LONDON, NEW YORK, FRANKFURT / MAIN, 1 September, 2023
The Restitution Study Group (RSG) is following with great interest the substantial fallout from the scandal surrounding the alleged theft of antiquities from the British Museum by employees of the UK institution.
The explanation given by British Museum Chairman George Osbourne that reports of criminal activity were not followed up by those responsible at the British Museum due to “groupthink” chimes much more widely with the RSG than Mr Osbourne can imagine: the RSG has been trying to alert UK, US and German museums, government bodies and cultural representatives that the Benin Bronzes, forged from blood metal paid to the Kingdom of Benin by Western slave traders, cannot justifiably be repatriated to the slave trader descendants against the express wishes of descendants of their captives in the Americas, the UK and continental Europe.
Esther Stanford-Xosei of RSG UK in London said: “To do so would be to delegitimise the claims of those of us whose African ancestors were traded as chattel for the material from which the Benin Bronzes are made. To state that this would amount to a moral outcome against our wishes in the UK is utterly absurd and perverse. On behalf of RSG UK, I call upon UK institutions to smell the coffee and stop this terrible “groupthink”. This approach is a deeply neo-colonial stance not worthy of Western institutions in the 21st Century.”
Deadria Farmer-Paellmann, Executive Director of RSG New York said: “We have been trying to engage with the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, Aberdeen, Glasgow Life and Glasgow City Council and the Horniman Museum for many months now. Some have simply told us they need more time to respond to our lawyers’ letters while others have dug in their heels and appear desperately to be clinging to the fantasy that they are performing a moral act by repatriating these objects. The attitudes from Glasgow, the Horniman and Aberdeen have been particularly shocking. These are of course the institutions who have virtue-signalled particularly vigorously and are finding it hard to perform a u-turn especially in a climate where “groupthink” really does determine all else. Who cares about the facts, if groupthink allows you to ignore them?”
Sheila Camaroti of RSG Germany added: “From our perspective, the notion of “groupthink” is particularly apt. German institutions do not speak as individual institutions but are all bound together with the lamentable decisions taken by the German Foreign Ministry, the Ministry of Culture and so-called experts, none of whom appear to have the first idea about restitution practice and policy.”
The RSG is happy to provide further details on the above matter. For further information, please contact: rsgincorp1@gmail.com
** Photo by Karen Wallace
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RSG lawyer, Till Vere-Hodge, on Osbourne’s “groupthink” – video
Restitution Study Group 