“Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed” — thus is the noble aim of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Unfortunately, here too strife and wars of words have been the order of the day, as was recently demonstrated by the election of UNESCO’s director general, a process that had all the characteristics of a dog fight.
Nine candidates were in the race to take over from Japan’s Koichiro Matsuura, who ruled for 10 years, despite having no track record whatsoever in terms of education, science or culture. The same could not be said for the Arab candidate, Farouk Hosni, who has been Egypt’s Minister of Culture for more than 20 years and is a relatively successful painter.
Hosni not only had the credentials. For once, thanks to intense lobbying by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the Arab world stood as one behind Hosni. Add to that the promised support of the African Union and several European countries, and it should not come as a surprise that Hosni was the bookies’ favorite. Yet, it all went desperately wrong. The 58 members of UNESCO’s Executive Council in the final voting round opted for Irina Bokova, a relatively unknown 57-year-old diplomat, who, until last month, served as Bulgaria’s ambassador to France. Interestingly, she had picked up only a handful of votes in the first voting rounds. It appears that intense lobbying took place between rounds, not in the least by David Killion, the American ambassador to UNESCO. Bokova finally won thanks to European and American support, as well as the sudden withdrawal — after three rounds of voting — of the main European and South American candidates.
“It was clear that there was a conspiracy against me,” Hosni told reporters upon his return to Cairo. “There is a group of the world’s Jews who had a major influence in the elections and who were a serious threat to Egypt taking this position.” Those are harsh words by a no doubt very disappointed man, and Egypt’s media followed suit. “America, Europe and the Jewish lobby brought down Farouk Hosni,” wrote Almasry Alyoum. “Farouk Hosni’s campaign was met with an uncivilized attack by Jewish intellectuals in France,” wrote Al-Ahram.
Now, there is an element of truth in these hotheaded comments. On May 22, a group of Jewish intellectuals led by the French pseudo-philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy and the American Nazi hunter Elie Wiesel, both well known for their unconditional love for Israel, published a letter in Le Monde, in which they called Hosni a dangerous man and a disgrace for the international community were he to be appointed. The letter summed up a series of remarks Hosni made over the years, which are quite unfriendly towards Egypt’s Israeli neighbors and could be labeled anti-Semitic. For example, Hosni said on numerous occasions that Jews infiltrate the international media, and he once claimed that, if he ever found Israeli books on Egyptian shelves, he would burn them himself. He also called Israeli culture “inhuman and aggressive.” Seeing these remarks, and the media’s heightened attention, French and American diplomats simply could not be seen supporting Hosni.
However, if the Egyptian media had just a grain of independence left in them, they could have been a bit more critical. If Hosni truly believes there is an almighty Jewish media and lobby, could he not have been an inch more diplomatic? What’s more, the media could have partly blamed Hosni’s defeat on the schizophrenic state Egypt finds itself in.
It is common knowledge that Egyptian politicians make certain remarks for inner consumption only. Faced with a powerful Muslim-led opposition, a vast majority of the population opposed to normalized ties with Israel, as well as the country’s links to the United States; Mubarak & Co excel in speaking in two tongues, if only to ensure the billions of dollars in American aid coming their way.
Finally, one could wonder if Hosni, who as a long-serving member of the Egyptian regime is partly responsible for the country’s appalling human rights record and its severe censorship laws, is the right candidate for UNESCO’s top job.
On the other hand, if in a slightly cynical mood, the Egyptian media could for the same reasons argue that Hosni is in fact just perfect for the job, for UNESCO has been a mess for quite some years. In 1984, the US withdrew from the organization, quickly followed by its loyal lapdog Britain, which slashed the organization’s funds by about a third.
The US and the UK claimed the organization had been politicized. Or, as the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation put it: UNESCO had become a communist hotbed. With US support, Japan’s Matsuura had the task to “restructure” the organization, which he did, only to leave behind an awful stench of deep-rooted corruption. Irina Bokova: good luck in the snake pit of world culture!
PETER SPEETJENS is a Beirut-based journalist
