intact with each other over the sound we pass on information. what is happening in our area? or if a boat goes by, i will tell the others where it went, in which direction, and we will react so that if something illegal is happening, we can stop it. the sturgeon ah, now better protected and better understood. but george's government once more, hydro power on this river, not less, their survival still hangs in the balance. robin 1st year walker al jazeera on the re only river in western georgia. ah, there's out there on these are the top stories. the u. s. and french presidents of hell, the 1st in person meeting since their countries most serious diplomatic dispute in years, joe biden acknowledged the handing of recent security agreement with australia and the you, kate was clumsy. we have to order for no

more loyal. this is ally in france. it's been with us from the beginning region part came all we did was quantity was done with a lot of grace. i was under the impression, certain things that happened that had but i mean, clear rate really well, joe biden has also met the head of the roman catholic church, the vatican. the white house has biden commended the pope's efforts to fight the climate crisis. and his efforts towards ending the global current of iris pandemic . of jonathan's economy is on the brink of collapse and the un humanitarian chief bought in. griffith is calling on the world's most powerful countries to do something about it. during this weekend's g. 20 summit putting cash in the economy is not putting cash into the hands of the telecom. as we very clear about that.

putting cash and the economy means that nurses can be paid. it means that traders can operate. it means that women running small businesses can do that. the us food and drug administration has authorized the pfizer by and take coven 19 vaccine for children as young as 5 charles for the group began in july. the dr to vaccinate. children was spurred by rise and infections of the delta variance and the reopening of schools and the u. k threatening, greater checks on all e vessels, if fishing in his waters, a france goes ahead with a series of proposed sanctions. the escalating dispute is linked to a post briggs fishing green. paris is threatening sanctions. if the u. k. doesn't grant more licenses of french fishermen, the british government says if those actions are implemented, it would put the e u in breach of a trade agreement. now those are the headlines. the news continues, hey, aren't out there after inside. soaring and you can also catch up on al jazeera,

don't come ah, should stolen african art be returned, 3 institutions in the u. k. and france are giving back artifacts, but some say the objects should remain in european museums. so who is right? this is inside story. ah hello and welcome to the program. i'm hammered. jim, jim, european institutions like the british museum and the louvre are home to some of

the world's finest art. but some of the treasures on display were stolen during colonial times. experts believe up to 90 percent of african cultural artifacts were taken from the continent. this week 3 european institutions gave back items stolen more than a century ago from nigeria and been campaigners who fought for years to return those objects. hope it's just the start. but others believe the artifact should remain in europe will bring in our guests in a moment. first, this report from omni dress in nigerian capital, a boucher off to nearly 125 years in foreign lands. this tolan bronze statue depicted the head of the king of my generous, ancient been kingdom is finally on its way home. for more than a century. it's beauty and craft was looked at and appreciated by a privileged view. it has taken companies and communities from white was looted beckett's to get back this object of immense religious and cultural significance.

on wednesday, the university of cambridge became the fust institution to return such an artifact where all thrilled and seemed as they arrive when the bronze is finally returned home. but what was so painfully aware of having the price, it's rightful owners for so long of its presence. and we offer a heartfelt apologies for the historic from also in paris, president manon mackerel led a ceremony to return a set of 26 pieces of odd votes. stolen from franz's former colony, been in in 1892 left constant with icbc them. france had to act given the fact that 95 percent of the african material heritage is said to be outside of africa. all young people need to take possession of their history. to better build their future, there was no reason to condemn the african youth to be denied access to its own

history. mister. extra say the event of the past few days are significant. there is some so the potential now through these actions for some truth telling at, for very even some reconciliation and the returns. so the significance either of these items really relates to their buy in conic states. us that underlying the significance of african arts. but campaign is inactive, is also aware that getting all of the stolen artifacts back could take a long time. the k brunley museum in paris hold some 70000 african artifacts. while london, british museum has tens of thousands more. while campaign is a happy with a progress in negotiations with countries like belgium, they're less helpful with others. in particular, they're worried about the fate of looted items in the hands of private collectors. we want to a metal nigeria swan particularly did or people to see what belongs to them in or objects of far history and cultural import us.

