TERRORISM FUNDING AND ANCIENT ARTIFACTS, PARTNERSHIP FOR PROFIT

Abstract

My work aims at encouraging the interdisciplinary or “bridge-building” approach of different academic disciplines. Experts in Security Studies, Political Science, History, Archaeology, naming just a few, need to cooperate, to corroborate and to collaborate in order to preserve, defend and recover, ancient artifacts and cultural heritage, from the sticky hands of artifacts smugglers and terrorist funders. Who thought about the fact that a bomb that kills people in various parts of the world, was funded by illicit art and artifact smuggling? The world is getting inter-connected, we have pluses, but we also have minuses. We have advantages but we also have disadvantages. But, most important, we have more responsibilities. Who is investing in education is investing in future, the one that does not know the past, is forced to repeat it. The one that has respect for the previous generations of humans, no matter the area, protects their heritage. It is easier to destroy than it is to repair and to build. Ancient artifacts are a honey trap for terrorists. The global heritage that escapes from destruction, process that takes place because of radicalization and in the name of the modern Islamic heritage, is getting lost on various trade routes, in the global name of profit, the common language of terrorist organizations. They say that ideas and ideals are bulletproof, but in order to have the bulletproof vest, you need to buy it, and this is the moment when, and the reason why, illegal smuggling of ancient artifacts takes place.