International safe harbor for antiquities
Reader comment on item: Destroy Egypt's Antiquities?

Submitted by Farid H. (Germany), Apr 16, 2006 at 10:16

It would be terrible if Egypt started to cannibalize an important part of *our* global human heritage!

I've often heard people complaining that so many egyptian (or other) antiquities were being exposed in museums abroad, whether they shall remain within the borders of the countries they're originating from. My counter-argument has always been the same: spreading historical antiquities, books etc... across the globe helps saving them from sudden loss; be it through natural disasters, wars, or -- as we can see here --, religious lunatics gone crazy.

I'm deeply shocked by what I'm reading here. As if the barbaric blowing up of the statues of Buddha in Afghanistan hadn't been shame enough. Sadly, it appears to even encourage Gomaa and his ilk to even more anti-cultural savagery. The world is in a real bad shape, when such tendencies creep up (again)! I sure hope Egyptians and the rest of Humanity would resist and oppose this wanton aculturalism.

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