the campaign to returned the been in bronzes and thousands of other artifacts looted during the centers. long colonization of africa, i stick in a long time campaign as hope, the events of the united kingdom and france this week will begin a process that could see the return of most of africa stolen, historic and cultural artifact. automated res al jazeera, a butcher. many countries worldwide are campaigning to get their stolen artifacts back. mexico recently showcase 1500 indigenous rare pieces that were in european museums. it recovered more than $5700.00 items since 2018. use iams and canada have started returning indigenous art including cree beaded hoods made in the 18 fifty's, nearly 2000 aboriginal and torres strait islander cultural heritage items have been repatriated to australia from overseas. who zealand has brought back the remains of

800 indigenous people after it created a repatriated program to return stolen. murray, and morte already. heritage and india is still battling to bring back historical artifacts that were stolen during its colonial rule and independence. in 1947. all right, let's bring in our guess in cambridge, u. k. so nita elaine master of jesus college at cambridge university in princeton, new jersey chica. okay. k a glue professor of african and african diaspora, art history at princeton university. and in london, ed cross curator galleries and owner of ed cross fine art, a warm welcome to you all. and thanks for being with us today on inside story. so need a, let me start with you. jesus college, of course, has become the 1st institution in the u. k. to return a, been in bronze. i want you to talk our audience through just how significant a step that was and what it means to you and your colleagues. well, i think it thank you. ma'am, it is in the world to return

a bronze. it was very, very sick and the journey of the rest quarters began in 2016 when some students noticed that the clock at the bottom of the ocho was residing in the bowl of jesus in 2019 we had them and then they were set up, looked at the historical, the model and the legal framework by which the could come to the college. 1005. and then when i became austin october, 2019, it was the 1st lived on the agenda for society meeting recently the whole front of ship it from the, from the teacher, the last college to someone who's been there the longest. and it was very unanimous decision that frankly, it was, it was wrong that we had it and it was the right thing to do to get it back to its

original owners. so it was very emotional. and i think that the front should i felt right around most of the college because i felt like it's when good people get in the room and make a good decision. and good things happen, chicken from your vantage point just how much of a milestone are these hand overs? well, it's quite tremendous a wonderful moment precisely because apart from the specific significance of the return of the artifact from jesus college, it sets it very clear and direct precedence for the broader question of the return of the artifacts that were looted and stolen in 18. 97. if you saw the news coming out of nigeria in the past 2 days,

you would see how important this occasion is for the benign people, for nigerians, for africans on the continent and in the diaspora. precisely because it does begin the process of amending the criminal act as that was a bit treated by colonial powers, by expropriate in and looting treasures from there is a part of the continent. the been in case, of course, is the most well documented have the most expensive of these acts of looting. but there are several others around the continent and in the home, in the shanty and elsewhere on the continent. so this is a very important moment and i'm hoping that it's really just beginning ed from your perspective. do you believe that this is the beginning of

a process that could see the return of many more stolen artifact? yes, i'm not a museum, but they can be going to be them official but absolutely believe that i think that it's, it's really not tenable in my own personal opinion to, to retain these artifacts that i mean, particularly the and most of them are in that in that category, artifacts that have extremely dubious, you know, were acquired and most extremely gave it way. so a stolen and in fact. and it's interesting to see how much the dial is shift shifted on this over the last. i mean, i've been in contemporary african are promoting it for 20 years as an english person. and i've seen that the, the sort of understanding of what's,

what happened in the colonial periods sort of filtering through to, to, to more and more people. and it's now it's now very, very compelling that these works are returned. it's a matter of, i think it's a spirit, if you can talk about spiritual things. but it's, it's, it's extremely important for contemporary african arses. i believe that some of these works or, you know, that these works are actually where they should be. i also believe that people talk about sharing works and things like that. i mean, i believe the ownership personally should, should revert to the original owners. but i also think there is a case for agreements to be made. so that works can be displayed again for periods of time in the institutions that of safeguard these works over the years,

