Saturday 4 May 2019

How Long Can the British Museum Ignore Key Issues?


Time to STOP the
Bloomsbury manspreaders
In the UK, campaigners are launching guerrilla guided tours of the British Museum in a protest against alleged colonialism (Craig Simpson, "Guerrilla tours to protest climate change and ‘looted’ British Museum treasures' Independent May 2 2019). 
Protesters will offer unofficial tours pointing out treasures they claim are being hoarded from indigenous communities around the world. Campaigners have further claimed that the museum is accepting money from a company which is contributing to climate change. The Parthenon Marbles are among the ancient works being highlighted by the campaign group BP Or Not BP, which takes issue with the international oil giant. Palestinian, Iraqi, Greek and Indigenous Australian activists will offer their take on the alleged colonial “hoarding” of objects inside the British Museum in London.  [scare quotes in original PMB]
Stolen Culture this way
BP Or Not BP argue that 'it is time for the British Museum to stop hoarding colonially-seized treasures from communities crying out for their return', and that 'the director and trustees of the British Museum can’t ignore these issues much longer'.
“They need to start acting in the public interest and make amends for their colonial past, not cling grimly on to looted artefacts and a climate-wrecking sponsor.”  BP Or Not BP has previously claimed objects in the British Museum have been looted from Iraq and protested the ownership of an Indigenous Australian objects.  The group has claimed that BP is a polluting company and public institutions should not take their money. The group will now protest for the return of marble statues from the Parthenon in Athens as part of the protest tour.

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