronzes ever since the country gained independence from Britain in 1960. The treasures were plundered during a punitive British expedition in 1897, which culminated in Benin City being burned and looted.
The only way this could end well is if Nigeria then refuses to give up the items after the loan period expires. Otherwise Nigeria would just be humiliating itself.
France seems to have a better attitude on the issue:
www.france24.com/en/20181123-france-return-african-art-benin-macron-quai-branly-colonial-british-museumPresident Emmanuel Macron announced Friday that France would return 26 works of art to Benin, hours after he was presented with a report calling for thousands of African artworks in French museums and taken during the colonial period to be returned.
The report, by French art historian Bénédicte Savoy and Senegalese economist Felwine Sarr, recommends that French museums give back work if African countries request them.
The report estimates that up to 90 percent of African art is outside the continent, including statues, thrones and manuscripts. Some70,000 of the estimated 90,000 works of sub-Saharan art in France’s public collections are held by just one museum, the Quai Branly Museum in Paris, which opened in 2006 to showcase non-European art, much of it from former French colonies.
It will be up to Macron to determine the feasibility of the report’s recommendations. France has strict laws that consider African artifacts state property even if they were taken illicitly. Removing any works from the state collections will require an amendment to currentcultural heritage laws.
Museums throughout Europe are watching closely for what happens next. The report notes that hundreds of thousands of other objects are housed in Belgium, the UK, Austria and Germany. The national museums of Africa, on the other hand, rarely have collections exceeding 3,000 works, said the report, and those objects often have less artistic value. Any restitution programme in France could increase pressure on other nations to return objects from their own collections.
Here is a French colonialist siding with the British Museum's attitude:
An honourable France would cut out his tongue and send it along with the returned artifacts as apology.
---
www.theguardian.com/world/2019/mar/26/meps-pass-watershed-resolution-action-against-structural-racism-people-african-descentIt also calls on member states to declassify their colonial archives and consider “some form of reparations” for crimes of the colonial era, including public apologies and the restitution of artefacts from museums. “Some member states have taken steps towards meaningful and effective redress for past injustices and crimes against humanity – bearing in mind their lasting impacts in the present,” the resolution states.
The EU institutions and other member states are called on to follow this example.
“Histories of injustices against Africans and people of African Descent – including enslavement, forced labour, racial apartheid, massacre, and genocides in the context of European colonialism and the transatlantic slave trade – remain largely unrecognised and unaccounted for at an institutional level in EU member states,” the text states.
As for redress, instant citizenship of colonialist states for all people from their respective former colonies would be a reasonable start.
---
www.euronews.com/2019/07/12/tutankhamun-bust-goes-up-for-auction-in-london-as-egypt-renews-calls-to-cancelEgypt has requested help from Interpol to retrieve a bust of Tutankhamun that was sold at auction in London last week for over £4.7 million (€5.2 million).
A lawsuit in the UK has also been launched on behalf of Egypt.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Egypt's National Committee of Antiquities said it felt "deep dissatisfaction" at Christie's auction house for allegedly ignoring requests to postpone the sale.
The statement added that a "great surprise" was also felt at receiving less than expected support from British authorities upon the request.
Egyptian authorities campaigned to postpone the auction last Thursday amid claims the 28.5cm-high quartzite statue had been looted from Karnak Temple in Luxor.
But Christie's maintains that it had provided "extensive information" about the bust.
Speaking to the Guardian, the auction house said Egyptian officials had been invited to meet with their representatives to discuss the relevant documentation, but that the offer had not been taken up.
Egypt's antiquities committee says no such legitimate proof had been shown in the way of deeds or documents showing the artefact's legal departure from the country.
The 3,000-year-old bust was sold from the Resandro Collection, a private collection of Egyptian art that was sold in part in 2016 for more than £3m (€3.3m).
"Great surprise"? What the
**** did you expect from your own colonizer?
(At least the comments are encouraging.....)