survey may be very different if you look at this if you look at the fact that people are forced to stay at home means they are drinking a bit more for various reasons anxiety stress boredom. after more than a year of very long confinement and prohibitions the frustration level is running high and the possibility of a new variant setting the clock back yet again is adding yet another ingredient to the complex cocktail you see in human al-jazeera said. this is autism of these at the top stories u.s. president joe biden has told congress is turning peril into possibility after the devastation of the coronavirus pandemic it was speaking on the eve of his 100th day in office saying america is back on the rise he laid out plans to fix challenges including trillions of dollars of investment in jobs infrastructure and education

100 days since i took the oath of office and left in my hand off our family bible and heritage nation we all did it was in crisis the worst pandemic of the century the worst economic crisis since the great depression the worst attack on our democracy since the civil war now after just 100 days i can report to the nation america is not the move again. right after the president spoke republican senator tim scott gave his party's rebuttal address attacking biden for what he said were empty words and broken promises. president by them promised you a specific kind of leadership you promised united nation to lower the temperature to govern for all americans no matter how we voted this was the pitch you just

heard it again but our nation is storage for more than empty platitudes we need policies in progress that brings us closer together but 3 months in the actions of the president and his party are pulling us further and further apart people in india are rushing to register for mass vaccination drive set to begin this weekend as coronavirus infection spiral out of control the country has just set another world record for the highest number of daily infections the official death toll has surged past $200000.00 but the actual figure is believed to be much higher and government protesters and police have fought in colombia's capital thousands of demonstrators defied covered $1000.00 restrictions to march through bogota in protest against tax increases proposed by president. and those are the headlines the news continues in al-jazeera after the string of by. teaching you just the way

english streaming night on the future channel. plus thousands of our programs will be with documentaries. subscribe to eugene. al-jazeera english. i have to reallocate today on the string the story of nigeria's bronze is looted by the british in 8097 and now founding museums around the world you can see some of these cultural treasures behind me they're always made out of bronze sometimes metal or wood or ivory and they came from the kingdom opening let me show you a map so you can see where that is the southern part of nigeria is where the original kingdom is many cities that see that little red dot and this is in southern nigeria so we're not talking about the republic of benning but they pinned

him of the name now we have that right let's get the debate started we often hear the idea that restitution is an attack upon buzy and that this is iconoclasm whereas in fact restitution is already a part of the normal operation of museums in america and europe in the cases of nazi loot and in the cases of indigenous ancestral human remains for the very different historical circumstances of african objects that were taken under colonialism increasingly the conversation is happening in between all the unseasoned trustees and courageous who think it's time that this issue is addressed so let's get this conversation started with i guess joining us we have a notes where we have don of a we have nailed it it's good to see you gentlemen and let's hear a educational south to astral audience and your connection to that the name bronzes

. early morning elizabeth you. just made your. government believe the law group. if you is there some trust to get barbara these are the rules. of your office has been. designed in words. really barker. is a lone star in o.t.l. we get back to her in just a moment don of a nice to have on the stream tell everybody your connection to the been a member and since. i'm a journalist and author i was a b.b.c. correspondent in nigeria many years ago and i've just written a book called loot britain and the ben in bronzes in which i tell the tale of how

the bronzes were made in that west african kingdom how and why the british took them in 1907 what happened to them since and the very current active debate which we talk about this evening what should happen to them now. nail you think making headlines around the loud to you are a hot topic in the out well tell our audience fi. so i'm neal care to pay to museums especially collections university of aberdeen in scotland and yes with the university and i'm sitting with the term been in drums for weeks ago there was purchased by the university in 1057 get to have neil bonnett day and in l.t.a. and also a huge audience watching right now on you tube you can jump into the comment section of the part of today's program in o.t. i did a very very simple explanation of what the printing bronzes actually are but there's a much deeper cultural significance some to here comes from atom state how would you explain what's these striking. objects actually

