The effects of the capitalist crisis are being felt at every level of society. As reported in a Time
magazine article in April, this also includes the preservation of
historical sites. As the cash-strapped European states race to cut
public spending and slash budgets, the historical achievements of
mankind crumble under paltry allotments for cultural preservation.
The effects of the capitalist crisis are being felt at every level of society. As reported in a Time
magazine article in April, this also includes the preservation of
historical sites. As the cash-strapped European states race to cut
public spending and slash budgets, the historical achievements of
mankind crumble under paltry allotments for cultural preservation.
In Italy, a country with more UNESCO World Heritage sites than any
other, the Berlusconi government slashed cultural spending by $1.7
billion in the last three years of its reign. The Italian government has
set aside a mere 0.2% of its national budget to be used for repairing
and maintaining its many historical sites, including the Colosseum, the
Doge’s Palace in Venice, Pompeii, and the Valley of Temples in Sicily.
The state has increasingly turned to private interests to foot the
bill—for a price.
Business and private interests contributing to cultural preservation
efforts is far from new. Yet, what we are seeing now is something
qualitatively different. With the state becoming increasingly desperate
for funds, the capitalists have become more and more emboldened, making
greater demands in exchange for their money. In Sicily, the mayor of
Agrigento plans to auction off the rights to the commercial use of
images of the Valley of Temples. This would give clothing companies the
exclusive rights to produce products featuring these treasures of
humanity.
Venice’s Bridge of Sighs at the Doge’s Palace spent most of 2010
covered with giant billboards from the bank who sponsored its
restoration, and Diesel has agreed to undertake similar restoration in
the city. Likewise, the rights to the Colosseum were auctioned off in
exchange for restoration. Two companies involved wished to drape the
site with banners and advertisements, but the winner, Diego Della Valle
of the Italian shoe maker Tod’s, has graciously decided against doing so
himself. However, he is still entitled to print Tod’s advertisements on
admission tickets, and to use the image of the Colosseum in the
company’s ads.
This is only the beginning of such privatizing efforts. A mere glance
at photos of the Bridge of Sighs covered with giant ads makes it clear
why the capitalist class is undertaking such “preservation” efforts. The
bourgeoisie is reeling from the capitalist crisis and is desperate to
find new ways to generate revenues. They will squeeze as much as they
can out of these deals while giving little as possible. After all, they
are making an investment and their interest is to maximize their
returns. They are not in the restoration business; they are in the
business of making profits.
The irony of the situation is that, due to years of decreased
spending by the Italian state, the sites are deteriorating at an
increased speed. Of course, this has not stopped them from charging
entry fees and making money from the roughly 45 million tourists eager
to view the sites each year, regardless of the safety for either the
sites or the tourists themselves (a chunk of mortar fell off of the
Colosseum during a tour in 2010)!
The cultural level of a society rests upon the strength of its mode
of production, and thus the ability of its ruling classes to support the
growth of arts and education; one must be able to first eat and obtain a
relatively stable living before anything else. A historically ascendant
society has the ability to produce cultural works that are far superior
to that of one in a period of decline, in which the mode of production
has reached its limits and comes into conflict with the relations of
production.
Both the Colosseum and the Doge’s Palace are products of ascendant
societies. The Colosseum, built between 72 and 80 A.D., was the product
of the expanding power of imperial Roman slave society, and the artistry
of the Doge’s Palace, finished by the mid-15th century, was made
possible by the growth of capitalism within feudal society through trade
and the production brought by it in the Venetian Republic.
Even a superficial comparison of the architecture and art of the late
Roman empire to the period of the earlier Colosseum shows a distinct
drop in the level of technique as the economic base of the empire
reached its limits. Furthermore, the Colosseum and other great works of
Roman architecture, suffered greatly at the hands of city dwellers
during the “Dark Ages” that followed its collapse. The inside of the
amphitheater was gutted for its stone blocks, which were used for
various other dwellings, and the marble façade was burned in order to
make quicklime. The spaces in the arcades were rented out, and in the
early 13th century, it was even fortified and used as a castle.
These priceless sites are again threatened by the ravages of a
society in historical decline. Whereas the capitalist class once
sponsored the reclamation of ancient sites from the unkind years of
feudal decay for the purpose of education and enjoyment, in the period
of their decline they are seen as mere sources of lucrative speculation.
The Albanian government has leased out many of its historical
castles, leading to untold damage from business ventures such as
restaurants and even cell phone towers. In Turkey, a 127-year-old cinema
was sold, and is now closed to make room for a shopping mall. There has
been talk about privatizing the whole of Pompeii, which has allegedly
attracted some thousands of foreign companies. This is the sign of a
ruling class that can no longer serve the interests of humanity in even
something so basic as preserving our human heritage for future
generations.
Even the mayor of Agrigento, Marco Zambuto, who is in favor of
auctioning off the rights to the Valley of Temples, thought that foreign
capital outright buying Italian ruins—an idea suggested by the Russian
billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov—was “simply unthinkable.” Other officials
have raised concerns over this method of raising money, yet they can
offer no other real solution.
The fact is that under capitalism, there is no other solution, and
the bourgeoisie and their representatives are incapable of developing
the means of production or preserving the past in any meaningful way.
The very question of who should be maintaining historical sites
illuminates the situation with stark clarity: workers are being told
that there is no money, that we have to tighten our belts—and yet,
private businesses are putting down millions that allegedly “weren’t
there.” They are sitting on enormous reserves of cash created by the
working class and yet are unable to do anything productive with it.
With a democratically planned socialist economy, we could ensure the
resources to properly care for historic sites by developing better
methods for restoring and preserving them as the level and technique of
production increases. The future of our ancient treasures can only be
assured by the one force in society that represents the future of
humanity itself: the world working class.
