Dear Don and ARLIS/NA listserv members:
What would you do to replace your cultural heritage?
Would you wait for the support of ARLIS/NA, UNESCO,
and the FBI? This may develop into a case before the
U.S. courts, World Court or the European Union. I am
not familiar with international law but theses war
crimes could be the grounds for a litigation suit
against coalition countries/and their cultural
institutions.
i.e. If Yale University, has a copy of a manuscript
similar to one burned or looted in an Iraqi Library,
could Yale University be forced to give up this
manuscript to compensate the negligence of our forces
in Iraq? Could an order be directed to a U.S.
institution by the World Court?
This could be expanded to include include materials
stolen during the Gulf War and colonialization? If
Holocaust suvivors can win their suit against Swiss
banks, Iraqis may have a case as well.
Will this be the begining of a new world order for
librarians? How far would you go to restore a
collection and why would you stop at one war, why not
try to repatriotize (authenticate? not sure what word
to use here) all of it.
Stephanie Sueppel
--- Don Spicehandler <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> i agree with you partially, dr. peniston, though
> your impartiality (in your
> mention of damascus and teheran) seems to be open to
> debate... why aren't we
> mentioning the looting done buy the british museum,
> the louvre, and the met (for
> example), the destruction, for example, of jewish
> material culture in many a
> region?
>
> i agree completely with you about the
> inappropriateness of political campaigning,
> though your choice of cities is political by
> implication.... let's return
> -everything- to everybody, no? let's get real
>
> -don spicehandler, nyc
>
>
>
> William Peniston wrote:
>
> > As professional, we are in charge of the
> acquisitions, organization,
> > preservation, reference, and management of
> information in a variety of
> > fomats on the art and culture of different
> civilizations. We ought to be
> > concerned about the looting of the National Museum
> in Baghdad and the
> > burring of the National Library as well. This
> listserv is an appropriate
> > place for the dissemination of information
> regarding those events.
> > However, I am not convinced that it is an
> appropriate place for
> > expressing our personal political opinions as to
> whether George W. Bush is
> > "a great president" or "a madman". I am even less
> convinced that it is an
> > appropriate place to begin a campaign to reelect
> him or to defeat him at the
> > polls in 2004. Nevertheless, I am leery about
> censoring anyone's personal
> > political opinion on these subjects or any other
> subjects.
> > Having said that, I do think that it is
> appropriate for Arlis/NA's
> > Public Policy Committee to make a statement about
> these recent events. I
> > would urge it to address three concerns:
> > 1. the looting of the National Museum, the
> burning of the National
> > Library, and the threat to other cultural
> institutions in Iraq;
> > 2. the threat to the art and culture of
> other cities and countries
> > in the region, particularly the museums and
> libraries of Damascus and
> > Tehran;
> > 3. the effect that this war has already
> had on our economy, which
> > has resulted in the decrease of public funds and
> private donations for the
> > arts and humanities here at home, especially as
> they effect museums and
> > libraries.
> > Although all three of these points are
> highly political, they are
> > nevertheless extremely important to all of us as
> professionals.
> > I know that the Public Policy Committee is
> writing a statement and I
> > look forward to reading it once it is published.
> >
> > William A. Peniston, Ph.D.
> > Manager of Library and Archives
> > The Newark Museum
> > 49 Washington Street
> > Newark, NJ 07102
> > Telephone: (973) 596-6625
> > Fax: (973) 642-0459
> > E-mail: [log in to unmask]
> >
> >
>
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>
>
__________________________________________________________________
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> For information about joining ARLIS/NA see:
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> subscription requests, etc)
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> Scannell) at: [log in to unmask]
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