Monday 3 September 2012

"No Comment" for CPO


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An insight into how the antiquities lobby works is given by a recent post of the Washington Lobboblogger "Cultural Property Observer (sic)". The author of this "resource" insists that a recent report by the the Cyprus Mail about the renewal of the MOU with Cyprus is in some way "yet more evidence" (o conspiracy, conspiracy!!) that such MOU’s are unconnected with the foreign policy role of the US and its desire to play fair with its neighbours, but are instead (o conspiracy, conspiracy!!) "little more than special interest programs for archaeologists, cultural bureaucrats, and law enforcement". This is because the newspaper report says the MOU:
  [...] provides for the [...] protection of the Cypriot museums [...].
Peter Tompa (lawyer) blurts out: "I’m not aware of any specific benefit to museums [...]" implying the Cyprus Mail knows something about the MOUs that is hidden from the rest of us (o conspiracy, conspiracy!!). Perhaps it is in direct contact with the "Elders of Archaeon" themselves?
In response to what he wrote, I posted a (perfectly civilly-phrased) comment to his blog about that five or six days ago which he seems unable to accept and publish.

There's the bit of the  text of the 1970 UNESCO Convention about objects stolen from museums and collections (articles 7(b) and 8) and I wrote a comment on the corresponding bit of the US legislation (Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act) which implements it - that is Sections 2607 and 2609 for those who want to look up what Mr Tompa declared that he was "not aware" of (See the Act as Public Law 97-446; or as 19 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.)

 But why waste the opportunity for another conspiracy theory about the secretive Gubn'mint in league with goodness-knows-who hiding the truth from citizen collectors? After all, how else can the dealers' lobbyists rally their support if they cannot do it by telling it like it really is?

2 comments:

Cultural Property Observer said...

Been on vacation. I've posted your comment and a response.

Paul Barford said...

Welcome back, been out in the Badlands looking for dinosaur bones?

So you are saying if I turned up at the US border with bags of artefacts assuring ICE officers that they'd all been stolen from Museums, they'd wave me through as not coming under the MOUs?

 
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