ISS 25 (1995).pdf - The International Council of Museums

possible to find in this equation the reason for the conflict which is
spreading all over the world: the conflict is not between "cultures"
(indigenous and not indigenous), but between dominant and nondominant
cultures, between the concepts of culture and nation, between
national cultures and national states. The conflict is, in fact, a conflict of
Power. What kind of "power" is this? The power of wealth, the power of
possessions, the power to decide what is going to happen, when and how.
Quoting again the introductory text in the Conference's booklet, we find
that "cultural heritage and the past itself seem to be the focus for warfare.
The aim is not only physical destruction. The fight is also about the
ownership of history and hence the right to obliterate the adversary's
historic presence in the disputed territories". The ownership of history is
the ownership of the past, the right to the land, and as such the right to
the ownership of the present and of the future: the final word upon the
world. The possession of the land is the possession of its richness, the
control of its goods and products, of the production process, of all
economical and political processes. Iuri Lotman, in his typology of
cultures, says that there are cultures which are past oriented, as well as
others that are future oriented. Those which enhance the past as the
basis of its legitimacy, consider that a culture with no past is a culture
with no origins, and thus, with no existence, or whit no rights to exist.
Cultural heritage, monuments, ruins, historical facts, are proofs for the
primeval origins of these cultures, and support their claims of superiority
in relation to more "recent cultures". National pride feeds the quest for
national power, or derives from it.
What do museums have to do with all that? In every speech of the
Conference's opening day, we will find this explicit or implicit question:
what is the role of museums in this particular political process, what
challenges and new challenges do they have to face? "Museums and
historic monuments", says the author of the introductory text, "may have
important roles to play in these developments: for better or for worse" ...
and he continues, "they have traditionally functioned as symbols of
national identity, often even of national pride". If we take this statement
in the worst sense, we should ask what kind of role have museums
traditionally played in these developments? What kind of "national pride"
have they been fostering, for centuries? In the same document, further
down, we find the explanation for the reason of young nations wanting
to build up and to stress national unity ... "this may express a wish to
transform formerly more or less independent groups into valued variants
within an all-embracing national culture". How far and for how long
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