Hipster Internet Art Newsletter on Antiquities

The Internet forum "Hyperallergic" has published an article by Jewish scholar Michael Press from Indiana, taking a skeptical look at fantastical government-sponsored claims about ISIS funding itself with looted antiquities. Anti-collecting activists have so far been quite successful in laundering their dubious narrative not only through mainstream media but through the foreign policy establishment as well. Their goal was to get Congress to pass permanent import restrictions on Syrian cultural goods (which was achieved through these scare tactics), and the attempt to create and fund the position of an "Antiquities Czar" that would elevate their influence even further within the US Government. Sadly,

those representing the interests of collectors, museums and the trade that raised the exact same issues about the credibility of these fantastical numbers early on have become targets for abuse from some of the very same individuals Press acknowledges for their contributions in exposing the truth.

It seems that when academics question the false news they get a hearing, when it is the informed man in the street, they are treated with abuse and put-downs. As Peter Tompa rightly points out, there is an elephant in the room that is being avoided in the article:

Who was responsible for "weaponizing" antiquities in the first place? The ISIS killing machine was bad enough to justify military intervention, particularly given its terror threats not only in the region but to Europe and the US as well. Of course, the answer is quite apparent to those who represent the interests of collectors, museums and the trade. It is the State Department's Cultural Heritage Center, which worked along with ASOR, the State Department contractor mentioned in the article, and the Antiquities Coalition, a well-funded archaeological advocacy group with ties to ASOR, the Archaeological Institute of America, as well as authoritarian Arab regimes. 

Hipster Internet Art Newsletter Raises Alarm About Antiquities being "Weaponized" for Political Purposes