Why Museums and Collectors Do Good

Geoffrey Robertson, in The Weekend Australian Magazine, November 1, 2019:

There is a new cry for justice that is beginning to unsettle the cultural elites of Europe and America: it is a demand by formerly subjugated peoples for the return of their heritage – the art and artefacts plundered in previous centuries by brutal colonial armies, rich collectors and grasping missionaries. By what right do western museums and billionaire collectors keep property they know to have been stolen in earlier times, often looted in the course of what would now be termed crimes against humanity? [...] It’s time for their return: no longer can once-great powers get away with mealy-mouthed words of apology and regret for colonial abuses. They must surrender their loot.

It might be upsetting the cultural elites - but it is not upsetting anyone else. By what right do western museums and billionaire collectors keep this cultural property? Because they are well looked after and won’t be destroyed my religious fanaticism or neglect and stupidity.  In most cases, if those precious articles weren’t removed from where they originated they would no longer be in existence. These precious items should remain where they are, protected from those that may destroy them. There are plenty of examples recently of this type of vandalism. Recall the recent vandalism and trashing of ancient history, by bulldozer, sledgehammer and explosives, and the looting of museums, because they were deemed un-Islamic during ISIS control of historic sites? Gone, gone forever. What chance this won’t also apply to artefacts returned from European and other museums? Maybe make facsimiles, and return these to autocratic regimes likely at any time to be subject to civil strife by oppressed peoples? And meanwhile, ignore the majority UN supporters of such regimes, and their leftist supporters. Crimes against humanity? Hyperbole.

Exquisite Jade Carving

Jade plaque from an offering found at the Maya city of Nebaj, Guatemala. Photo by Wendy J. Bacon

Gardiner Museum Squatting Male Figure

Squatting Male Figure Date: 600-900
Origin: Mexico, Laguna de los Cerros, Veracruz, Gulf Coast
Provenience unknown,  Gift of George and Helen Gardiner
Veracruz squatting figure, Late Classic period, wearing flayed feline skin over the body, similar headdress, projecting necklace, round ear-spools, and traces of paint.
http://emuseum.gardinermuseum.on.ca/objects/472/squatting-male-figure

Ancient Stones Still Meaningful to the Assyrian People Today

The Kurdistan Regional Government’s recent arrest and detainment of a journalist for his discovery of an ancient Assyrian stone relief illustrates deeper issues with how both Assyrian material heritage and the Assyrian people are being treated in Iraq (R.S. Zaya, 'What Ancient Stones Still Mean to the Assyrian People Today' Hyperallergic, November 1, 2019).

Hurmuz Mushi, an Assyrian activist and journalist, stumbled upon an artifact while he happened to be digging for a water pipe in the region of Fayda in northern Iraq. It was an Assyrian relief showing a figure seated on a throne flanked by three humans and three animals. His discovery would have brought nothing but joy to an archaeologist or museum curator. In a video posted online on the same day, Mr. Mushi made a sensible request that the Iraqi or Kurdish governments take the necessary steps to preserve the newly discovered antiquity [...] The response from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), however, was anything but sensible: On June 17th, Kurdish security forces, the Asayish, threatened his life and detained the journalist for three days until he was released on conditional bail for roughly $6000, an enormous sum in Iraq.[...]  the very presence of anything Assyrian serves as a direct challenge to Kurdish claims of legitimacy over lands that have been subject to a decade-long program of Kurdification, annexation, and land-grabs, aided and abetted by the apathy of the central government in Baghdad and the chaotic interregnums after the Iraq War and the fall of ISIS.

Assyrians are the last Aramaic-speaking ethnic group in the world. The distinct, indigenous community — whose members belong to various ancient Christian sects — numbered nearly 1.5 million prior to the Iraq War but has fallen precipitously to under 150,000 today. The KRG’s repressive and anti-historical policy toward Assyrian heritage is itself part of broader trends

Artworks stored in Jap Castle Destroyed by Fire

Artworks stored at Shuri Castle were likely destroyed in Thursday’s fire at the World Heritage site.

It is highly likely at least 420 of about 1,500 artworks stored at Shuri Castle in Naha were destroyed Thursday by the fire that engulfed the castle, it has been learned. The 420 or so artworks, were not stored in a fire-resistant repository.

Overturning the Election

63 million Americans put President Trump in office. Now 231 Washington Democrats are trying to reverse the results of the 2016 election.