truly may well or. are a symbol or heritage. objects were made. or made or it is all original causes were imposed on someone before you remember real story telling us stories or history or the maid or 2. or so. divorce to get lower cost a little history or heritage a symbol of our civilization has lost that way oh yes. but me i'm just going to show us some of the pictures that are in your book loot and it starts off with this can pass. to go to the name city because the brits want to do trades with the hour the playing and the over is not that keen on doing so so we

say we start off with well this is the team who went out to bring city can you talk us through some of these pictures and why they're important. these are some of the senior officers of the punitive expedition they're sitting on a boat in liverpool and they're in their way to bury in city the british empire at that time the preeminent global power able to assemble a force very quickly they bring in ships from cape town from motor from across the globe they march into ben in city they believe that the burger king of bend in the city the british say has not been observing the terms of an earlier treaty which he had been coerced probably into into agreeing to some years earlier and they raise ben incisions to the ground they have an overwhelming military force they have the maxim gun which is a a devastating weapon and the buried empire

a proud empire a place of cultural achievement for many hundreds of years has as no charts here you can see british officers in the arbors palace in the courtyard and this is just some of the loot which they took there as you say the bronzes but of course great piles of tasks as well these are i suppose iconic i suppose infamous images and they helped capture why the looting of city has become emblematic of the whole question of colonial looted art because the bend in bronze as was so splendid and because the manner in which they were taken was so egregious so relatively recent and so well documented neal. until quite recently you hear 1st he had at the inference that you or you were planning on keeping it

was part of your collection and that changed can you tell us that story and why it changed. i think this is something that's been happening over many years and got to lehman obviously bernie graham's the 1990 s. was arguing for the return of any promises so it's not something that's new. but i think for me from the 2 thousands we started being involved in asian to north america still you new zealand and i think what's become so clearly it is that instead of seeing these things as things they are by relationships or by people they matter tremendously to people from whom they were they were collected. so i think we started seeing our collection slightly differently seeing it as a being about relationships and about relationships in the present as much as the possibly want to address that. so we realized that you know we had this this one band in bronze that was was bought by the university in the 195-0000 example of

african art and that was on display in 1906 celebrate the independence of nigeria but the more we thought about it the more we realized the new yes we might have had legal title to it but really given the way in which any city was destroyed in the material was looted we really couldn't say that we had modeled title so it really clashed with the university's values of being international being inclusive being respectful and so i really i think very clearly very logically came the feeling that we should return less than assassin thoughts with advancement through an instant reaction of mom for anything with a question this is from it seems obvious i should be much closer to that because of our age and and that's how it responds. well you. share our stories do. proper access to their war. critter america marius says and i'm going to get this one t.

email why not set up infrastructure of the countries help invest in the preservation of their own treasures their own culture. i don't disagree at all i think really you know that's very important that people should be able to to see their own culture and i think you know there are advantages to having things all square in the world but i think the important thing is that the decision to decide what happens lies with the people who these things belong to i am picking up on one more thing here barnaby elder said this is he this is from adam are they if they are returned they will not be don't have adequately romney's the answer adam a is nigerian we are not known for maintaining a poseur the historical artifacts this is something you looked into and you went to been eans city what did you find. what i would say that the debate about the problems within nigerian museums is carried out with much more candor and

understanding within nigeria 'd itself than it is in europe and this is an important point and up are facts for nigeria in this story nigerian museums already have a very fine collection of bennett brands if you go to the national museum in lagos and frankly not many of them are on display and not many people in lagos go and see them having said that i think the reason a golden opportunity to make things better and to repair that situation and not to use is the right man you should be trying to because their main city right now there is assembled something of a dream to a governor governor who's really committed a star architect is or not he is told use and do a better job and the the international support the international sympathy is there so this is a golden opportunity for nigerians on the ground to get it right and that is

indicative of how the world is changing if you like the fate of the better bronzes will be determined as much by the acts of key nigerian. players as the consciences of western curators that is something very important say that i am just looking at your picture of you as david other i. who has designed so many extraordinary buildings around the world have a good discussion if i was on a fly on the wall here what i hear oh here we were talking about the significance of the young mosque. which is in the british museum. is it giving guns or whatever don't explain oh i don't use your youngest development opening. to the beginning don't probably $0.60 you're. going to symbol. striving for excellence on the achievements of aussie legislation

