Recently, I’ve shared some links to news about looting and destruction of cultural property in secure societies, which I’ve included here. I accept that “secure” and “insecure” are not perfect distinctions, but I also think that the differences between England and Bangladesh, or between Canada and Nigeria, are clear.
The scale and range of violence; the power of violent movements, the complicity of political and community authorities, the performance of law enforcement agencies; and the ability of civil society (from neighbourhoods to newspapers) to resist violence and achieve change; they’re all fundamentally different in secure and insecure societies.
Obviously, violence within secure societies is equally wrong, but it is not as urgent as violence within insecure societies. (I’ll continue to investigate the role of members of secure societies in looting and destruction in insecure societies, but) I’m not going to curate news on crimes against cultural property in secure societies anymore.
Still, as my “last” one shows, it may prove difficult not to share any more ever… USA: memorial to child victims of sexual abuse within church, including local victims, has been destroyed, again.
damage to and destruction of cultural property in secure societies
Australia
- Australia: fire, Morris Crescent Mosque, Whyalla – no previous problem in community but suspected hate crime (@newscomauHQ‘s story moved or removed)
Canada
- spray-painted graffiti of ‘racial slurs and hate symbols‘ on Guelph Muslim Society’s mosque
England
- a London anarchist newspaper/publisher was attacked; @Freedom_Paper was firebombed (via @julesmattsson)
- EDL member Diane Scrimshaw vandalises mosque, shares photos, boasts about it in print…
- EDL supporter damaged mosque… spray-painted racist graffiti… and misspelled ‘England’
France
- France: Nazi (swastika), French nationalist and Islamophobic graffiti on mosque in Ozoir-La-Ferriere
- France: Star of David graffiti on two mosques in Besançon, but ‘unhappy worshipper’ (from mosque) may’ve done it
Germany
- plan to demolish part of East Side Gallery on Berlin Wall for hipster gentrification
New Zealand
- anti-Semitic/neo-Nazi graffiti; permanent damage to Auckland’s Jewish cemetery
USA
- vandalism, damage of at least 35 sculptures at Port Angeles Fine Arts Center (via @museumsecurity)
looting of cultural property in secure societies
England
- the hunt for organised crime gang bosses behind robberies of museum collections in Britain
- ‘Londoner sentenced to 18 months in jail after trying to steal a rhino head worth c. £500,000 from Norwich Castle Museum’ (@savetherhino)
- @EnglishHeritage condemn Peter Cox and Darren West as ‘thieves using metal detectors‘ at Chester Farm (via @BAJRjobs)
- metal detectors Peter Cox and Darren West have been sentenced for (heritage) theft; Judge Richard Bray wants a law against cultural theft
France
- Unterlinden Museum’s violent Neo-Nazi former guard Emmanuel Rist convicted of theft from the museum; @artinfodotcom questions the museum’s background check, but Rist was not convicted of violence/destruction before employment
Germany
- metal-detecting & looting of conflict archaeology, which sells best (via @Archaeologe2_0)
Norway
- second theft of ‘shopping list‘ of Chinese antiquities from Bergen Museum, Permanenten Vestlandske Kunstindustrimuseum; @ARCA_artcrime‘s Noah Charney suggests Chinese nationalists may’ve ‘liberated’ Bergen Museum’s antiquities [though @DorothyKing thought it was 'more likely it was seen as a soft target by thieves - frankly none of the items look important']
- Irish Traveller gang suspected of theft of Chinese antiquities from Bergen
- Bergen Kunst Museen robbery information, including @brand_arthur‘s early suspicions and Art Hostage‘s
USA
- Jack Harelson, Oregon looter of thousands of Indigenous American artefacts and would-be hitman-hirer, has died
- 37 religious artefacts stolen from Holy Transfiguration Russian Orthodox Church, Hollywood, USA
- Harness Racing Museum’s historic trophies stolen; to be listed on Art Loss Register(?) to prevent sale on open market
