Chileans Launch SNS 'Moai Return Movement'
Kept in Museum After Being Gifted to Queen Victoria
Chileans are outraged over the Moai statues held at the British Museum in the UK. On the 18th (local time), the BBC reported, "The British Museum is facing a movement for the return of Chile's Moai statues," adding, "Netizens have flooded the museum's social media accounts with comments demanding the return of the Moai statues." For a while, the account was bombarded with comments saying "Return the Moai," eventually leading to the comment function being disabled.
This movement emerged after Mike Milford, a famous Chilean influencer with over one million followers, recently proposed a "comment to return the Moai" campaign through his SNS account. He has reportedly expressed interest in the Moai statue return issue periodically.
The Moai are over 1,000 ancient statues found on Easter Island, a Chilean territory, and it remains unclear who made them or how. The indigenous people of Easter Island, the Rapa Nui, regard the Moai as sacred beings possessing the spirits of their ancestors. Chileans are demanding the return of two statues from the museum: the 'Hoa Hakananai'a' statue, meaning "stolen friend," and the smaller 'Hava' statue. Chilean President Gabriel Boric recently expressed support for the Moai statue return movement in a radio interview.
The statues are known to have been sent as a gift to Queen Victoria in 1869 by British Navy Admiral Richard Powell, before Easter Island was annexed by Chile. Queen Victoria later donated the statues to the British Museum.
However, the museum disabled the comment function on its posts, stating, "We always welcome discussion, but it must be balanced considering safety issues," and added, "We maintain good relations with the Rapa Nui people and have hosted visits from indigenous community members to London several times since 2018."
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