أَعُوذُ بِاللّٰهِ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ الرَّجِيمِ۔

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

In the name of ALLAH, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Inglorious Colonial Artifacts: Haunting Now?

Colonial artifacts are objects—including art, cultural items, and personal belongings—acquired by colonial powers (Great Britain, France etc) from indigenous populations or colonial territories, often via exploitation, theft, or forced sale during colonial rule. These items, often held in Western museums, hold immense historical value. Many items were taken as "spoils of war" or seized during periods of colonial rule. These items may constitute weapons, tools, jewelry, and personal belongings of individuals overpowered during the colonial era. Large collections exist in museums like the British Museum in London, often referred to as "imperial archives".

Colonial artifacts, often described as "inglourious" due to their acquisition through looting, conquest, and exploitation, constitute a significant portion of European and American museum collections. These objects, frequently taken during military campaigns or unfair trade practices, are now subject to increasing demands for restitution. Here are some of the most notable "inglourious" colonial artifacts and their stories:-

Benin Bronzes (Nigeria): Taken by British troops during the 1897 punitive expedition in Benin City, these thousands of metal plaques and sculptures were looted from the Oba’s palace, which was subsequently burnt to the ground. They are currently held by numerous institutions, including the British Museum and Liverpool Museums.

Magdala Ethiopian Treasures (Ethiopia): Following the 1868 Battle of Magdala, British troops carried away vast amounts of treasures—including gold crosses, sacred Tabots, and illustrated manuscripts—using 15 elephants and 200 mules.

The Koh-i-Noor Diamond (India): A 105-carat diamond seized by the British East India Company in 1849 following the annexation of the Punjab. It is currently part of the British Crown Jewels in the Tower of London.

The Parthenon Marbles (Greece): Removed by Lord Elgin from the Parthenon in Athens in the early 19th century and sold to the British Museum, these sculptures are considered a major contentious item, often called the Elgin Marbles.

Zimbabwe Birds (Zimbabwe): Carved soapstone birds stolen from the Great Zimbabwe ruins in the late 19th century, which became a symbol of colonial looting.

The Rosetta Stone (Egypt): Taken from Egypt by British troops in 1801 following the defeat of Napoleon's army, it is one of the most famous items in the British Museum.

These Colonial artifact objects are now central to discussions regarding restitution, cultural identity, and ethical museum practices. These objects continue to spark debate over the legitimacy of their current ownership and the moral imperative of returning them to their countries of origin. Restitution efforts for colonial artifacts involve the return of cultural, sacred, and historical items removed from colonized nations during periods of colonial rule, often under coerced, violent, or extractive circumstances. This process is now viewed as a moral obligation to rectify past injustices, though it is frequently complicated by legal, ethical, and political controversies regarding ownership, stewardship, and the legal frameworks of the present day.

Germany has been active in returning items, including handing back 22 Benin Bronzes to Nigeria in 2022, along with over 1,000 other objects. In 2022, Belgium handed over an inventory of 84,000 artifacts, offering to return objects to the Democratic Republic of Congo. While the UK government has been slower to act on national levels, individual museums like the Horniman Museum have returned Benin Bronzes to Nigeria. Cambridge University's Jesus College was the first in the UK to return a Benin bronze (the statue of a cockerel) in March 2021.

France is actively reshaping its legal framework to facilitate the restitution of cultural artifacts looted during the colonial era, moving away from a strict policy of inalienability for state-owned collections. Following President Emmanuel Macron’s 2017 pledge in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, to return African heritage, France has developed new legislation to streamline a previously laborious, case-by-case process. Following a 2018 report commissioned by President Emmanuel Macron, France has begun prioritizing the restitution of African artifacts, particularly from the Musée du quai Branly, although the process has faced criticism for being slow and narrow in scope. The French parliament, on Monday 13th April 2026, voted unanimously, in favor of a law that enshrines in law the procedure for the restitution of cultural artifacts looted during the colonial era (the law covers a vast 157-year period).

