Re: [Ancientartifacts] Re: De Montebello responds

Dave Welsh reckons I have
> improperly abstracted a comment that absolutely
> must be taken in context.<
Nothing "improper" in assuming that all readers who actually read what you
posted here fully understand its CONTEXT.

The issue of the return of cultural property that had been exported from its
territory of origin prior to the adoption of the 1970 UNESCO Convention has
indeed an ethical and moral dimension besides the legal one which dealers
like yourself continually return to. (Like "Eftis" on the Unidroit list
today who proclaims its time to "realize that double standards cannot be
held....". Yeah right, is that who I think it is?)

I thought De Montabello's sly and patronising response to Mr Opoku was
absolutely disgusting and mean, and I am fully glad that Kwame Opoke's
answer totally thrashed him:
http://www.museum-security.org/wordpress/?p=266. De Montabello should be
ashamed of himself that he has not the guts to answer the points
straightforwardly but instead attempts to deflect the argument with CHEAP
tactics.

> one sided ideology-based arguments (such as those > advanced by Dr. Opoku)
> <
I think in his answer he more than convincingly enough showed that its the
New York supremecist that's in error here. Let us also explore Sine ire et
studio what "ideologies" lie behind the US arguments. They are no less
acquisitionist and retentionist than those of the "other" (the foreigners)
they criticise. This is just as much about identities as anything those most
un-American foreigners concoct (it is claimed) to defend their own. It's not
just "the Africans" (personalised by the collecting lobby as "Kwame Opoku")
and "Italians" (personalised by "Francesco Rutelli" - see Tompa's
unenlightening blog) who have "ideologies" which the portable antiquities
serve. Mote and beam and all that....

As for "where this ends", instead of accepting De Montabello's version of
"what Kwame Opoku wants", try reading Opoku's own words, where he states
quite clearly the way he sees this. I do not see what the Roman Catholic
Church has to do with ANY of this, or Italy. I think you are raising
deliberately ridiculous paper tiger arguments here, which is nothing like
what is actually being discussed...

Paul Barford



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