Melville CookeThe mystery of history cannot disguise the facts/It takes more than four centuries to cover up black tracks/Black faces, black traces, black races in time/The wind cannot carry black tracks from black minds. - Native, Black Tracks (F. Miranda/W. Jobson)
A FEW WEEKS ago a story was carried in the local press about the return of a Tabot to Ethiopia from Edinburgh, Scotland. The Tabot, which represents the Ark of the Covenant, was found by a Rev. John McLuckie while he was looking for a communion set.
The return was met with great rejoicing, but it is only the tip of the iceberg. There is an organisation called the Association for the Return of the Ethiopian Maqdala Treasures (AFROMET) which is campaigning for the return of property looted from Ethiopia by British forces in 1868 a mere 134 years ago.
It took some 200 mules and 15 elephants for the British to take away the loot from the Maqdala fortress, which they overran on April 13, 1868. It did not take much to take away pieces of Emperor Theodore the Second's clothing; the British troops tore scraps of cloth from his body until he was naked. So much for British civility and the stiff upper lip.
The fortress was subsequently razed by the Brits and that was that. The loot was carried to the nearby Dalanta Plain and a two-day auction held to raise money for the troops. From this, stolen property found its way into private and public collections including 350 manuscripts which went to the British Museum.
Apart from the manuscripts, the loot included two crowns (the lesser and cheaper of which has been subsequently returned), a golden chalice, processional crosses and numerous other items. The Abuna Crown and Chalice from Ethiopia are inside the Jewellery Room at the Albert and Victoria Museum in London.
The campaign to recover the stolen items from Britain has been met with stonewalling. As the items are now considered vital parts of the British collections, in some instances (the British Library) an act of Parliament would be required, in the case of the Royal Library only the Queen can give the go-ahead.
So over a century after, we are in the situation where the descendants of thieves are sticking by principle to keep stolen goods. Ironic, isn't it? The items which have been stolen cannot be the property of those who have subsequently acquired them, by way of gift or purchase. Stolen property belongs to the persons whom it was taken from, regardless of subsequent owners. There can be no legal ownership of a stolen item.
I find it incredible, as well, that the Brits would go to such lengths to steal and hold onto the property of a people that are often dismissed as having no history worth recording.
If Ethiopian history is so bereft of accomplishment, let us have back our things and you can have more room to display yours.
Incidentally, the Brits are not the only culprits. In June of 2001, despite promises to return same, an obelisk stolen in 1937 by the Italian hoodlum Mussolini's boys from Axum in Ethiopia, still stood in the Piazza di Porta in Rome. Just maybe, much as the United States sees itself as the police force of the world, Britain sees itself as the globe's curator. Ethiopian treasures are not the only stolen property to have found their way into British museums - so we have a situation where "Third World" people can tour jolly old England and see their history on display. I think it has something to do with the fact that white people in real decision-making positions know that their pre-history is the "Third World's" history.
The Scottish Episcopal Church has called on all the other stolen artefacts to be returned. But then, the Scots were always a pesky bunch. Of course, in these times of wars and rumours of war, single currencies and credit cards, the return of Ethiopia's religious treasures, including the Ark of the Covenant, takes on Apocryphal significance for the believer - but that is another matter.
Marijuana
Caught a snippet on BBC about the marijuana vote in South Africa, which went five to four against allowing Rastafarians to smoke the herb for religious purposes. The narrowness of the judge's decision is encouraging, but falls way short of the sweeping decriminalisation in Europe.
And in Jamaica, although marijuana is more and more visible on the streets and certainly in the dancehall, it is still possible for a person to be dragged before the courts for a spliff. I also found a rather interesting article about hemp farms in a couple countries. So next week, we will talk about hemp.
Melville Cooke is a freelance writer.