In the following, let's read an opinion shared on X.com on Frances latest parliamentary legislation in this regards.

France's parliament just voted - unanimously, 170 votes to 0 - a law that institutionalizes the restitution of cultural artifacts looted during the colonial era (the law covers a massive 157-year period).

It's going absolutely viral in Chinese social media because of this speech by MP @JPatrierLeitus; who noted in Parliament that it included items stolen to China during the joint British-French sack of the Summer Palace in 1860.

Patrier-Leitus cites Victor Hugo's famous 1861 letter to Captain Butler, the British officer who wrote to him seeking his endorsement of the expedition - and got the exact opposite.

Hugo wrote (whole letter here: https://yuanmingyuan.eu/en/the-looting/victor-hugo-letter/ ):

"One day two bandits entered the Summer Palace. One plundered, the other burned. Victory can be a thieving woman, or so it seems. The devastation of the Summer Palace was accomplished by the two victors acting jointly. Mixed up in all this is the name of Elgin, which inevitably calls to mind the Parthenon. What was done to the Parthenon was done to the Summer Palace, more thoroughly and better, so that nothing of it should be left. All the treasures of all our cathedrals put together could not equal this formidable and splendid museum of the Orient. It contained not only masterpieces of art, but masses of jewelry. What a great exploit, what a windfall! One of the two victors filled his pockets; when the other saw this he filled his coffers. And back they came to Europe, arm in arm, laughing away. Such is the story of the two bandits.

We Europeans are the civilized ones, and for us the Chinese are the barbarians. This is what civilization has done to barbarism.

Before history, one of the two bandits will be called France; the other will be called England. But I protest, and I thank you for giving me the opportunity! the crimes of those who lead are not the fault of those who are led; Governments are sometimes bandits, peoples never.

The French empire has pocketed half of this victory, and today with a kind of proprietorial naivety it displays the splendid bric-a-brac of the Summer Palace. I hope that a day will come when France, delivered and cleansed, will return this booty to despoiled China.

Meanwhile, there is a theft and two thieves. I take note.

This, Sir, is how much approval I give to the China expedition."

Hugo's letter is so revered in China that a bronze bust of him stands today at the Summer Palace ruins - I believe the only instance of a Westerner honored in China at the site of his own country's crime.

A powerful testament of how much a single act of intellectual honesty can redeem, if not a nation, then at least a name.

Hugo was also prescient: as Patrier-Leitus notes, that day "when France, delivered and cleansed, will return this booty to despoiled China" has indeed come (even though the "delivered and cleansed" part is, overall, pretty questionable in the current context).

This new law doesn't only concern China and the Summer Palace: it concerns ALL stolen artifacts by France during the period ranging between November 1815 and April 1972 - corresponding to the start of the second French colonial empire to the entry into force of the UNESCO convention on cultural property.

It's a massive scope: 157 years, thousands of objects and dozens of nations with potential claims. It's France reckoning with its colonial past in an unprecedented way and the fact ALL of France's MPs voted in favor of the law, without a single exception, is also pretty remarkable.

Hopefully this will also serve as a signal to other countries, especially the UK - the other "bandit" in Hugo's letter.

There is this Chinese saying from the Zuo Zhuan (左传), one of the foundational Confucian classics:

"To err and be able to correct it - there is no greater virtue." ("过而能改，善莫大焉", "guò ér néng gǎi, shàn mò dà yān").

France, with this law, proved its virtue.

"Inglorious Colonial Legacy" refers to the devastating, long-lasting impacts of European imperialism—most notably analyzed in the context of the British Empire in India by author Shashi Tharoor—which dismantled indigenous economies, entrenched social divisions, and drained wealth to fuel European industrialization.

The British systematically transformed India from a manufacturing powerhouse into a consumer of British goods. India's share of the world economy fell from approximately 23% at the start of the 18th century to just under 4% by the time of independence in 1947. The colonial administration used heavy taxation and forced agricultural shifts to maximize revenue, which exacerbating massive famine events, resulting in the deaths of millions.