. i'm wondering here because there is that will conversation that is happening about well if we give. well then i'm bronson's back to 90. you have the resources to no cost them who won't look after them the happy instances where a lot of money was spent adding them back in different parts of europe to the 950 s. and they ended up back in europe and you know to how have we all so people can know that what happened or you're no no no it's not going to happen again because now there's a plan in place to build a global stand up was young don't lose your we're starting out on this misery on what is being built on the an independent frost legacy which the region trust which hardest the state with us public trust you know nobody of our or our last

real promise of been in. government and c.n.n. which is a national commission on one immense all on the board of trustees this is legacy research on frost is an independent structure going to talk shop which will responsibility the busy on i don't short it is built according to our standards it's been designed by starting it was about we were down so you can assure that the city of the project but we are short of display and preserve are going to be about this practice you know a lot of this is a part of it here or bought it on the airport or were looted so we were sitting here rather bottoms to the said oh really it's all been about to park in the national museum there said there for anybody to see just this afternoon i went to

vote in the 02 saw runs this. reason would governments all been saw probably what was going. leaders were developing was lawson's young. to join a western art which real receded and displayed. to parks around to republish promised so there's going to be of this we've got limited government or. god no god you know was likely to slade very cross on this little serious original trust act as an international group shows the new problems both us you have to get that been aimed bronzes back. so that involves a little slow motion out of us tooting about because it's about have a listen to this comment festival and i just come off the back of me to say i'm interested in your take there is a new dynamic both in the global south and in the global norse former colonies are

strengthening them using him infrastructure and they are developing policies to retrieve objects that were lost in voluntarily during the colonial era. former colonizers on the other hand are slowly moving to a point where they are willing to repatriate such objects. now the challenge is to whether former colonies and former colony are able to reduce their mutual distrust and to to dialogue on the issue on an equivalent level only den some of the injustice committed in the colonial era can be undone. alexander i think what's really important is this discussion is coming together the consensus that's being built and i think you know we i feel that we've you know played

a part in building the collaboration with the partners that not yet has been talking about think is really important we don't see this as a sort of oppositional thing that it's something where we you know we come into with good intent and then we can we can achieve good things. we talked to the british museum we asked them if they would be part of this program. they sent us a statement instead is a very long statement but let's have a look at it and then i'll just put a couple of things that really struck us on the stream so i put that up on the screen everybody says you can actually see that and this is where the british museum are coming from where they they have some difficulty which i know you will be able to explain but they say we believe the strength of the british museum collection resides in its bret's and debts allowing millions of visitors and understanding of the cultures of the world and how they connect over time whether through trade migration conquest or peaceful exchange that we're talking about conquest right here so bothered me that sounds to me like they're not really. dying

to give the name bronze is to this beautiful museum that will happen in the southern part of nigeria that doesn't sound to me like they're going to hand them over what did you find when you went there to talk to them about this. well there's a lot i could say about the british museum i think when i started out on this project i i felt like a lot of people that it was a very you know self-assured possibly even arrogant institution which didn't feel it had to our answer for itself and towards the end i came see it instead as as a rather divided institution an institution which is almost paralyzed by this problem and doesn't quite know what to say and hence it's not untypical that they've given you a press release that they haven't appeared in this program the british museum does have a story to tell and doesn't always succeed in getting it across they are constrained in a way that neil courtesy in aberdeen for example is not there is something called the

british museum act of $963.00 which makes it impossible for the british museum to d. exception that museums speak for the handover in a permanent way items from its collection with a few exceptions which which dan hicks mentioned at the beginning of the program to do not so young and not see taken luton human body parts but in general terms it's very difficult for the british museum to give things back for ever without a change to the law and that would require an act of parliament and it's difficult to see this current british conservative government. going down that route the british museum does have a lot of leeway however over loans and within the bend in dialogue group which is a group of museums which are talking about this thing they've indicated a willingness to lend back an unspecified number of bettin bronzes and they haven't

