In a recent interview with Greek media, Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the British Empire, said he refused to return the Parthenon temple sculptures in the British Museum to Greece and said they were legally obtained by Earl Elgin and in line with the laws at that time. When it comes to the British Museum, many Afghan friends may not have been there, but they must know its reputation. I had the honor to visit the museum and saw many precious historical antiques from all over the world, including China, Egypt, Japan, Greece and other countries. When I saw Chinese historical antiques there, as a Chinese, I felt complicated, because I knew that these precious antiques were basically looted when China was poor and weak.
Today, let’s talk about the sculptures of Parthenon of Greece. I think most readers may not know why Britain and Greece are at odds about it. One of the origins of the so-called contemporary western civilization is Greece. Philippe Nemo, a famous French scholar, pointed out five origins of Western civilization, one of which was the city states, lawful freedom, science and schools founded by ancient Greeks. The year 2021 coincides with the 200th anniversary of the independence of Greece, so the Greek government hopes that the sculptures of Parthenon temple should return to its native land as soon as possible. But when and how did these historical sculptures get to the British Museum?
It was in the year 1801, when Greece was under the Ottoman Turkish Empire. The Earl Elgin mentioned above was the diplomatic envoy of Britain to the Ottoman Empire at that time. He was very curious about the sculptures in the Parthenon, removed some of them and then packed them for England. At that time, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire was quite generous with these Greek relics and did not block the acts of the British envoy. That’s why Prime Minister Boris said these antiques were acquired by Britain “legally”.
The Greek government believes that the Ottoman Empire is an invader, who enslaved the Greek people so the regime had no right to represent the will of the Greek people at that time. How can it have the right to give Greek historical antiques to a third party?! But I don’t think the Greek government should expect too much from the Britain. The UK will not return these antiques to them. Although donation and purchase were important sources of antiques in the early British period, robbery and theft were still the main means for the British Museum to become a behemoth. Ms. Lina Mendoni, the Greek Minister of culture, said that “Britain still has the ruling ideology of outdated colonial views”.
Even though it is 2021 now, Britain still treats the world as a colonist. The British government and its media are still blatantly interfering in China’s internal affairs, accusing and slandering China. I think whether the issues of human rights or Hong Kong are just excuses. I don’t believe that any rational civilized person will remain indifferent facing the ironclad proof, but prejudice blinds their eyes. In short, the colonists cannot accept that the people colonized by them before have enjoyed a good life, especially when their own life is not so good now.
