i’m watching an art theft documentary and they’re interviewing this art history professor from new york who was asked to go with the fbi to authenticate a rubens that had been stolen but it was a sting operation so they had to pretend like they weren’t the fbi, that they were some private buyer about to pay $3.5 million for it, and the fbi was like “this is a VERY delicate operation because you never know how they will react to what you have to say so let the agent do all of the talking, don’t say a word to anyone just nod if it’s the rubens, the last operation we did the guy in your position got shot because things went wrong in a second” and then it cuts to the professor’s interview and he says “i wasn’t going to fly down to miami to be a part of an undercover fbi sting operation to handle what could be rubens’s aurora and just NOT say anything. i was gonna have to ad lib a little” and then he tells the interviewer that when he & the fbi agent got to the hotel while he was examining the painting he started lecturing the other people, first on how badly they had wrapped it, and then about like how it had been painted, the history of it, what the subject was and what she was doing, etc etc, and he was like “i hadn’t taught a class on rubens in 15 years, so for me it was like being back in the classroom except my students couldn’t leave”
at one point during the deal the professor turned to the woman selling it and he said “isn’t this just the most beautiful rubens you’ve ever seen outside of a museum?” (because the fbi had told him earlier that this piece had been stolen from a museum) and THEN he said “where on earth did you get it from?” and the group of people the woman had with her was like taxidermy-fox.png but the woman was like “inheritance” can you IMAGINE the fbi agent about to have a fucking aneurysm when this random guy you’ve brought in just to nod if it’s the right painting not only starts giving an impromptu lecture but then he asks how they got it
I’m translating this so any foreigners who have been to the national museum can help as well. Please reblog regardless of where you’re from.
“After tonight’s tragedy, museology students from UNIRIO(University of Rio de Janeiro) are trying to help preserve the memory of the brazilian national museum. We ask that those who have videos or pictures(and even selfies), of the collection share them through the e-mail thg.museo@gmail.com”
“Believe something and the Universe is on its way to being changed. Because you’ve changed, by believing. Once you’ve changed, other things start to follow. Isn’t that the way it works?”
“Muslims forced to drink alcohol and eat pork in China’s ‘re-education’ camps, former inmate claims ‘The psychological pressure is enormous when you have to criticise yourself, denounce your thinking,’ says detainee”
these are from may 2018.
The majority being discriminated against are called Uyghurs. Khazaks, Uzbeks, and Tajiks are also being ostracized. They are Turkic minorities. They are people. And the world is unaware.
There is an estimated one million people in these so called “re-education camps”. Uyghur people are being forced to assimilate into Chinese culture through marriage. Uyghur children are forced to learn Mandarin and Uyghurqi, the language, is prohibited to be taught in schools. There is a lot of Uyghur unemployment due to ethnic discrimination. Uyghur people are routinely, unjustly imprisoned, and many die. An elderly Uyghur poet was imprisoned. An Uyghur couple my family knows was beaten, and the wife suffered a miscarriage. These are just a few examples of discrimination.
Rebiya Kadeer is fighting for our voices to be heard. She is one of many who was unjustly imprisoned, due to her political activism. She was put on death row and was told to keep quiet or her family would be killed. More than 30 of her relatives have been unjustly detained in the concentration camps. Read her book (Dragon Fighter).
My culture is forcefully being erased. My people are dying. Who is listening? Who can help us?
This is the coming of the second Holocaust. I know that that word cannot be used lightly, which is why I am using it. I hope you all understand the severity of the situation.
Please spread the word. Be aware of this. Tell your friends, your family, anyone who will listen.
Uyghurs can’t reach out for help, but you can on their behalf.
This Is a Backup Blog 