they haven't even stipulated you know which ones within their collection they have to be haven't ruled out any objects but there is a potential car crash for the british museum i have to say which is that only other museums in the belly dialogue group it's not inconceivable that they will give back their bet in burns's and the british museum. loading. neal that word lonely infuriates people whose art has been stolen looted and they seem to have empty negotiate gotta get back how do you feel about. well i think this is why i'm in the university's decision was for an unconditional return we didn't have a model title so i think in our decisions for the state forward i think there's one thing i would take out missions in statement i think it's interesting but it is about this ability of optics to tell stories about connections with people around the world and i think it would be really good if we were able to lend scottish

things to bending city so that that that in a mutual lending can go on i think it might be nice if we could but maybe sometime borrow some bending bronzes from from burning city and i think there's a there could be a lot more flow between institutions rather than focusing too much on in on ownership but i think in the end this case for laws that the decision of ownership was quite simple and i tell you even that once made might my jaw drop when you were suggesting that extends a pretty broad consensus some of the greatest doubt that europe has ever produced but were you suggesting that staying cypriano that. knowing what our series was that this part of arts belongs to us. it's a lot of work it's imperative and none of you're sure all those people not sure what we're going to parks should be clear clearly established at the moment of course not when we want to shoot at an established the arctic park our

doors then later knew that i mean a loss or harvest exchange programs where we call them are more are 2 parts to only global means your own and then also law because of all the goal. you know to also show you know more you know the law system gives something that is probably going to miss your sister well we're going to. start lunatic items. going to last you know saw it to be clear rush or this article. and there will be a longer. all or. longer all show you know result of. our one swallowing all our fado right now i want to visit one more place and this is the one we can detect some tiffs and the a digital project because

a lot of creative thoughts about how do we share our thoughts around the welt universally and this is one way have a look have a lesson the. project designed to glue is only a couple dozen canadians believe. in isn't it isn't and globalism polluted seen it in its 7 or 920 this is and who was one view of the normal for which is the looted indian indigenous of the 70s not a substitute for about ration but. one of those tears that has been takin did variation to ensure east asian edition of the objects that's what i've got this shockingly short amount of time left in this program but i want to ask you just briefly and thoughts why you think this movement for the return of the name francis is happening right now nail. well i think there's lots of things there is

a many many regime curators are no thinking as i say about music objects as relationships so there's been a huge change in people working in museums i think there are many there's much more thinking about history of collections and much more willingness to to listen to the people associated with objects so i think that the world has shifted in many different ways and i think we're coming together as farmers and be said to sit at a golden moment are a hour but we have got 45 seconds i think that will go ahead it was me that happening now while point some very specific political things present mycroft france went to west africa in 2017 he made a very exciting and unexpected speech saying this cannot carry on a report came out which pertained to french museums but it sent shock waves across british and german museums and then even more recently landslides matters it

exploded in the united states in the summer of 2020 there was about police brutality in europe it seems to be all about the colonial legacy and their take very quickly from here what yet for all of the funny all around the world by a long. way out what year will that make a prediction we're only or see now on 2024 years. and they are some of them is it. i love that and no t. a buck out of a nail or you chivas thank you so much for being part of this conversation now you know about the body in france as u.s.c. headlines all of the time about them have a look here on my laptop you may not be out to see them in person but you can absolutely visit digital we connecting royal art treasures and supporting everybody that will be available next year and so it's a very see you next time of the strain.

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a showcase of the best documentary films from across the necklace on al-jazeera. president joe biden says the u.s. is on the move again applauding progress in its battle against the worst pandemic in a century. 100 days ago. america's house was on fire. we had to act. i'm about this and this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up there's little comfort india turns to makeshift medical facilities.