Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO: Recuse Yourself!

Irina
Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO and a candidate for the next
Secretary-General of the United Nations, has publicly
stated that she will veto an entire collection
of Palestine documentary heritage materials   that has been
nominated
to the United Nations’ Memory of the World program.




Ms.
Bokova took her stance against the Liberation
Graphics Collection of Palestine Posters after
being lobbied to do so by the World Jewish Congress. She declared her
opposition to the nomination because inscription “could fuel hatred
and anti-Semitic perceptions.”



The
charge is false. This collection of some 1,600 posters from the
1960s-1990s includes work by hundreds of Palestinian and
international artists. These posters reveal how Palestinians
organized and asserted themselves in response to invasion,
occupation, displacement, and exile. They also celebrate Palestinian
culture. Collectively the posters contain unique primary data on
Palestinian political, military, cultural, and social history.




The
nominated collection has already been approved unanimously by two MOW
expert panels. It faces a final review by a panel meeting in Abu
Dhabi on September 30. Ms. Bokova has publicly declared that,
irrespective of the experts’ opinion, she will veto the nomination.



This
is the first documentary heritage resource ever officially nominated
by the state of Palestine to the Memory of the World program.
Inscription would bring world attention to an important genre of
posters that heretofore has been banned, censored, and repressed. The
poster art of Palestine should not be stifled based on groundless
assertions of anti-Semitism. Tell Ms. Bokova you disagree with
her peremptory veto.







To
Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO




By pandering to outside lobbying,
and by declaring your intention to veto the entire Liberation
Graphics Collection of Palestine Posters even before the expert
review process had been completed, you have tarnished UNESCO’s
Memory of the World program. Moreover, you have slandered not just
individual posters, but an entire body of work from Palestine.
Because you have perverted the MOW process and demonstrated your lack
of impartiality, we demand that you recuse yourself from the final
decision. Step aside and let other UNESCO professionals consider the
Palestine collection on its own merits.



http://www.palestineposterproject.org/special-collection/liberation-graphics-collection-of-palestine.....
http://mondoweiss.net/2014/08/palestine-nominated-program
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/1.641057