Egypt: Stop the Heritage Drain

Facebook pages keep springing up to "save" this or that and it's difficult to keep up with them. Here's one (actually started back in February 2013) which has some good photos of missing objects and other heritage crime.

حوش اللى بيتسرق منك - Stop the Heritage Drain

Here's the blurb:

Help us save our shared heritage Over the last two years, Egypt has fallen into a state of increasing chaos. Theft and looting of the country’s heritage have been rampant. Adding insult to injury, the ministries of culture and antiquities, in a (miserable) attempt to pretend that “everything is fine” do not publicize the thefts in order not to scare off prospective tourists.. They don’t want the bad PR you see… As Egyptians, we think it’s a bit too late for that. Through this page, citizens all around Egypt will report on thefts and looting of heritage sites and monuments. We will also collect photographs of stolen antiquities. We urge friends of Egyptian heritage around the world not to let our heritage disappear in the private collections housed in basements of the filthy rich, or in museums with a relaxed conscience. Help us kill this despicable market of stolen antiquities. Do note that we are not asking right now for the repatriation of this or that. We are simply asking you to help us stop as many thefts as possible, to throw a wrench in the workings of the illegal antiquities market. Our stolen artifacts travel to *your* countries. Help us by sharing our photos. Share our page, help us protect the heritage of Egypt that is being ravaged by none other than human greed. 

I thought I'd share this message from its owners:

Looting is not just lawless Egyptians destroying their heritage. It is about a thriving antiquities market in the west. Had there been no demand, chances are there would have been no supply. Private collectors, museums, galleries are often willing to accept objects with dubious certification or no certification at all. The certification ideally proves that they were taken out of the country before modern bans on the export of antiquities from Egypt were put into place.  What you can do to help? Share all our photos, and share them often. Share our page with friends or colleagues who work in related fields, or with your local museums that have Egyptology collections.  And be wary of buying "antiquities" online. These usually have fake certificates, or are fakes themselves!