In India and else where, colonial powers fostered, exacerbated, and sometimes created rigid ethnic, religious, and social divisions to maintain control (e.g., Hindu-Muslim tensions); which unfortunately continue to drive conflicts in South Asia and Africa today. Traditional education, industries, and social systems were deliberately dismantled, replaced with systems designed for colonial maintenance (e.g., a "divide-and-rule" administration and English language education for a servant class).

Colonialism was maintained through immense force, including massacres, slavery, and the removal of Indigenous populations from their lands, leaving a legacy of intergenerational trauma. The enduring legacy is characterized by unequal development, where former colonies bear the burden of poverty, political instability, and weak institutions, while the wealth extracted from them contributed to the development of the West.

The "haunted" and "inglorious" colonial legacy refers to the persistent, often traumatic, social, economic, and psychological shadows left by imperial rule in postcolonial societies. This legacy is not merely historical, but actively "haunts" the present through entrenched inequalities, systemic violence, and cultural dislocation. Key aspects of this haunting include:

Entrenched Structural Inequality: Colonial legacies created deep, lasting inequalities often structured along racial lines, where European settlers or officials were favoured at the expense of indigenous populations.

Architectural and Urban "Spectres": In cities like Calcutta, colonial infrastructure functions as a "ghost," with mansions and urban designs serving as, "loci of alternative stories" that constantly bring up memories of trauma and nostalgia.

The Colonial Continuum of Violence: Modern police states and surveillance techniques can be traced directly back to colonial practices, with colonial police systems, such as in Nigeria, influencing modern metropolitan policing.

Psychological and Cultural Haunting: Postcolonial subjects are haunted by the internalized effects of colonization, where the oppressed may continue to uphold the symbols of their former oppressors, such as the continued use of wigs and robes in African courts.

Inglorious Economic Impact: Accounts highlight how colonial rule, such as British imperialism in India, was marked by the systematic looting, plundering, and destruction of existing economic structures to serve the metropole. This "hauntology" of the colonial state signifies that the past is never fully gone, but persists as a spectral presence in contemporary politics, identity, and physical environments.

Colonial legacies continue to haunt many formerly colonized nations decades after independence, manifesting as structural, political, and social issues that inhibit development and stability. These legacies are often perpetuated by post-colonial elites who, rather than dismantling the colonial order, have adapted it to maintain their power, transforming foreign colonization into "internal colonization".

Many countries inherited highly centralized bureaucratic systems designed for extraction and control rather than public service. This includes authoritarian attitudes, the marginalization of politics, and the rise of a powerful military-bureaucratic oligarchy, which is particularly evident in South Asia and Pakistan. The legacy includes a lasting inferiority complex, often exacerbated by education systems that favored foreign languages (e.g., English) over local ones, which hindered the development of indigenous scientific and rational thinking.

The economic systems established during the colonial era, which focused on raw material extraction and cash crops, have resulted in a weak industrial base, widespread poverty, and a continued lack of economic self-sufficiency. The colonial tactic of "divide and rule"—which created, heightened, and exploited ethnic and religious differences—continues to fuel sectarian violence, ethnic conflict, and social marginalization today.

In many post-independence scenarios, native elites have occupied the positions previously held by colonial masters, continuing to use the same administrative machinery—such as colonial-era police, land laws, and judicial systems—to suppress their own people. This leads to the disenfranchisement of marginalized communities and the continuation of social exclusion.

The "Restitution Efforts" under taken in European countries is a well intended initiative and must be appreciated. The measures to offset colonial or illicitly acquired legacies involve the return of cultural objects, human remains, and treasures to their countries or communities of origin will be wellcomed. However, there is a need, to off set those "haunted legacies" as well, which were left behind to exploit the native population on perpetual basis and measures may be undertaken to liberate the common man as a free citizen able to exercise his rights with all free will.