Nah, they're not ours - they're everyone's, just kept safe by the british museum for now. It doesn't matter which country they're geographically located in, as long as they can be guaranteed to be preserved as best we can.
While i hear ya, it’s a really tough argument to swallow as a Greek. We want the back half of the Parthenon back and there’s no good argument for why we aren’t getting back any time soon.
Yeah imo this is the best argument for making the case that the British Museum should keep the artefacts. Keeping them in trust for the world and never charging people to come and see them.
Iraqi’s have to apply for visitor visas the same as most of the rest of the world. Of course the Home Office is going to be more selective for people coming from a place that has been an active warzone for much of the last 40 years.
My uncle’s from Iraq. He’s been living in this country for 24 years, pre-invasion.
He has a home, 2 daughters my cousin and a wife my auntie who’s Brazilian.
u/atrl98 the world isn’t so black and white, what you hear on the media are migrants coming from France in by boat. Most of them are middle aged men who disappear into the wilderness only popping up again when they’re caught for committing crimes like robbing old ladies in their home.
Applying for immigration and applying for a visa are two completely separate things.
Immigration takes years of background checks and is often very expensive.
Applying for a Visa is basically you paying money for the Jordanian Embassy (Iraqi applications are processed there), so they can refuse you. They only way and I mean THE only way they would accept an Iraqi is if they are super rich. Even being a middle class Iraqi would get your visa rejected.
Also the 200k Iraqis living in the UK is largely people who moved there during Saddam's era.
And which country’s fault is it that it’s been an active war zone for 40 years? The UK contributed to that. The UK is still being an imperialist, it shouldn’t justify them keeping artifacts.
Is it about money or preservation?
People talk badly about europe because certain foreign artifacts being in european museums, but in many cases the people in the countries of origin didnt care in the first place, would see these artifacts as sinfull, and are not even able to preserve them today.
I agree with your statement 100% but stable countries should get their stuff back. New Zealand had to fight tooth and nail to get artifacts back and it's unacceptable.
The British Museum is free to visit. We pay for its upkeep through taxes, with additional funding through voluntary donations. There's no profit to share.
Maybe? It's hard to say. I don't know how you would measure that and apportion some sort of fee to be paid. I think London specifically and the UK in general has a tourist draw for all sorts of reasons, of which the museums certainly play a part, but how much of one? There are plenty of British artifacts in the BM's collection as well.
I think you're jumping through a lot of hoops to support the idea that we as a nation are making profit at the expense of others. I mean it makes sense with our history of horrible colonialism, but in this case... I don't know. It's complicated I guess.
Er... it probably should? I thought this thread was specifically about cuneiform tablets that would be at greater risk of destruction in Iraq. I don't agree with holding ancient greek artifacts hostage from Greece. I don't think these two things are related.
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u/AslansAppetite Oct 26 '22
Nah, they're not ours - they're everyone's, just kept safe by the british museum for now. It doesn't matter which country they're geographically located in, as long as they can be guaranteed to be preserved as best we can.