allowing more and more people to see them internationally. but i believe that the, the principal said than the principal residence, if you like these works, should be back in the countries from which they, they, they were taken a senate. i saw you're reacting to some of what ed was talking about there. let me ask you, when it comes to the issue of the possibility of returning looted works, is this going to be more of a case of artworks actually being returned or are we going to see more arrangements going forward, where artwork is shared or lint? i think so, i think of them makes but i think it should be the choice of with sickly, with the opening bronze in thank you. that is that to for my mind oversee, she made a choice of idea and running. i think that once you realize that once you realize that something is wrong and you to take them all an imperative this morning,

parents to do the right thing. it has to be returned with no caveats. and so i think i'm a guy reactive because it used to i'd safeguarding which a in a way is, is because they're in the possession of places. i do think that he's right though in terms of the simplest thing to do and anyway, it's a, it's profound thing that the corner states i is profound and because we're the 1st to do it. but i think that the simplex of just doing a legal transfer, you know, it's, it's really straightforward. you need to transfer list all the objects that you have and make the transfer of technology and government. i think, well, i know they've been in there playing to build a museum. there's not a lot of plans from other museums as well. but museums are very mature in the, the, the framework where they kind of learn things around the world. and so that the cost of, well we can, we can, we can membrane and we could see each of this all work ministers. absolutely,

absolutely. wonderful. and raymond, jesus, we have an exhibition charges to come down is, i mean, we, we, we do this with the time galleries working very, very mature way. but the fundamental thing is that the, the ownership is now beyond is on contestable. i agree with and is, and i think something it was hinting at which was that is really important for young people to be rooted in their past and to see their past and in the u. k. in cambridge among then, and we do the old time we want, we want young people to be able to come in and see their past chica. you know, we've been talking a lot about the importance of art and artifacts being returned. i want to just take a step back for a moment and look at the impact of these artifacts being taken in the 1st place. you know, it's been estimated that perhaps up to 95 percent of cultural objects from africa are housed outside the african continent. what does it mean for society to lose so

much of that cultural legacy? how devastating is that? well, i think the best way to respond to that is to imagine if all the so called great museums of europe, where emptied of their collections or how to even begin to imagine the, the, the narrative. the story is the mythologies that have been constructed around this idea of western civilization and kids are taking to the museums to tell them the story of, of, of western civilization, of europe's history. through the works and cultural artifacts that and lodged in, in these museums. and then you look at what happened with the african continent, the, the vast systematic expropriation of its cultural heritage. and by the way,

one should also pay mind to the other act of expropriation which was the age of lead. and what that did to the continent in terms of taking away some of the best people and minds and bodies, away from the continent and how that depressed society and culture across the board. and so if you think about the equivalent of that, which is part of what makes the site part of how is society, imagine how it teaches that young and how it construct its present and future that without the cultural resources that had been there in the 1st instance, as part of how the societies developed related with other people that these are

incredible cultural archive. so it's, it's equivalent imagining if you didn't have your great libraries and culture centers, that is part of what happened to the continent. and so the return of these objects sometimes to the original size, sometimes in to new institutions, because africa has also evolved well by these decades of published new forms of charlotte and cultural institutions. the return of these objects and reading corporation of them into the new social environmental culturally positions that africa. i'm more than willing to establish in addition to the ones that they have already in existence. that it would mean in terms of social reaffirmation, culturally affirmation of subjectivities and identities of african people,

especially in this present age of globalization ad i saw you nodding along to some of what you with thanks. i want to give you a chance to jump in, but i also want to, after, you know, we're talking before about how much attitudes have shifted around this particular subject matter. so why has it taken this long to get to this moment? i think there has been a kind of denial amongst european europeans about the slave trade in about colonialism. there's certainly been a denial within the u. k. about the impact of our in power and our colonial history history. so i put it down to denial really and i think it's, it's been shipped away by, by sort of academics and activists and rices and intellectuals over the years. and the last 20 years, what was once a french view is now as

