UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, a specialized agency of the United Nations with the aim of promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture.
A sort of civilization interlocutor, UNESCO helps set global norms and standards, develop tools for international cooperation, generate knowledge for public policies and build global networks of sites and institutions that reflect the world’s cultural and natural diversity of ‘outstanding universal value.’
So, for obvious reasons, the US is of course now withdrawing from UNESCO:
“Continued involvement in UNESCO is not in the national interest of the United States,” says Tammy Bruce, a spokesperson for the State Department, in the statement. Bruce asserts that UNESCO’s vote to admit Palestine as a full member in 2011 was “highly problematic” and “contributed to the proliferation of anti-Israel rhetoric within the organization.”
Audrey Azoulay, director general of UNESCO, denied the anti-Israel claims, arguing in a statement that they “contradict the reality of UNESCO’s efforts, particularly in the field of Holocaust education and the fight against antisemitism.”
“UNESCO has supported 85 countries in implementing tools and training teachers to educate students about the Holocaust and genocides, and to combat Holocaust denial and hate speech,” writes Azoulay, adding that the agency’s work has been “unanimously acclaimed” by leading Jewish organizations.
That’s according to the notoriously hot-headed Smithsonian Magazine.
Yes, all is political, everything. Must learn how to politics.
Instead, we choose to deal with highly complex political, scientific and cultural questions by magically making them simple and easy. If only there was an international organization designed to serve as arbiter on such matters, rather than re-drawing them as cartoons stick figures.
Image: Credentials from my documentary film project a few years ago.
It’s back to school time! Lunch pails and school slates may have given way to Uber eats and iPads, but one anachronism that remains is the ability for donors to get their kids into the best schools. With the Trump Justice Department launching a dubious new project targeting discrimination against white students in university admissions policies, I’m not going to explain why a diverse population in any university is not just a nice thing, but inarguably a crucial component in a