Small Victories in the Restitution "Wars"

Of the few small victories during this past decade of renewedscholarly activism, public pressure, and tactical diplomacy about the Ancient Benin royal objects in western museums and collections, the most significant, strategically, perhaps, is getting major keepers of these treasures to formally acknowledge them as LOOTED by including this historical fact in the object labels. It used to be that their provenance began with names of the first white men to inherit or purchase the stolen objects from whom they made their way into the museum. 

Standing in the British Museum's Sainsbury Africa Galleries, and eavesdropping on many a visitors' judgments on the ethics of imperial looting as they surveyed the display, I am confident that the final word on the long term fate of the captive objects will be different. May be not in my lifetime, but some day after.

In the meantime, now that Labour is power in the UK, I hope they do not continue the awful attitude of the Conservatives who saw the matter of restitution as their cheap football for their impoverished culture wars. For the trustees of US museums, it is high time they get off their post-imperial high horses!