a say's is really right and sense doesn't mean to say that everyone subscribes that . of course there's so many people as unfortunately who are still in denial, but it can't really be avoided anymore. and totally see so yes it's, i think it's, it's, it's an amnesia problem. and we, we have, we've made, you know, things have moved on and it's really good to see that. i mean it's, we've got a long way to go. but over the last 20 years, i'll say that i've been involved in this, it's changed dramatically and not to mention the growth of contemporary african oss and so on. which in some ways is a reaction. in some ways i would, i would sort of pause it, it was some of it was the kind of reaction away. i run it from traditional african art because that's what the world thought about when,

when you talked about african, was all about traditional. and there was a new, whole new world contemporary african i think what's been going on to clear the last 10 years ago. i see it is more and more office you know, really engaging with that with the heritage. that's incredible. you know that she was talking about this incredible richness that the of the archive that is that, i mean, i think about the office behind me to work. he, his house is completely full of traditional, amongst other things, the traditional african art. so he has created this kind of museum and breaks, which is all it means then it's very lance and he feeds all off of this incredible richness. and there are many assets. obviously there are many artists like i'm delighted to see that, and i think the return of these things will, will kind of will be

a hugely significance when it happens. and i really do believe it will. of course, returning of artworks and artifacts is that that's one issue. a separate issue is presenting the artifacts that are already in many of these institutions in the west . do you think that we're going to start seeing more museums, more art institutions start labeling collections more truthfully? will they start presenting more context about the violent looted past associated with these artworks and artifacts? i think so. i think there's a shift towards that. let me really museums and galleries, spaces and houses and universities. they're all that they all have one shared characteristics, which is their places of learning. and i think that as we kind of move forward and be able to kind of research and, and present a full case, people come denying what happened in the past or is just can say, well,

this is the truth of this object. this is you more information about it or is the context for it? i don't think there's anything. there's anything wrong with that. me think that more people are, are beginning to do that, and it's a good thing to say that we keep referring to the process as artwork. yes. every beautiful. well, one thing that we've, we've realized through this or can with this is that these are cuz spiritual objects occur in that we had it, jesus, it is them emblematic memorialize is a key mother from the, the warning still family of been in. so it's a, it's natural answers to, it's an allen, it's a, it's more an object than most of them. most of them are so that they have a different spiritual meaning when different people look at them. and which is i think that bring them back, can bring them back to life when they is the correct either looking at. that's why

i think it's important to make that case. rekey took offense, work right then, but she could are artists and campaigners who have worked so hard to get to this point. as far as putting pressure on museums as far as negotiating with governments. are they happy with the progress made thus far? and what happens next? well, yes, happy is very small, progress is beginning to happen, but make no mistake about it. well, it's just beginning of the, the color as activists, artists, policy makers that are locked in on the question that is absolutely no going back. as i said, i have in mind american institutions that have largely played the

ostrich in the whole affair. all the news that we're getting these days about risk of african artist by coming from europe. and so you wonder what the americans are doing to be frank? that's probably the next target in terms of insisting that they begin to tell us what they plan to do about these artifacts that are also in the collections and museums. previously, we heard that well, colonization was an euro piano affair in terms of africa. and so this is an european problem, but this is so nonsensical, you know, really crazy argue meant to make because germany did not look, been an artifact, right? they acquired them in the same way that the american institutions acquired them from all kinds of sources when germany is now returning more the 1000 objects that

are in its collections. and so we're all waiting and asking one, these are the museums across the pilot, especially in the united states are going to do about the north and they are keeping because we will not keep quiet about it. it's a new generation of colors and activists that are very clear about addressing these injustices of history. it's more than a 100 years now and it's about time to begin to take them to task. it's no longer business as usual. all right, well we have run out of time, so we're going to have to leave the conversation here. thank you so much. all of our guest, so nita elaine chicka ok k r glue and ed cross and thank you for watching. you can see the program again any time by visiting our website al jazeera dot com, and for further discussion, go to our facebook page. that's facebook dot com,

forward slash ha inside story. you can also join the conversation on twitter or handle is at ha, inside story for me, how much room and the whole team here, bye for now. ah and a lead us from the world's biggest economies arriving here in rome to discuss the deteriorating economic situation in afghanistan. but all lies will also be on the g twenty's responses to the climate emergency come. they probably the way to prioritize departments health over g d. p

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been with us from the beginning region part came.