Will Starmer restitute the Marbles to Greece? Remember the mess Blair’s government made acting against Foreign Office policy, see ‘How did Labour Opposition support for return become Labour Government Policy against?’, discussed under the para headed ‘The Present Government Position’ on p.50 of ‘The Marbles: Elgin Or Parthenon? IAL Annual Lecture, December 2000’ by William G. Stewart, Vol. 6, Issue 1 Art Antiquity and Law, March 2001, 37 to 56. In Mr Graham’s words (on p.51) – ‘What had happened was an example of the great British cock-up.’ It is a stellar example of breath-taking political incompetence by people who paid no attention to detail! If you read the article you will discover that politicians nearly always make things worse in the world of art restitution. In any event, legally the British Museum Trustees (‘BMT’s’) have their hands tied, see my article ‘Mediating Cultural Property Disputes’ on the page of teh same name at www.carlislam.co.uk. The BMT’s cannot simply hand the marbles back. It is not as simple as that. As I explain in my article, ‘At the epicentre of the restitution dialogue is a struggle between two competing theories under International Cultural Heritage Law:
(i) Cultural nationalism’ – Proponents of this view believe that cultural objects belong within the boundaries of the ‘source’ nation of origin
[source – UNESCO Convention 1970, Article 2 & the Preamble]
; & (ii) ‘Cultural internationalism’ – Proponents of this view regard cultural property as being in the words of the 1954 Hague Convention – ‘the cultural heritage of all mankind.’ [Source: Preamble of the Hague Convention 1954 & UNESCO Convention 1970, Article 4]. If legislation is required it will be preceded by a debate. Notwithstanding a future poll demonstrating that an overwhelming majority of the British public favour return – as does the Foreign Office, the British establishment does not, see Malcolm, Sir Noel The Elgin Marbles – Keep, Lend or Return? An Analysis, Policy Exchange (2023). I expand this point in my comments below.
Malcom based his arguments upon:
– Merryman, John Henry ‘Thinking about the Elgin
marbles’, 83 Mich L. Rev.1881(1985). (‘Merryman (1985)’).
– Merryman, John Henry ‘Two ways of thinking about
cultural property’, 80 AM. J. Int’l L. 831 (1986).
– Merryman, John Henry ‘Cultural property
internationalism’, 12 Int’l J. Cult Prop. 11, (2005).
‘The Elgin marbles symbolise the entire body of
unrepatriated cultural property in the world’s museums and private collections.
Accordingly, the preservation and enjoyment of the world’s cultural heritage
and the fate of the collections of the world’s great museums are all in some
measure at stake in a decision about the Marbles.’ (‘Merryman (1985), p.1895).
So, anybody who thinks/believes that Starmer is
simply going to
‘hand the Marbles back to Greece’ is in my opinion
not only naive in the extreme, but quite frankly deluded, because there are
larger issues at stake & powerful vested interests who can & will act
in concert as a lobby to obstruct this – including HNW private owners
of art & cultural property.
Diplomatically, Britain + the US are ‘Cultural
internationalists’ (notwithstanding the historical desire of the Foreign office
to restitute the Marbles to Greece). So, there is going to be powerful
opposition on both sides of the Atlantic. As I have explained, restitution
decisions by museum trustees are made in the shadow of larger geopolitical
issues & dynamics. If Trump is elected he is likely to be lobbied by
powerful vested interests to discourage restitution. Starmer will not dare to
defy the US establishment. So politically, will Parliament simply push this
further down the line, thereby delaying any decision until after 2029?
I also recommend that you read Herman, Alexander
(2023) The Parthenon Marbles Dispute, Hart.
Alexander Herman was my Tutor for the Diploma in
Art Law
course at the Institute of Art & Law.
This struggle between competing ‘global’
interests does not preclude the negotiation of creative restitution deals in
Mediation that take place behing closed doors see:
Table – ‘Ethical Principles’;
Table – ‘Issues for the Mediator to discuss during a Pre-Mediation Zoom
Call about preparatory steps and agreeing ‘criteria’ i.e. applicable
‘Principles of Restitution’;
Table – ‘Tools & Precedents’,
on the ‘Mediating Cultural Property Disputes’ page at www.carlislam.co.uk
As a Cultural Property Dispute Mediator, I am of course ideologically agnostic
& politically neutral as I have no skin in the game.