News Round-Up
26 July 2024
Government Has Just Declared War on Free Speech
26 July 2024
by Toby Young
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".
Tomorrow, Cambridge University's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology was suppose to return 116 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. But the Museum is now having second thoughts, reports Mike Wells in the Daily Sceptic.
Germany returned its Benin Bronzes to Nigeria last December on the understanding they’d be housed in a new museum in Benin. Instead, the Nigerian President has decided to give them to the king of Benin.
The President of Nigeria has transferred the Benin bronzes to the King of Benin as his personal property, despite him being heir to those who made them from the money which bought their slaves and a complete lack of standards.
Loudly though it demands restitution of ancient artefacts from Western museums, the Nigerian Government seems less concerned about the Benin Bronzes which it already owns. Where exactly are they?
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