If everyone could see this quite remarkably moving  Channel 5 documentary made by Nick Stadlen entitled 'Life is wonderful:Mandela's unsung heroes', it would bring home the enormity of the life lived by the very great George Bizos. Such tumultuous and cruel events were playing out in the land of my birth, South Africa, leading to the eventual euphoric release of, probably, one of the finest human beings of the twentieth century.

George Bizos was a figure who I salute as someone who lived a just and useful life, a great life serving others, his loathing of injustice feeding his very considerable energies to the end. He has always figured high on my list of those who I respect and admire from the bottom of my heart. There is an irony in my life that the nearest I ever got to him was his substitute in a film I made many years ago, A Dry White Season, in which he was played by Marlon Brando - another giant in his chosen field.

Those three words - "if needs be” - which George advised Nelson Mandela to insert into his famous speech at the Treason Trial, changed the outcome of history. If only George could have made the case for the Marbles return from inside a courtroom, the two sides of his life would have been perfectly joined. The small imperfection that remains must spur us all on to direct our energies towards the common goal George and all of us have to see one of his dreams realised.

George Bizos rest in peace.

Janet

George Bizos was a member of the BCRPM and a friend of Eleni Cubitt. He passed away on Wednesday 09 September 2020 in his home in Johannesburg South Africa, aged 92. Born on the 14th of November 1927 ( exact date was never known because municipal records were burned during the Nazi occupation of Greece), Gorge wrote in his autobiography that his mother, Anastasia Tomaras, recalled it as November the 14 th.

George at the age of 13 with his father Antonios, in May 1941 helped New Zealand soldiers to flee the Nazis on a fishing boat, which was rescued by a British warship, the H.M.S. Kimberley. They were taken to Egypt and from there George and his father sailed to South Africa. They arrived as refugees and at a time of racial oppression and pro-Nazi sentiment among some Afrikaners. The train taking them from Durban was diverted to a station in Johannesburg, where George stayed with a Greek family. He struggled to learn Afrikaans and English through school and went onto the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg to obtain his law degree in 1950 and by 1954 was admitted to the Johannesburg bar.

George and Oliver Tambo lead the A.N.C. representing clients in rural places, victims of apartheid. And so George came to be one of the lawyers representing Nelson Mandela.

Apartheid, a policy of racial discrimination and segregation, was used in South Africa from 1948 to 1994. It was destructive and inhuman as the laws decreed where people could live and be buried; which schools they could attend and what they might learn. Buses were segregated by race, and so were park benches, railroad stations, beaches and shops.

“In South Africa the courtroom was the last forum available to condemn oppressive policies and the deprivation of fundamental rights” George wrote. Only in court, he said, could one demand for all South Africans the rights “to meaningful citizenship, free and fair elections, dignity, equality and a fair distribution of goods and honours in a democratic state.”

Ta Nea, 01 August 2020

UK correspondent for Ta Nea, Yannis Andritsopoulos wrote on Saturday 01 August 2020:

A new chapter in the campaign for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures will start next week, aimed at raising awareness of the public opinion and mobilizing politicians, organizations and public figures in the UK.

The main slogan of the campaign, run by the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, is "Tell the real story", with the BCRPM inviting the British Museum to reveal to its visitors the truth about how the sculptures, displayed in London since 1817, were acquired.

“We urge the British Museum to tell the full story as Greece is preparing to celebrate 200 years of independence. The Parthenon Marbles were removed by Lord Elgin when Greece could not speak out. Reuniting the surviving sculptures from the Parthenon would be a friendly and just act by a nation looking to take the lead in responding to global challenges,” Dame Janet Suzman, Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, told Ta Nea newspaper.

The BCRPM is made up of respected British scholars, academics and artists, such as Emeritus Professor of Late Antique and Byzantine Studies Judith Herrin, fellow of the British Academy Professor Oliver Taplin and archaeologist Anthony Snodgrass.

