The Museum Security Network has started a discussion over the appointment of St. Louis Art Museum director Brent R. Benjamin as a member of the Cultural Property Advisory Committee. "Doing so the USA will defame itself internationally." Ton Cremers, one of the Museum Security Network's moderators and creator of the original Museum Security Network mailing list protests. The St. Louis Art Museum has been criticized by Zahi Hawass, secretary general for the Supreme Council of Antiquities in Egypt, for "not returning the mask and has threatened to turn the dispute over to authorities."
Members of the coin collecting and lobbying community have called the appointment "positive news" and "as protecting the rights of collectors." Are the political powers of lobbying winning out over issues concerning cultural property?
Read about the controversy here and on the LOOTING MATTERS blog, in which David Gill asks, "Does the Bush administration mean to send out a signal that it does not care about claims on cultural property in North American museums?"
SAFE hopes this appointment does not represent a change in direction for CPAC. To date, CPAC has not turned down a single MOU request from any country, a laudable record among those of us who are concerned about stopping looting worldwide.
Photo: St. Louis Commerce Magazine
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Brent Benjamin to join CPAC: "An outrageous appointment..."
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7 comments:
Regardless of how and when that mask actually left Egypt, the fact is that it was discovered on a state-funded excavation in 1952 and is documented as having gone to the Sakkara storerooms. Mr Benjamin claims that the Egyptian Authorities can provide "no documentation" that "it is stolen" - but they can provide documentation precisely how it came to be where they say it should be. So if we are quibbling about quality of documentation, can the US museum?
We are not talking here about something from some unknown farmers' clandestine grave robbing brought back from a rich banker's Nile cruise in the 1880s, but an artefact documented (as even SLAM admits) as having come from a recent state-funded excavation. It was recovered not by some foreign expedition, but an Egyptian one. It belongs to the Egyptian people.
Once these facts became clear in 2006 (and it was Tom Cremers who started the ball rolling, and Benjamin was then in the post), the question should not have been "whether" SLAM should return it, but how best to resolve this. SLAM's foot dragging really does the image of US museums (and thus the US itself) no favours.
This is why one asks how well President Bush was informed by his advisors about who he should appoint as his advisors. Did this happen by accident or Presidential design?
From the comments I have seen in the web recently, I wonder how well public opinion in North America is informed about the background of this case. Some of the dealers and collectors on discussion lists are coming out with some rather ignorant statements in response to Cremers.
Dear Paul Barford and David Gill:
First of all, I want to thank you both for your informative blogs, which I have been reading with great interest.
I have also been reading some of the other blogs and websites by the coin collectors, dealers and lobbyists. May I say that it would be an oversimplification (or a much too convenient one) to attribute this appointment to yet another misstep from the bungling Bush administration? Here's why:
-- It overstates the effectiveness of the president, particularly this current one, who has been a lame duck for a while now.
-- More importantly, one risks undermining the strength and tenacity of the lobbyists in Washington who want folks just like Mr. Benjamin in this position. The lobbyists are the most vocal opponents to CPAC. NY's Senator Chuck Schumer was awarded a medal by these folks for "his valuable assistance to his New York constituents in the arts and collecting community when concerns arose over the State Department’s handling of a very broad request for import restrictions purportedly made by the People’s Republic of China (PRC)." See the connection?
Having observed these debates for a while, I've noticed that while the opponents make no bones about their complaints, the archaeological authority is curiously silent, except for a handful of people (like yourselves), who become immediate targets of attack by the opponents.
But this is all fair game, this is garden-variety lobbying. And guess what? It works, as you can see with this "positive" appointment of Brent Benjamin, an individual who obviously needs a refresher on how to respect someone else's property.
I don't know about archaeology, but I do know quite a bit about American politics and how they work, and my recommendation is not to focus or put all the blame on a lame duck president and his administration (or what's left of it) but ask this question instead:
Are the archaeologists wiling to fight as hard as the lobbyists?
David Ian
Mr. Ian said:
"NY's Senator Chuck Schumer was awarded a medal by these folks for "his valuable assistance to his New York constituents in the arts and collecting community when concerns arose over the State Department’s handling of a very broad request for import restrictions purportedly made by the People’s Republic of China (PRC)." See the connection?"
Uh, no, actually I don't. Please explain to me how a medal awarded to a Democrat and constant critic of the Bush administration influences President Bush to appoint Mr. Benjamin--I'm dying to learn more.
Voz Earl
Mr. Earl:
You asked me to explain "how a medal awarded to a Democrat and constant critic of the Bush administration influences President Bush to appoint Mr. Benjamin". I realize that I could be more clear, thanks.
I was speaking to David Gill and Paul Barford to suggest that they not underestimate the power of lobbyists, who work hard to influence politicians to further their cause to "protect the rights of the collectors" and oppose import restrictions.
More importantly, I was wondering out loud what the archaeologists will do about this, if they truly stand behind these restrictions.
What I said has nothing to do with who's Democrat or Republican. When any Senator urges the State Department on behalf of those who lobby him (along with others) and China's request for import restrictions is still "pending" after these years it seems clear to me that effective lobbying brings results.
One can only speculate that the appointment of Brent Benjamin has something to do with effective lobbying. But this is just my opinion. I don't know this. Why not ask the lobbyists who give the medals? After all, they don't seem shy about what they do.
David Ian
For David Ian
Thank you for these comments. I am aware of the work of the Washington lobbysists and I comment on them here.
Archaeology Professor Clemency Coggins, who served on the U.S. committee involved in drafting the 1970 UNESCO convention, and worked many years for the U.S. ratification and implementation of the Convention, sent us the message below for posting. Professor Coggins also served on the US Cultural Property Advisory committee for its first decade. This was originally posted on the Museum Security Network:
"In reply to a 10/14 MSN message from David Ian - an historical precedent: The Archaeological Institute of America lobbied, deploying unpaid academics, from about 1973 to 1983, as did the Society for American Archaeology, and the American Association of Museums of those days, for the passage of the UNESCO Cultural Property enabling legislation.
The same, or analogous, group of dealers, museum curators and collectors lobbied against it more successfully for the ten years. Their principal congressional support came from Senator Patrick Moynihan of New York, generally a fairly liberal Democrat. Senator Schumer has apparently assumed the role as representative of this same powerful N.Y.C. constituency.
C. Coggins"
In Egypt renews calls for the return of mummy mask David Gill of Looting Matters thinks that "SLAM, and its director Brent Benjamin, need to press the gallery where the mask was purchased for authenticated documentation."
Will this controversy have any effect on Mr. Benjamin's appointment to CPAC?
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