Apart from his equally offensive theory that the cultures of others can only be properly understood in the British Museum which has many other looted objects, he recently argued that the Benin bronzes were made from materials produced in Europe and that this somehow gives the British Museum legitimacy to hold the looted bronzes.

The following insulting statement, made recently, is in line with his usual disrespect for others “The Greek government has simply continued Elgin’s practice and removed the rest [of the Parthenon Marbles] now from the building, because you can’t see them on the building. When those sculptures came to London, for the first time they were at a height where people could see them and they were in a place where tens, hundreds of thousands of people could see these were great objects.”

With all due respect, given the background of the dispute concerning the Elgin/Parthenon Marbles, this is an unacceptable insult not only to the Greeks and their Government but also to the British public which has repeatedly and overwhelmingly spoken in favour of returning the Marbles to Athens. The United Nations, UNESCO and countless international organizations have also called for the return of cultural objects such as the Parthenon Marbles to their countries of origin.

One may take whichever side is deemed reasonable in this debate which has been going on for some several decades but must one insult the opposing side? MacGregor knows very well that the name of Elgin has become synonymous with vandalism following the brutal removal of the Marbles from Athens by Elgin.That a Director of the British Museum can speak in this fashion is a sad commentary on the state of affairs regarding the restitution of cultural objects.

Since the British Museum does not have any more valid arguments against the return of the Marbles, it appears the tactic now is to insult the Greeks to such an extent that any civil discussion will soon be impossible. In the meanwhile, the Marbles can remain where they are: in the British Museum. But this is a cheap strategy which can buy the British Museum only some breathing space until the majority of the British decide that their long-term interests are not best served by museums with such an unhelpful approach.

How can a University-educated person declare that the fact that artefacts have been removed from elsewhere and brought to the British Museum must mean that they were legally removed, given the history of long disputes regarding many objects in the British Museum?

“…there’s no question it was legal because you can’t move those things without the approval of the power of the day. It was clearly allowed, or it wouldn’t have happened.”

On MacGregor’s line of reasoning, all artefacts which have been looted or stolen in the colonial period, irrespective of their individual histories and circumstances, must have been legally removed since they were successfully removed. So what have all the debates concerning restitution been about in the last hundred or so years?

The Director of the British Museum gives the impression that the Greeks have not been willing to talk about the various issues surrounding the Marbles:

”We have been disappointed that we have never had that conversation with the Greek government….The trustees [of the British Museum] have made it clear many times that that’s a conversation they would like to have”. The impression conveyed by this statement is, to put it very mildly, very misleading. Those who were not born yesterday may remember that the charismatic Greek Minister of Culture, Melina Mercouri, even came to London to discuss these issues and this gave the then director of the British Museum, David Wilson, the opportunity to describe as cultural fascists all who advocated the return of the Marbles to Athens.

It seems to becoming a habit of some museum directors to insult all those who seek to retrieve their looted or stolen cultural artefacts from the imperial museum. Would anyone blame the Greeks if they did not want to discuss with those who have taken their cultural objects and insult them whenever they put in a demand for restitution?

After the Greeks have built an ultra-modern museum, New Acropolis Museum, to respond to the long-standing British argument that there was no suitable place in Athens for the Parthenon Marbles, MacGregor, who did not even bother to attend the opening of the New Acropolis Museum, is now saying that the argument on location is now a question of the past and was never an important British contention. He must credit all of us with very short memories and very little intelligence.

We thought for a long time that a notable characteristic of British officials was a certain diplomatic approach but on hearing MacGregor and his associates, we start thinking that this assessment perhaps requires a drastic revision, if not, a total reverse. The recent statements of the British Museum director are not exactly calculated to foster harmonious relations with the Greeks and the Greek government. But who ever said that museums are there, among other things, to foster good relations between nations and cultures?

MacGregor put forward a diversionary argument in the following statement:

“The real question is about how the Greek and British governments can work together so that the sculptures can be seen in China and Africa”.

Who told MacGregor that Africans are dying to see the Parthenon Marbles?

We would be happy if the British Museum could return some of the looted African artefacts like the Benin bronzes. He should not underestimate the intelligence of mankind. Everybody can see how the British Museum Director and his supporters are now lost for argument.

Whatever else the British Museum and its officials do in this matter, I plead fervently that they leave the Chinese and the Africans out of this matter. Our peoples have always, through the United Nations and UNESCO supported the Greeks on this issue just as the majority of the British people are in favour of returning the Marbles. The Scottish Parliament has also spoken in favour of the Greeks.

It has become very clear for all those who follow cultural affairs that there is no serious intention on the part of the British Museum to discuss the question of the Elgin/Parthenon Marbles.(7) This is doing an enormous damage to the reputation of the British in the world of culture.

These insulting statements were delivered by MacGregor from the respectable London School of Economics, University of London. The LSE has always had a solid reputation abroad even during the worst periods of British colonialism and imperialism. Could we plead with MacGregor and others not to drag the reputation of the respectable institution into the mud by preaching and expounding unfounded arguments there?