“The Parthenon Marbles in the British Museum (since 1817) are a, perhaps the classic illustration of the colonialist-imperialist complex that so disfigures that august collection today. The large fortune acquired by the Museum’s founding collector and benefactor, Dr Hans Sloane, was itself deeply mired in the slave trade, and Lord Elgin, ambassador to the Sublime Porte, was able to loot the Parthenon marbles only thanks to Britain’s being an enemy of the Ottoman Sultan’s enemy, Napoleonic France, at a time when Greece was a possession of the Ottoman Empire. Next March 25, 2021, will mark the bicentenary of the Greeks’ declaration of independence from the Ottoman yoke after a subjection of nearly 37 decades. Is it too much to hope that it will also mark a significant moment in the decolonisation of the British Museum” said Professor Paul Cartledge, A.G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture emeritus, University of Cambridge, Vice-Chair of the BCRPM.

The BCRPM has produced a leaflet aimed at deconstructing the British Museum's arguments which are included in a leaflet distributed to visitors of Room 18 - also known as the Duveen Gallery - which houses the Sculptures. It says that this leaflet contains "inaccuracies and untruths" (the Museum goes so far as to claim that the Greek authorities completed Elgin's work because they transferred the Sculptures to the Acropolis Museum!).

Therefore, the BCRPM produced its own leaflet which contains the "true story" of the Parthenon Sculptures. It will soon send it to the British government, political parties and MPs, trustees of the British Museum and the British media. In addition, on specific dates in the fall, activists will distribute the booklet to British Museum visitors.

The campaign, which will unfold in the coming months, accompanied by the hashtags #TellTheStory, #TimeIsNow and #BMJustDoIt, is dedicated to the inspirers of the campaign in Britain, Eleni and James Cubitt, who had been urged to launch it by Melina Mercouri.

"Lusieri, the artist hired by Lord Elgin, literally demolished the temple so that he could extract the Sculptures," Robert Browning, a professor of Classics at the University of London and first Chair of the BCRPM, said on April 16, 1983, interviewed by Hara Kiosse for Ta Nea.

"That is why, when I hear that Elgin took the marbles so that they do not end up becoming quicklime in the hands of the Greeks, or that the British Museum keeps them because they are in danger due to air pollution of Athens, I feel that what they say is sacrilege."

Thirty-seven years on, the Museum still houses Pheidias's masterpieces, with its spokesperson telling Ta Nea that "the possibility of their permanent return is not being considered" and Marlen Godwin, the BCRPM's International Relations Officer, responding: "We will not give up. We will continue to call for the reunification of the Sculptures. Until then, we call on the Museum to reveal the truth to those who visit it to see the Marbles. That's the least it can do. "

Main points of the leaflet here.

Ta Nea, 01 August 2020

The Russian Committee for the Return of the Parthenon Marbles is a members of the IARPS and their President, Irina Korobina, presents their committee's new video entitled "Battle for the Parthenon Marbles". To watch it,  please follow the link here.

Below the text that forms part of this video with the presentation made by Irina Korobina.The presentation is in Russian with English subtitles and Irina has kindly supplied us with the English text for the article below.

Lord Byron: The Pilgrimage of Childe Harold

XI.

But who, of all the plunderers of yon Fane
⁠On high—where Pallas linger'd, loth to flee
⁠The latest relic of her ancient reign—
⁠The last, the worst, dull spoiler, who was he?
⁠Blush, Caledonia! such thy son could be!
⁠England! I joy no child he was of thine:
⁠Thy free-born men should spare what once was free;
⁠Yet they could violate each saddening shrine,
And bear these altars o'er the long-reluctant brine.

The act of Lord Elgin caused outrage and condemnation from the very beginning. Lord Byron, a fellow countryman of Lord Elgin, in his poem the Pilgrimage of Childe Harold, frankly called Elgin's act theft and barbarism. It is often suggested that Elgin's goal was to save and preserve the Parthenon sculptures. However, in one of the archives there is a letter in which Lord Elgin boastfully writes: "I have taken out of Greece as many antique values as Napoleon never dreamed of."

I don't think we care about his motivations today, or whether he was a saviour or a robber. It is important for us that the Parthenon, which is for all humankind a symbol of harmony, a symbol of the architectural, artistic and living environment that all humankind throughout history recognizes as the ideal that gave rise to classical art, this symbol has been desecrated and violated. Its most valuable fragments, without which it is impossible to preserve the harmony of integrity, were broken out and taken to another country, where they are still located. Half of the Parthenon's marble sculptures are in the British Museum, in London, and smaller fragments have spread all over the world. And all progressive humanity declares: they must be returned to their native place! Fragments of the Parthenon must be returned to Athens!

