Leading UNESCO

I understand fully that in international organizations, the political issues that underly election of top officials sometimes go beyond pure merit. In these instances, the clout of the country from which a professional comes from is material. There is not only a lot of lobbying and promises to exchange support in the future but also reference to a candidate's standing about issues that are divisive. A fortnight ago, member states elected a new Director General for UNESCo and as reported here by Michael Slackman of the NYT, this was even more overtly political.

In spite of those facts among many others that I have not mentioned, I am glad that the elections of the Director General of UNESCO was determined as it did. My main reason is that Farouk Hosny did not deserve to be elected to UNESCO leadership for the reason that while he has held intellectual positions, he particularly advocated for the burning of books for the reason that they were the works of Jewish authors. While I hold no illusions about the perfection of all men and the processes that determine elections to international bodies, I think that for an intellectual to adopt such nativist and dangerous populism is an indication that they are insufficiently independent minded to hold positions of advancing literacy and such culture. I now little about UNESCO but I know who does not deserve to serve in its leadership.