The battle for UNESCO

“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