The debate about whether Lord Elgin's act was a saviour's mission or barbarism began in British society during his last expedition to Greece, and this debate continues till now.

Back in the 80's of the last century, the famous Greek singer and Minister of Culture Melina Mercuri officially announced the policy of "insistent return" of the marble sculptures to the Parthenon. In November 2005  the IARPS (International Association for the Reunification of the Par-thenon Sculptures) was created. Today it includes 21 countries, including a very active British Committee. Their appeals have been made since 1983, with statements,  petitions and articles requesting the return of the Parthenon's treasures. In particular, there is also a Russian Committee, which I agreed to become President of because for us, who were students of the Moscow Architectural Institute, the Parthenon and the culture of Ancient Greece are the 'cradle of world culture', including the Russian architectural culture. Russian Classicism and Neoclassicism, the highest examples of Russian architecture of the 18th, 19th and early 20th century, would not have been possible without the Parthenon.

International committees of  the IARPS are actively campaigning for the return of the sculptures - they conduct educational work, organize lectures, exhibitions, but most importantly, they express the position of the cultural community of their countries. It is clear that today the return of the Parthenon's sculptures may not be the main concern of Russians who are going through economic and other crisis. But this is just a first glance. In the culture of different countries, in architecture and art, sometimes incredible phenomena occur. Something that becomes important for all humankind. And it is naive to think that these masterpieces belong only to one country. They belong to the world - all of humanity is interested in ensuring that these 'Points of Power' that inspire everyone are preserved as closely to how they are best understood. And it is immoral, even criminal, to keep them divided... to destroy them, to break out pieces of them, to take them somewhere, to build new temples for them in other countries... this is a manifestation of barbarism and lack of elementary culture, which are is wrapped with beautiful words about salvation, preservation, etc.

The argument on the part of the British, who for many years have categorically refused all Greek requests, is precisely that they care for and preserver world heritage… They have a large scientific and custodial culture, they have a mission to be saviours of other countries heritage and culture. But in 2009 there was an important development - the Acropolis Museum was opened, which was designed by Bernard Tschumi and was the result of 4 international architectural competitions. The world recognition of this Museum is ranked 8th in the top ten museums* in the world, which shows that not only Britain has great specialists and scientists, not only Britain can preserve the treasures of world heritage.

The architectural composition of the Acropolis Museum is unique. The space itself develops vertically and symbolizes the ascent of the Acropolis mountain, which is crowned by the Parthenon. And the composition is such that the  highest level exhibits the friezes, metopes and pediments of the Parthenon. Those parts that are still in the British Museum have been replaced in the Acropolis Museum with plaster copies.

In the 21st century, the display of sculptural treasures has acquired a Museum format, it is important that this is the Acropolis Museum. But the removal of fragments of the Parthenon to other museums is unacceptable - the sculptures are taken out of context and deprived of their natural environment. This is an opinion that I share. It was expressed by historian, academics and more - the display of fragments from the Parthenon in the British Museum, humiliates them. They should be illuminated by the Acropolis. And the Acropolis Museum is the optimal place for them - it belongs to the Acropolis, forming a single whole with it. And there are all the conditions for perfect conservation. All conditions have been created at the highest level to ensure the safety of the priceless sculpture, which British colleagues and professional Museum workers around the world are happy about. If the British Museum delays the return of these great treasures, it will gain a reputation as a provincial, colonial, and regressive Museum.

I think that Parthenon problem has dragged on for a century, not only because Britain does not want to return the unique values that attract crowds of people from all over the world to the British Museum. Obviously, there is a great  many museums, many collections, and many countries that will make claims against each other. This fear is understandable. We in Russia have been discussing the Shchukin collection for many years... Professional museum workers are generally very careful about this issue. Throughout history, all the painful problems evolve. When we are too scarred to touch them - because an explosion may occur. I believe that we need to resolve this. I think that vicious and criminal decisions, as well as serious mistakes, must be corrected. And I believe that this will happen in future, because a culture was built on mistakes is like colossus on clay feet, which sooner or later will collapse. And it is better not to bring it to this collapse!

  * ranking as 8th on the list of the 2017 Travelers’ Choice Awards for Museums, recently released by travel planning and booking site TripAdvisor, in 2018 the Acropolis Museum ranked 6th

Converting Hagia Sophia into a mosque is an act of cultural cleansing, writes BCRPM's Professor Judith Herrin.

