I nominate the Musuem-L thread on "marines" and "appropriate topics" to the
Museum of Stupidity. It is especially noted that the particpants hurled
personal invectives, political diatribes, and missed the entire point of the issue
that first started this all.
Oh! The Musuem of Stupidity has just been looted!
Looting of cultural heritage....remember that?
It is appropraite to discuss the US military's responsibility to protect
cultural heritage in any conflict - we are signatories of the UNESCO convention,
after all.
I think it is a bit over the top to blame the american and british forces for
the looting, as if they had kicked open the doors and loaded the goodies on
to a truck themselves. The truth is that citizens of Iraq did that - and it
appears to have been a phenomenon linked to a long-standing practice of looting
cultural heritage for gain. (Most ot the Pyramids are empty after all!)
But the larger issue here, and one that has a long, long history (that
invovled many prominent museums until recently) is that of the thriving trade in
antiquities and stolen art. Correct me if I am wrong, but many of the world's
musuems bought stolen works from the black market (no questions asked), or they
acquired them through their colonialst or imperialist pasts (The Elgin Marbles).
Much of this has abated, at least formally, by the adoption of the UNESCO
conventions in the 1980's.
But there is still a thriving market for stolen cultural heritage. And this
is what really feeds the phenomenon. If there wasn't such a huge demand for
these treasures in Europe, Asia, and America, and elsewhere in the world, then
there would not be the market to create the lucre necessary to feed the looting.
So much could be done by stricter intervention on international borders. On
having groups that monitor auctions and online trading, of higher priority
given to the protection of cultural resources and heritage by national and local
governements. On having more severe penalities for trafficking in cultural
heritage - not just fines, but real hard time.
As the current issue of Archaeolgy magazine points out, this is the issue.
http://www.archaeology.org/magazine.php?page=curiss/index
Cheers!
Dave
David Harvey
2930 South Birch Street
Denver, CO 80222
303-300-5257
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