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Iraqi legacy: saving what is left to saveAmerican troops must monitor the Iraqi borders better to prevent Iraqi cultural artefacts from being smuggled out of the country, according to Donny George, director of the National Museum in Baghdad, who spoke at a conference of international experts about the Iraqi cultural legacy. On 29 April experts met for the second time in London, at the initiative of Unesco and the British Museum. Curators of the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the Pergamon museum in Berlin, the Louvre in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum in New York and the British Museum in London discussed how they could best help their colleagues in Iraq. At the beginning of May the experts will go to Iraq to assess the damage and draw up plans for restoration. Museums in Baghdad, Mosul and other cities in Iraq were plundered last month. The National Museum, the largest archaeological museum in Baghdad and the most important museum in the Middle East, suffered the worst damage. The museum was a storehouse for objects from Babylonian, Assyrian, Persian and Islamic cultures, covering a history of thousands of years. The area that is now called Iraq is the cradle of our civilisation. Even before the outbreak of the war, a group of archaeologists called for these antiquities to be protected (see Current, March 2003). The National Museum was spared during the bombing, but American soldiers were not able to keep out plunderers. In a brief time more than a hundred thousand sculptures, vases and other irreplaceable objects were stolen or destroyed. According to the art experts, organised crime was responsible for the first wave of plundering. The Iraqi National library was set on fire by plunderers and many priceless manuscripts were lost. Immediately after the plundering, Unesco issued a call to monitor museums and cultural institutions. It also called for a ban on transport and trade in Iraqi cultural artefacts. Moreover, a database must be created as quickly as possible containing all the data regarding the Iraqi art heritage. This way art dealers and customs agents can check to see where an object came from. Martin Sullivan, Bush’s most important cultural consultant,
resigned in protest against American passivity. More information: Women’s film festival in Senegal At the beginning of April, Senegal was host to the first edition
of the women’s film festival Films-femmes-Afrique. With twenty
films and a number of debates, the festival brought a number of
ticklish questions up for discussion, such as the practice of marrying
girls off, marrying girls off at too young an age and circumcision.
There was a plea for better education for girls, a better position
for women in society and for peace. The films submitted were made
by both men and women. To attract as large a public as possible,
all the showings were free. Competition for African comic books The Italian magazine Africa e mediterraneo is conducting a competition
for the best African comic book. The comic books must not have
been published yet and the makers must be of African descent
or must live in Africa. The winning authors are invited to attend
an exposition about their work. The publisher of Africa e mediterraneo,
Lai-Momo, handles special editions of the comic books and will
place the winning work on the magazine’s web site. Largest lesson ever calls attention to education for girls More than 1.3 million children from different continents and
time zones participated in the largest class ever held on 9 April.
The class now holds the world record for number of students.
In so doing the participants called attention to the 115 million
children, most of them girls, who receive no form of basic education
whatsoever. A girl who has been to school is better able to protect
her children and family against malnutrition and diseases such
as HIV/AIDS. Education for girls combats poverty, according to
UN secretary-general Kofi Anan. More information: Meagre foreign language skills bad for cultural cross-pollination In order to do business effectively with neighbouring countries,
Dutch people must also be prepared to communicate with those countries
in the future. This is the message presented in an open letter
to parents of school-age children from the French and German ambassadors
to the Netherlands. The two ambassadors are concerned about the
level of the second modern language as currently taught in secondary
schools. In their letter they appeal to parents to let school directors
know that education about and in modern foreign languages is extremely
important. "Commerce, trade and service provision are kept
running in part through language skills", the ambassadors
declare. In addition, they see languages as an instrument for developing
and maintaining cultures: "(…) there is also such a
thing as exchanging ideas among people, cultural cross-pollination
across borders, personal contacts and friendship. And to accomplish
this, our languages are necessary as a 'means of transportation'." More information: The open letter from the ambassadors "Government underestimates importance of ICT for development" The government underestimates the importance of information and
communication technology (ICT) for developing countries. There
is no specific policy in this domain, according to Hivos director
Manuela Monteiro, who also says that access to information
is access to power. More information: Hivos Protest in Syria against Prince Claus prize-winner He is regarded as the standard-bearer for freedom of speech and
is extremely popular among his countrymen. Ali Ferzat’s cartoons
are published by both the national Syrian press and foreign newspapers.
Last year the Prince
Claus Fund also decided that the work of the
Syrian cartoonist creates space for 'social comments and discussion'
and awarded him a prize. And yet, a group of Syrian citizens protested
against Ferzat in April. The protests focussed primarily on his
political cartoons about the Iraqi people and the Iraqi leader. More information: Library for children in Ethiopia On 5 April, EBCEF, the Ethiopian organisation for children’s
books and education, opened the first Ethiopian children’s
library. Sources: NRC Handelsblad, het Parool, Trouw, de Volkskrant, Africa e mediterraneo, AllAfrica.com, Unesco, Global Campaign for education, Aob, Hivos, Novib, Plan Nederland, Prins Claus Fonds, EBCEF, IICD, |
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