On Friday, 10 July 2020, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan struck at the very heart of world culture and Istanbul’s essential character when he instigated Turkey’s highest administrative court to issue the order for Hagia Sophia, a UNESCO world heritage site in Istanbul and a global symbol of world history and multicultural representation, to be convert from a museum back to a mosque.

To read the rest of the article, which was published in the Washington Post on 15 July 2020, kindly follow the link here.

Judith Herrin is emeritus professor at King’s College London and the author of “Ravenna, Capital of Empire, Crucible of Europe,” to be published in August 2020. Judith is also member of the BCRPM and has been a member for over 3 decades.

UNESCO statement on Hagia Sophia, 10 July 2020

Hagia Sophia: UNESCO deeply regrets the decision of the Turkish authorities, made without prior discussion, and calls for the universal value of World Heritage to be preserved.

Paris, Friday 10 July 2020 – The Director-General of UNESCO deeply regrets the decision of the Turkish authorities, made without prior discussion, to change the status of Hagia Sophia. This evening, she shared her serious concerns with the Ambassador of Turkey to UNESCO.

Hagia Sophia is part of the Historic Areas of Istanbul, a property inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List. “Hagia Sophia is an architectural masterpiece and a unique testimony to interactions between Europe and Asia over the centuries. Its status as a museum reflects the universal nature of its heritage, and makes it a powerful symbol for dialogue,” said Director-General Audrey Azoulay.

To read the whole UNESCO statement, you can follow the link here.

 22 July 2020 Athens, Greece

Statements made by the Greek Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Nikos Dendias with the Minister of Culture and Sport, Lina Mendoni regarding Hagia Sophia
Minister Nikos Dendias: Today, together with the Minister of Culture, Mrs Lina Mendoni, we held a meeting to discuss Agia Sophia, in conjunction with our UNESCO representatives. We have repeatedly stressed that the conversion of Agia Sophia into a mosque is not just a Greek-Turkish difference.
However, of course, for us Greeks, this monument is of particular importance and value.
That is why we have decided to highlight the issue through international initiatives that we will take, as European citizens and as citizens of the global community, by talking to all the international organisations represented also in UNESCO.
Our goal is to protect this monument that has all human value. After it is a UNESCO world heritage site.
The universality of the monument of Agia Sophia was highlighted by the reactions of the global community.
We therefore want to create an umbrella of concrete actions, which will ensure the effective protection of this century-old monument.
We have concluded with the Minister to set up a small working group, which, within ten days, will propose, as a result of the meeting and the exchange of views heard here today, a concrete charter of actions, which, after we have adopted together, we will implement in the near future.
I would like to thank you, Minister, for your presence and the great contribution of the Ministry of Culture, not only in today's meeting, but also in what will follow.

Minister Lina Mendoni: Thank you very much, Minister for today's meeting and your invitation to meet, here, bringing the staff of the two Ministries together in order to see how we proceed to set up a the working group for the very serious issue of Agia Sophia.

As Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Nikos Dendias mentioned this is not an issue that concerns two countries, but the whole world.

Agia Sophia is one of the most important human creations, it is one of the most important monuments, which embraces many universal values.
It is these universal values that are at risk of being lost by the conversion of the monument into a religious mosque.
I believe that the level of discussion we have had enables the Greek Government as a whole to deal with this issue internationally.
The State Department has the initiative and the Ministry of Culture fully support this national effort.

“Friendship seems to hold states together, and lawgivers care more for it than for justice; … and when men are friends they have no need of justice, while when they are just they need friendship as well, and the truest form of justice is thought to be a friendly quality.” Aristotle - Nicomachean Ethics, Book VIII, Ch 1.

Greece has been friends with the people of the United Kingdom for centuries, through good times and bad.

In October 1940, when Mussolini sought to occupy strategic Greek sites, the Greek Prime Minister (even though he was not democratically elected) simply declared, "Ohi!" ("No!") and Greece became the only European country that did not capitulate to the Italian fascists and the German Nazis.

Inspired by the Greek resistance, Churchill said “Hence we will not say that Greeks fight like heroes, but that heroes fight like Greeks!”

