U.S. Returns To UNESCO, Confrontations Immediately Begin

by Julio Godoy

The U.S. return was signaled by Laura Bush, wife of President George Bush at the opening session of the 32nd general assembly of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization) on Monday.

"From Oct. 1 the United States will be again a full, active, enthusiastic member of UNESCO, to promote peace and freedom, and cooperate with our colleagues to promote education, science and culture all over the world," Mrs. Bush said.

The U.S. announced in September last year that it would rejoin UNESCO, which it quit in 1984, saying its resources were being mismanaged.

UNESCO general secretary Ko•chiro Matsuura welcomed the U.S. decision to rejoin the organization as good news for the organization's finances. "Every year our budget suffers a reduction of around five percent," he said. "Thanks to the U.S. return, our organization can face the future with less austerity."

The UNESCO budget for 2004-2005 is $610 million. The U.S. government will now pay $53 million a year, and an additional reintegration fee of $5.3 million.

Some officials at UNESCO say this is about the only good thing about the U.S. decision to rejoin the organization. The U.S. based its return on several conditions. The first is an immediate place on the executive council, whose members are elected.

This U.S. demand forced four European countries -- Luxembourg, Portugal, Greece, and Monaco -- to withdraw their candidatures for the council, making sure that the U.S. ambassador to UNESCO will be elected.

The U.S. has also declared that it will not accept a proposed convention to protect cultural diversity. This convention was supported unanimously at the UNESCO general assembly in 2001.

The convention sought to protect national cultural goods such as movies and music against rules of international trade set by the World Trade Organization. The clear aim of the proposed convention was protection from the U.S. entertainment industry.

The convention is not central to the present meeting of the general assembly, which is due to continue until Oct. 18. But UNESCO was due to begin negotiations on the issue. The process was expected to take two years, but its future is now uncertain.

"The U.S. government sees culture as merchandise," a Latin American diplomat accredited with UNESCO told IPS. "For Washington, there cannot be a cultural policy." The French newspaper Le Monde quoted a UNESCO diplomat as saying: "It's obvious that the U.S. wants to defend the interest of Hollywood's powerful studios."

The vast majority of UNESCO member states support such a convention. These include the Group of 77, which represents 135 states from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, France, Canada, and the Organization Internationale de la Francophonie -- a group of some 50 states, which have French as an official or as a second language. Several European countries also back the convention.

The U.S. now could face isolation within UNESCO over this issue. A similar situation within UNESCO led Ronald Reagan's administration to leave the organization in 1984. The official explanation at the time was alleged mismanagement of resources, but UN experts say the main reason was issues relating to the Cold War.

"Reagan's decision to leave UNESCO was based on the idea that it was acting under Communist influence," says John Washburn, a former U.S. diplomat, and director of the U.S. Association for the United Nations.

The main UNESCO debates at the time were focused on the New World Information Order and the New World Economic Order, two schemes proposed by Third World countries to counter the hegemony of the North in the dissemination of news and in world trade.

Reagan's government fiercely opposed both programs, and decided to quit. Washburn says the U.S. decision was counterproductive. "U.S. researchers were forced to create their own forums to discuss issues, whereas their colleagues from other countries benefited from the UNESCO structures."

Some commentators now see the presence of President Bush's wife as special representative to the general assembly of the organization as an affront.

Laura Bush, a former teacher, has little experience in cultural, educational, or scientific policymaking, and contributes her time mostly to charity events. "This conveys a certain disdain for a conference in which over 3,000 experts take part, and which will receive five heads of government," Le Monde commented.