Thread by @lmhaertel

The #Parthenon and #UbirajaraBelongstoBR: a thread on old excuses and bad faith.

I've been studying restitution disputes over cultural heritage for years and one thing that never ceases to amaze me is how relentlessly repetitive and fallacious the "arguments" for retention are.+

As an example, let's compare one specific aspect of the longest-standing restitution claim in the world (over the Parthenon Sculptures) with the recent debate on the restitution of the #Ubirajarajubatus fossil to Brazil. @elginism @BCRPM +

In my Master's Thesis, I analyzed Greece's claim against the British Museum (BM) and the UK under the International Human Rights Law framework. For that, I had to deconstruct a recurrent argument for rejection: that Lord Elgin had authorization to remove/export the sculptures.+

The argument goes: Elgin obtained a written authorization (a "firman") to remove and export the Parthenon Sculptures, issued in 1801 by the competent Ottoman authority (Greece was under Ottoman rule). It is deeply flawed for a myriad of reasons I explored in the thesis... +

... but let's assume for argument's sake that the surviving versions of the firman do reflect the content of a real contemporary document. Under Ottoman Law (early 1800s), the Sultan had absolute control over #antiquities and only he could authorize such removal. +

Nonetheless, the document relied upon by the UK/BM is signed by Caimacan Seged Abdullah, an acting Grand Vizier who, despite his high status in the Ottoman Government, had no authority to issue a firman - and definitely not one concerning export of antiquities. +

Likewise, when arguing for the legality of the "Ubirajara"'s export from Brazil (check nationalgeographic.com/science/articl… for context), the authors that described the species claimed they had a written export authorization by an agent of the National Dept. for Mineral Production (DNPM).+

The claim similarly ignores that Brazilian Law forbids any export of holotypes (as the "Ubirajara") and that, even if it were a regular fossil, the competent authority would be the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (@CNPq_Oficial). But there is more.+

The "firman" describes what Elgin asked to do (no sign of export or the sculptures) and states that the Government agrees with his requests. The UK/BM's claim relies upon one quote: “[no one should] hinder them from taking away any pieces of stone with inscriptions or figures”.+

The malicious and decontextualized interpretation of this quote ignores that, just above, the document presents an express restriction to the authorization: “particularly as there is no harm in the said figures and edifices being thus viewed, contemplated, and designed”.+

The sculptures were affixed to the Parthenon and an integral part of the building. There is no way the document allowed for its dismantling. This quote, when contextualized, clearly refers to stones and objects dug from rubble and dirt on the Parthenon’s surroundings.+

Thus, EVEN IF we were to deem this document as reliable, there is no way it authorized the export of the sculptures. What probably happened is that they left Greece in packages with misleading content descriptions (and under heavy bribes, but that's another story...).+

Here, another parallel with the #Ubirajarajubatus may be drawn. As explained by @alinemghilardi (revistapesquisa.fapesp.br/no-rastro-dos-…), the "authorization" presented by the authors does not mention anything about definitively exporting the materials and does not specify the boxes' content.+

In her words, "as it was written, the authors could continue to describe new species for the next 20 years alleging that all holotypes were inside of it". (In any event, the narrative by the authors was considered untrue by German authorities - also another story).+

~100 years separate Greece's first claim over the #Parthenonsculptures and the #UbirajarabelongstoBR campaign. Apparently, not enough to come up with better excuses for illegal and unethical behavior. Their arguments are old, weak, and offensive. We are ready to fight them all.