Readers of this blog could hardly escape the sense of frustration that I personally have felt over what I see as intransigence in a bureau of the U.S. State Department. I'm sure that it literally pours from these lines. For years, the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) has operated under a shroud of secrecy that becomes neither the Department nor those charged with fulfilling its mission. Several prominent journalists, including Steven Vincent, Nina Teicholz and Jeremy Kahn have raised questions about the lack of transparency at ECA regarding cultural property issues.
When the U.S. Legislature authorized implementation of parts of the 1970 UNESCO Convention, a well thought out series of safeguards was built into the process that we know as CPIA (the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act). These safeguards were intended to protect and preserve the rights of a broad cross section of society — including private and public collectors. The integrity of these safeguards is dependent upon transparency in the system where decisions affecting those various elements of society are made.
Today, we find a situation where that integrity is severely compromised by the internal policies of ECA. Repeated attempts to obtain basic information about the decision making process and specific information about various requests for import restrictions have met with rejection, denial and bureaucratic stonewalling. Requests from members of Congress and the Senate have not altered the bureau's reticence to share information. Repeated requests under the Freedom of Information Act have come to naught and appeals to these requests have been denied. An appeal to the State Department's Inspector General was summarily brushed off by forwarding it to ECA for an answer.
The Ancient Coin Collectors Guild joined by two trade organizations, the International Association of Professional Numismatists and the Professional Numismatists Guild, has taken this issue to another level by asking that the U.S. judicial system mandate the release of information that will provide the transparency necessary to assure fair and legitimate administration of the law. (See Coin Collectors Sue U.S. State Department) Yes, coin collectors are suing the U.S. State Department. This is an unprecedented action, but it has become necessary because of unprecedented threats to ancient coin collecting. Hopefully, this suit will open the window to an atmosphere of trust and cooperation that will serve all of society's needs and interests.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
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2 comments:
Who cares if archelogical sites are plundered and valuable knowledge is lost forever?
You'll still have your hobby.
You remind me of the freedom loving patriot who accused the Feds of infringing on his right to tear up the desert in his offroad vehicle.
Greedy, violent, and stupid.
Oh yeah. Republicans all right.
Dear BOKO;
It is a shame that someone who has critical comments to make cannot sign those comments with a real traceable identity. You may find my comments objectionable, and that is your right, but you and the world will have no doubt who or where they came from.
I'm always amazed by the double standard that anti-collector zealots adhere to. If I make a comment about any one of your group individually, I am accused immediately of "ad hominem" attacks. Yet, I can be called greedy, violent and stupid among other things and that is apparently ok because it is in your view a defense of the "greater good". Greedy and stupid are certainly opinions that you may have of me, though I doubt you know much of anything about me. Violent is a term that comes at me from left field. During the war in Iraq, it was two archaeologists who advocated shooting Iraqi citizens who were caught digging clandestinely. That is clearly violent. What have I advocated that was violent? And who are you to advance these insulting and baseless charges?
The problem is that the greater good is incredibly subjective and your view is clearly much different than mine. What qualifies your view as somehow being more sincere or altruistic? There have been documented cases of radical archaeologists destroying ancient artifacts to assure that they do not fall into the hands of private collectors. The director of a Cypriot association of archaeologists recently bemoaned the fact that his own discipline was destroying the historical record through poor and indiscriminate practices, including the trashing of artifacts. This is an appalling situation and is precisely the "off road vehicle in the desert" scenario that you toss out. It is done in the name of "preservation" and yet it is absolutely and irretrievably destructive. To argue that once an object is recorded it is no longer of importance is to deny the value of every academic discipline except dirt archaeology. That may indeed be your opinion, it is a common opinion at least of your brethren, but is a worthless opinion. Worse yet, the documentation that supposedly illuminates all through the spade is itself sporadic and poorly published.
As for Republicans, I see no connection whatever between party politics and cultural property issues. The collector community is comprised of people of every political persuasion as I'm sure is the field of archaeology as well. It should be pointed out, since you are apparently oblivious to this fact, that the import restriction on coins from Cyprus was imposed by the current Republican administration. One of the most steadfast defenders of private collectors and collections was Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. In case you are not aware, he was a Democrat.
My comment about frustration with the Republican administration was to illustrate that this is indeed NOT a partisan issue. Sorry that you could not digest that.
Wayne
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