On being asked in Parliament during the war whether it would consider returning the Parthenon marbles to Greece as a gift in exchange for its loyal bravery, the British Foreign Office conducted an in-depth process of consultation that received positive answers from all involved, including the British Museum itself. The Museum conceded that “the Greeks regard it as a spoliation of their national heritage under Turkish tyranny” and that “the point is that the Acropolis of Athens is the greatest national monument of Greece, and that the buildings to which the Marbles belonged are still standing or have been rebuilt”. The relevant official in the Foreign Office, however, felt that the matter would best be deferred for further consideration until the end of the war, when transport would be safer and the return “would set the seal on Anglo-Greek friendship and collaboration in the way that would most appeal … to Greek patriotic sentiment”.

The long history of friendship and good feeling in Britain towards the cause of the reunification of the marbles is demonstrated by the many British scholars, writers and intellectuals who have made public statements in support of the cause, the most notable being Lord Byron. The BCRPM is continuing a long and honourable philhellenic tradition in seeking to encourage the Aristotelean idea of a just and friendly act: for the return to Athens of the Parthenon Marbles would be just that. It is time.

Jane Suzman

Chair, British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles

25 June 2020

Calls for return of Parthenon Sculptures mount as Acropolis Museum celebrates 11th anniversary

Βy Yannis Andritsopoulos, London Correspondent for Ta Nea, Greece's daily newspaper 

Boris Johnson loves Ancient Greece. He studied classics at Oxford, he used to speak ancient Greek at home with his siblings, his hero is Pericles and he often tries to impress his audience by reciting extracts from the Iliad.

His love for the ancient Greek civilisation seems to be so deep that, apparently, he wants to keep a piece of it forever: the Parthenon Sculptures. They have been on display in the British Museum since 1817, a year after they were sold to the British government by Lord Elgin who had controversially removed them from the Parthenon.

Just over 200 years later, Britain's refusal to engage in talks with Greece about the Marbles’ return has sparked an international backlash.

On the occasion of the 11th anniversary of the Acropolis Museum in Athens, the Greek Culture minister, three British MPs and the Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles are calling for the Parthenon Sculptures’ return in exclusive comments published in Ta Nea, Greece’s daily newspaper.

British Museum Director Hartwig Fischer told Ta Neathat the Acropolis Museum and the British Museum “are complementary in their approach,” adding that the museum “looks forward to continuing our collaboration and fruitful dialogue with our colleagues at the Acropolis Museum.”

Opinion polls show that the British people think the Parthenon Marbles should be returned to Athens. The most recent YouGov survey was released in June 2018 and it indicated that 56 percent said the Marbles belong in Greece.
However, the British government and the British Museum say the issue is out of the question.

A UK government spokesperson told Ta Nea: “The UK’s position on the Parthenon sculptures remains unchanged – they are legally owned by the British Museum. This will not be up for discussion in any future trade negotiations.”

A British Museum spokesperson confirmed that the institution's position on the issue has not changed. The museum has previously said that a permanent return of the Parthenon Sculptures is not being considered, and if Greece wants to borrow them, it must first acknowledge the British Museum's ownership.

Mr Johnson is opposed to the reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures. He has said that the Marbles “were rescued, quite rightly, by Elgin” and has criticised George Clooney for suggesting Britain should return them to Greece.

However, his father, Stanley Johnson, has said there should be “a fruitful dialogue between the Greek and the British authorities (on this issue).”

 Greece’s Culture Minister Lina Mendoni told Ta Nea:

“Perhaps the main argument that the British Museum has been making for years in order not to return the Parthenon Sculptures - since 1982, when Melina Mercouri raised the issue at a UNESCO Conference of Ministers - was that Greece did not have a modern museum that could house the masterpieces of Phidias.

“Since September 2003, when the construction work for the Acropolis Museum began, Greece has been systematically demanding the return of the Sculptures which are on display in the British Museum, because they are products of theft.

“The current Greek government - like any Greek government - is not going to stop claiming the stolen sculptures which the British Museum continues to hold illegally contrary to any moral principle.

“The British government, which is washing its hands of the issue, is in stark contrast to the British public, the vast majority of which support the return of the Sculptures to their homeland.

“It is sad that one of the world's largest and most important museums is still governed by outdated colonialist views of the 1880s, and keeps on dismissing basic values of modern scientific ethics.

“Let's not forget that it was not only Elgin who mauled the Sculptures, but also the British Museum itself, using inappropriate and unscientific methods during their conservation.

