Return of the Benin bronzes

[MrJuice]

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/nov/15/...

Where does this end? Britain looted a lot more places than just Benin and their bronzes.

[randlemarcus]

Seems a fairly balanced article, subject matter considered.

The bronzes are a fairly easy decision - we nicked em, it's time to return them to the nation that is the decendant of the nation we nicked em from. Fair enough.

The removal of benefactor statues/memorials is more tricky. Personally, I'd go with the return (with interest) of the capital they donated, as keeping the money also means keeping the obligations, no?

[Jonathan27]

Who knows where it will end, but it has to start somewhere. We stole a lot more than just this, isn't a very strong argument against returning a stolen item.

[randlemarcus]

We should definitely give Wales back. Scotland is more difficult, we still have the receipt for that one.

[Jinx]

Return them but only after charging for their care and upkeep - unlikely they would have survived if we hadn't benevolently taken them for safe keeping

[David_M]

Jonathan27 said:

...We stole a lot more than just this, isn't a very strong argument against returning a stolen item.

This.

[konark]

Jinx said:

Return them but only after charging for their care and upkeep - unlikely they would have survived if we hadn't benevolently taken them for safe keeping

Exactly. We didn't nick them we took them into protective custody for future generations.

[ScotHill]

[abzmike]

I did chuckle at an article I saw earlier that suggested the Pyramids would have been in the British Museum if they could have found a boat big enough.