Swopes on Feds' Asia Week Swipes

Hudson Dealer Tom Swope was at the Asia Week event in New York this week ("Asia Week 2016", Sunday, March 20, 2016) but reports sadly:

I wish I could do one of my posts on highlights seen during Asia Week, but this year the event has been destroyed by the actions of the US government misguided war on culture.

He was witness to one of the raids. He thinks that the rate at which fundamentalists are destroying our common heritage justifies buying precious art to save it from those who wish to see it pounded into fragments. After all, the dealers we come into contact with are not the ones who looted these objects, but they bought them in good faith and thus became the people who we should thank for getting it out of harm's way:

While in theory the idea of looted antiquities is abhorrent, in the age of Islamic extremism and civil wars, in which cultural destruction has become a regular event, we need to rethink our approach to the antiquities trade. [...] I think we should view objects from the conflict torn regions of the world as rescues facing probably destruction. Ideally, we should not encourage looting, but we do not live in an ideal world

The fate of the sculpture he saw being removed from a New York dealer's showroom is unclear. Mr Swopes observes:

I can tell you however with certainty that it is a great work of art, whose future is quite insecure if it goes back to Afghanistan. I can also tell you that the dealer who owned it did not loot it himself, and I am sure bought it on good faith for the great work of art that it is. Now, it is likely to be returned to the war torn country from where it came, to be lost to scholarship and humanity and likely destroyed. And apparently, that suits the extremists at Homeland Security just fine. [...] something must be done to stop the US government and change it's approach. This heavy handed manner will only drive the market underground

Mr Swopes deplores the way that the US government has taken an extreme position against the antiquities trade which could rescue so many objects from falling into the hands of ignorant foreign bigots who cannot appreciate them. Instead of fighting those who honor and respect culture and want to help preserve it, surely we should be active in stopping the violence and destruction where it is taking place. As Mr Swokes observes:

We have completely screwed up, through our invasions, Iraq, and now Syria as collateral damage, and Afghanistan [...] we as a nation should be focused on stopping the violence and the extremists that are responsible for the looting and cultural destruction taking place in the countries where it is taking place, not here.

Instead the US is prosecuting law abiding art dealers which does nothing to further the stated aim of preserving cultural heritage.