The saga of the Benin bronzes takes a farcical new turn this week as a museum is inaugurated, but there are no bronzes to go in it because the heir to the brutal Benin slavers has claimed them all as his private property.
The campaign to save Benin bronzes in the world's museums was unexpectedly boosted in Zurich last week when a descendant of those enslaved by the African kingdom stood up and demanded the bloody truth be acknowledged.
A Sunday Times journalist's description of female genital mutilation as "circumcision" in an article about the Pitt Rivers Museum reveals her ignorance, says Mike Wells. Either that, or she's being 'culturally sensitive'.
Teacher Joe Baron says it's no surprise 18 to 24 year-olds are so unpatriotic. They've been taught by woke history teachers to hate their own country.
In a surprise to no one, the King of Asante in Ghana says he'd like to keep the golden relics loaned to him by the British Museum. Looks like they're going the same way as the Benin bronzes, says Mike Wells.
The first museum to display the Benin bronzes in 1897 became the first to 'give them back' in 2022. But the truth is these 'returned' historical artefacts are vanishing into the ether.
Nigeria has failed to look after the Benin bronzes it has and shouldn't be given any more, says leading Swiss ethnologist Brigitta Hauser-Schäublin as she opposes the restitution movement. They belong to humanity.
Last week Nigeria's national grid collapsed entirely. A recent poll found 73% of the population wants to leave. The country is no fit state to look after 'restituted' precious artefacts, says Mike Wells.
Mike Wells asks why British museums are morally obliged to return the Benin bronzes, given that they were created by a brutal, slave-owning regime that engaged in ritual human sacrifice, including the crucifixion of women.
In the latest twist to the farce of the Benin bronzes, a Nigerian Prince has proposed that the restituted artefacts be sold off and the proceeds shared with the "descendants of the slaves".