“It is time for the British Museum to do what moral law and the monument (of the Parthenon) itself demands, which is also what the international public opinion is increasingly demanding.”

Dr Hartwig Fischer, Director of the British Museum, told Ta Nea:

“We send our colleagues at the Acropolis Museum our very best wishes on the occasion of their 11th anniversary: the museum provides a fantastic window into classical Athens, and is one of the great museums of the world.

“The Acropolis Museum and the British Museum are complementary in their approach, one providing an in-depth view of a major ancient city, the other a sense of the wider context and sustained cultural dialogue with the neighbouring civilisations of Egypt and the Near East in antiquity, and more recently.

“We look forward to continuing our collaboration and fruitful dialogue with our colleagues at the Acropolis Museum, which in recent years has included scholarly workshops, staff placements and sharing knowledge from researching ancient polychromy to questions of display and presentation.”

Conservative MP Sir Roger Gale told Ta Nea:

“While I do not hold to the view that all artefacts should be returned to their country of origin it does seem to me that the Parthenon Marbles have a good home to be returned to and a facility in which they can be properly displayed in home surroundings for the benefit and enjoyment of visitors from all over the world.”

Labour MP Mary Glindon told Ta Nea:

“I have enjoyed several classical tours of Greece and a highlight of those tours has always been the visit to the Acropolis and the Parthenon. But it’s sad that the Parthenon Marbles are in London. While they are seen in the British Museum by many people, as many, if not more, would appreciate seeing the Marbles as part of the amazing cultural experience to be enjoyed when visiting the Parthenon and the Acropolis Museum. The Marbles belong in Athens.”

SNP MP Margaret Ferrier told Ta Nea:

“The Acropolis Museum has enabled the sections of the frieze and the metopes to be enjoyed in their original context and it is now time for the Parthenon Marbles to join them. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Brexit negotiations are continuing at pace and calls are growing for the Marbles to be returned to Greece. Returning them would be a sign that the UK is genuinely committed to looking outwards to the world after Brexit.”

Dame Janet Suzman, Chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, told Ta Nea:

“There’s always an anniversary to celebrate. June 16th marked the 44th year since the student uprising in Soweto that was a turning point in the downfall of the apartheid state. A global reaction to the murder of a black man in America is sweeping the world, and those same students, grown much older if they survived at all, want to honour that murder by urging “a move away from a world centred on white supremacy and violence to one centred on justice and equity”.

“That argument was taken further when last week a statue was torn down from its plinth in the city of Bristol in England and thrown into the waters of the harbour where the slave ships used to anchor. Bristol, aware too well of its past, has decided that the statue should now be placed in the city museum with a full explanation of how the trader became so rich. Visitors can then understand that the defaced bronze figure is not just a benefactor of the city but a man who grew rich on other people’s misery, by exploiting the cruellest of white supremacies - the slave trade.

“And in Greece, the end of the Ottoman Empire’s occupation will be celebrated next year. Taking over bits of the world and ruling them according to your own values is an occupation that the British know only too well; at its height that Empire ruled a third of the world. So when Lord Elgin, British ambassador to the Ottoman court, decided he wanted to send back bits of the Parthenon to adorn his house in Scotland, he didn't bother to ask the subject Greeks, he greased the palms of functionaries from Istanbul, persuaded his own king to provide a ship and made off with the glory that was Greece. They landed up in Room 18 of the British Museum and for 200 years have been one of its star attractions.

“So we need to ask The British Museum, hiding from the tsunami of anti-colonialist feeling sweeping the whole world, whether they would have the decency to provide visitors with the full story: how did these incomparable pieces of sculpture torn from the greatest building in the western world get to sit - out of context - in the grey grandeur of Room 18? Reunification of the Marbles would seem to be a move away from white British exceptionalism and a move towards a world the survivors of Soweto are desperate to see. While supremacy stole them away and a white sense of justice should see them restored. But until that time comes, as it surely must: tell the story. Let the people judge the fairness of their captivity in London. There is a museum waiting for them in Athens.”

Published in Ta Nea, Greece’s daily newspaper (www.tanea.gr)
Publication date: 20 June 2020
English version: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/calls-return-parthenon-sculptures-mount-acropolis-andritsopoulos
Original version in Greek (paywall): https://www.tanea.gr/print/2020/06/20/lifearts/lifestyle/epistrepste-lfta-glypta-lftou-parthenona/