Accountability for Theft on a Massive Scale

[PeterRS]

Another thread in this forum has become more one based on history. One poster likes to cherry-pick and discuss only what he considers historical facts that make his country look good. Yet virtually all countries carry frightful historical legacies. The massacre of entire civilisations in Central and South America by Spain and Portugal, for example, cannot merely be brushed aside. The treatment of indigenous peoples by Britain, Canada, Australia, the USA and others must not be forgotten. Slavery and colonisation resulted in the degrading of humanity on a humungous scale, and it was all to increase the profits of slave owners and colonial masters.

Another issue that deserves discussion is raised in a perceptive article in today's The Guardian. This is based on extremely valid comments made by John Oliver in Last Week's Tonight Show. In it, Oliver tore into the theft of national artefacts from many colonised countries - and others just too weak to fend off the thieves. He cites a 2018 Report commissioned by the President of France which illustrates that over 90% of Africa's cultural heritage now resides in major museums' "sprawling collections of essentially 'stolen goods'".

Add in Latin America, the Middle East and Asia and you have looting an unbelievable scale. Rightly he focussed on the British Museum. In expanding its colonial Empire, Britain stole vast quantities of treasure. One of the world's largest diamonds, the Koh-i-Noor, was stolen from the Prince of the Punjabi throne when the British illegally jailed his mother and forced him to sign the diamond away in return for her release. The Prince was just 10 years old. That diamond eventually found its way into the crown of the late Queen's mother. British history tells that it was a gift to Queen Victoria. It was stolen!

More important to the people of Greece are the Elgin Marbles. Carved 2,500 years ago and placed atop the Parthenon in Athens, the British stole them in the early 1800s. One of the more recent arguments for their remaining in the UK is that the UK is better able to look after them properly for the benefit of future generations. They presently reside in the British Museum in London. That's a load of rubbish! It has been proved that the Museum curators damaged the stone when cleaning it with wire brushes in the 1930s. But as Oliver pointed out,

"if you're ever looking for a missing artefact, nine times out of 10 it's in the British Museum."

That Museum has 8 million artefacts, most from other parts of the world. Only 80,000 can be displayed at any one time. Why gives Britain the right to retain stolen goods when it cannot have them exhibited for all to see?

"It can be pretty galling for people to find that their heritage, which is often part of a vibrant present-day culture, is sitting in storage in the British Museum's underground loot prison."

More recently we know how difficult it has been to trace back ownership of the art looted by the Nazis. Obviously returning artefacts stolen centuries ago is also a complex matter. As an article in The Smithsonian Magazine makes clear, when unravelling colonial history -

"you're dealing with countries that existed when the object was acquired but they may not exist now . . . Provinence is very complex and people aren't used to processing a chain of ownership."

Yet it's hard not to agree with Oliver when he talks about the plunder of nations' greatest treasures throughout history by colonial dickheads.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2022/oct/03/john-oliver-stolen-antiquities-western-museums

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-koh-i-noor-diamondand-why-british-wont-give-it-back-180964660/

[Mavica]

Yes, blame it on Indiana Jones.

[Guest]

interesting points - John Oliver is usually spot on.

 

 

[PeterRS]

3 minutes ago, Slvkguy said:

All based on some random bloodlines that aren’t even British.

They were basically German from the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha because that was the title of Queen Victoria's German husband. Yet Queen Victoria herself was half German through her mother and spoke with a German accent all her life. It was George V who decided during World War 1 that a German name was hardly appropriate. He changed the name to Windsor, the castle outside London where the family spent much of its time. Even so, he had married Mary of Teck whose father was German. She cruise liner Queen Mary was named after her. It still remains at Long Beach California where for years it was a tourist attraction.

Not to be forgotten is that one of Victoria's grandchildren became the Kaiser of Germany which was an enemy of the British during World War 1.

[a-447]

The late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, spoke German very well.

[kjun12]

5 hours ago, a-447 said:

The late Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, spoke German very well.

Wasn't he born in Germany?

[thaiophilus]

49 minutes ago, kjun12 said:

Wasn't he born in Germany?

No, Greece. Educated in France, Germany and UK.

[PeterRS]

15 hours ago, thaiophilus said:

No, Greece. Educated in France, Germany and UK.

In the UK he attended the spartan Gordonstoun School in the north of Scotland. This was founded by a German who left Germany in 1933.