Hameda Deedat
South Africa

I had the privilege as a comrade who had years of experience in non- accredited worker education to participate in discussions with academics, activists, teachers and student all working in or students of the formal education sectors. The campaign to move the UNESCO headquarters out of New York to a country in the South, either in Africa or Cuba had support from comrades. At the time, which was a few years back, I too  supported the idea that UN institutions should be in the global south, nearer to the ground, and the issues at hand and the people the UN institutions profess to serve, This was across the board, UN security council, UNFCCC, UNESCO, WHO, UNCTAD and other agencies of the UN. As the discussion ensued, the context of genocide in Gaza, Israeli occupation of Lebanon and Syria, the war in Ukraine Sudan the Congo to name a few raged on , But rather than preface the discussions it seemed distant until the attack on the war on Iran last year and the ICC case both increasing the heat on the UN Security council  to act against the genocide, intervene in the Ukraine war, the war in Sudan, and others.

While there were watered down messages, on the genocide in Gaza, and the SA case to the ICJ, it did not come without backlash. Chief prosecutor Karim Khan of the ICC has been accused of sexual harassment and the bureaucracy is  hell bent on finding him guilty. Similarly Francesca UN special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories in response to her outrage against the genocide in Gaza and ongoing land grab and murder and displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank and  other parts of Palestine, has had to face intense geopolitical backlash personal threats and US financial sanctions. All this despite being a UN official, employed by the UN to report on Palestine and speaking truth to power. The inaction of the UN speaks volumes echoes by its inability to stop the wars in Africa, the war between Russia and Ukraine, the war on Iran and Lebanon, and Yemen, the kidnapping of Maduro, the threats against Cuba, and Greenland, the multiple lethal strikes by the US on fishing boats  in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean off the cost of Columbia and once again the UN Security councils silence is deafening.

So, lets move away slightly from war and genocide and focus on the UNFCCC. There  has been COP after COP after COP and despite all the talk carbon emissions are on the increase. Tthe Global South continues to be ravaged by MNC’s in the name of green energy and the extraction of rare earth minerals and Lithium and cobalt and soc called “critical minerals” re-enact the WW2 scramble for Africa. The devastation and plunder as workers communities and the land and water once again become the causalities of the greed does not translate into any definitive action against the largest polluters, The irony of all is as countries of the South and Africa which barely has a carbon footprint are sold the myth of green economy, green energy and the just transition, and that Africa even though it is not responsible for climate change must be an integral part of the solution. This despite the consequence being disproportionate. Africa is said to get hotter and drier and colder and wetter as el nino and el nina reek havoc. Millions of climate migrants are forecast for SADC alone and the recent xenophobic attacks and black on black violence stemmed by deep rooted poverty and desperation brought on by climate disasters, wars, and climate catastrophes of famines caused by droughts, and flooding that has caused land displacement, all of which catalyse regional migration. And yet, yet the greatest polluters, the military and the US military in particular as shown by Abby Matin’s documentary “Earth’s Greatest Enemy.” The empirical evidence in this documentary makes the UNFCCC and COP a farce, the world minus the US military the worst carbon emitter must pretend to manage GHG while the bombs on GAZA, Lebanon, Iran, Sudan, Russia Ukraine the Gulf states continue to fall. According to One Earth, the carbon footprint of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza is estimated to be  33,2million tons of carbon emissions and this exceeds the annual greenhouse gas emissions of over 100 countries  yearly output. As if this is not enough, Israels further impunity is the setting alight of the forests in Lebanon, causing ecological destruction in the Southern and regional border areas Centuries old, old stone pines oak woodlands nad vital natural habitats have been reduced to scorch earth. So where  is the outcry of the UNFCCC the climate activists the scientists the ones calling for the global South to keep the earths temperature below 1,5 degrees like climate change is the fault of the South, The polluters the perpetrators the enemy of the earth are untouchable!

Education is not my area of specialisation nor is UNESCO but like all UN agencies it was set up with good intentions. Global politics and the hegemons however,  are inherent and integral to its architecture. And for as long as UN and multilateral agencies cannot act independently and where the decision of votes are weighed against the essence of what the UN had envisioned to stand for, relocating the UNESCO with this architecture in tact might just add insult to injury. They will employ those who look like us, speak like us, share our values and culture and have them pretend to us that through them our interests have been served. As a trade activist we used to in the 1990;s detest the WTO and its multilateral trading system – the mantra was sink or shrink  the WTO . Reformists seem to have  won this one, when Bilateral trade agreements became the order of the day  and where we are almost nostalgic for the WTO because it had rules, even if unfairly applied. Today, Trump can just ignore the WTO and impose 40% or 100 % tariffs of impose sanctions as if it were his new toy. The UN is undoubtedly under US control and the unequal veto power that swings the decision against moral conscience in favour of evil or morally debase is evidence of this. But one should not throw the baby out with the bath water, if the struggle against the WTO taught us anything, make sure us have revamped the architecture even if you keep institution. To campaigners to relocate UNESCO, this challenge is up to you.