>>> <[log in to unmask]> 30/August/1996 03:45am >>>
The discussion about living, breathing politicos using museums should be
a
cause for great cheering -

Surely that depends on the public's peceptions of the
government/government structures. The low poll achieved in US
elections might indicate complete indifference of real protest against the
government so making the connection so blatant might be negative for a
museum's image.

Obviously I don't want to compare SA and the US but inthe bad old days
one of the worst perceptions museums were struggling against was that
they were just another government institution and obvioulsy not relevant
for the vast majority of South Africans. It is interesting now to see people
showing a curiosity in museums BECAUSE they are a government
institution.

I was horrified recently when I saw a rally on the the 'language issue'
held at a museum on the television news. I suppose they thought that
language was a cultural issue and, therefore, appropriate for a museum,
except that the rally was a protest against the imagined discrimination
against Afrikaans and was addressed by political party members and
attended primarily by old SA flag waving crowds. That certainly did
nothing for the image of museums here.

Kathryn Mathers
Pretoria