At
UN, Of Raga,
Ukraine &
Politics,
Concert Where
War
Crimes Were
Spun
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS, March
24 -- The UN
hosts many
cultural
events, but few
as
moving as the
concert of
Sarod
master Amjad
Ali Khan
and two of his
sons on March
24. It was
sponsored by
India's
Mission to the
UN and
was followed
by a reception
at the Mission
which included
the
musicians.
UN
officials
ranging from
former Indian
Permanent
Representative
Vijay
Nambiar to
Department of
Field Support
Ameerah Haq
were in
attendance,
along with
current
Permanent
Representative
from such
countries as
Turkey,
Angola, Fiji,
Bangladesh,
Indonesia,
Brazil and
the European
Union.
Hardly
anyone left
the Dag
Hammarskjold
Library
Auditorium
during the
more
than one hour
concert. There
were ragas and
a song by
Tagore; there
was drumming
and call and
response. And
afterward,
there was
conversation.
Secretary
General
Ban
Ki-moon having
met in Ukraine,
intentionally
or not, the
head of the
Svoboda party
was commented
on. More than
one attendee
called it a
new low; there
was a
prediction,
again, that
Ban will
leave the UN
to run for
president of
South Korea.
(To Inner City
Press, the
timing doesn't
make sense, but
the purveyors
were well
placed, for
the UN.)
In this
scenario,
would there
immediately be
an election
for a new,
five or ten
year
SG, from
Eastern
Europe? Not
necessarily:
Deputy Jan
Eliasson could
fill in, or
someone like
Helen Clark be
appointed "ad
interim."
Such was the
discussion.
On
the substance
of Ukraine and
Crimea, some
scoffed at the
"Western
hype,"
pointing out
the South
Sudan, Timor
Leste and
Kosovo all
broke away.
Others called
the "land
grab" a major
precedent,
with some
blaming it on
perceived
Western
weakness. In
either view,
Russia was not
as "isolated"
in the UN as
it
is being made
out in Western
capitals.
But
back to the
inside-UN
story: at the
end of the
concert,
Ambassador
Sinclair now
the deputy
chief of staff
of General
Assembly
President
John Ashe was
called
forward, as
was a tireless
UN events
coordinator.
The
destruction or
busting of the
UN staff union
under
Ban Ki-moon
was commented
on.
Footnote:
The
concert took
place, Inner
City Press
notes, in the
same Dag
Hammarskjold
Library
Auditorium
where the
scribes of the
old United
Nations
Correspondents
Association
not only
screened a
propaganda
film of the
Sri Lankan
government
denying war
crimes, but
then tried
to
get the
investigative
Press thrown
out of the UN
for writing
about
the
background,
click here for
that.
Now the Free
UN Coalition
for
Access
opposes all
that,
defending the
right of free
press in the
UN
and beyond.
And of free
music, with
Amjad Ali Khan
as a role
model.
Watch this
site.
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