On
Education,
UNESCO Light
on Net,
Privileges
Censors,
Banning
Coursera
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
January 29 --
Flaws and
waste in
education
globally were
the
topics of a
UNESCO report
and press
briefing on
January 29.
Inner
City Press
listened to
the 20 minute
opening
presentation
by UNESCO's
Vibeke Jensen
but did not
hear, once,
the word
"Internet."
This seemed
strange, so
Inner City
Press sought
to ask this
and a few
other
questions.
But
UNESCO,
despite its
stated
commitment to
press freedom
and by
implication
equality,
pointedly
awarded the
first question
to Pamela
Falk of CBS as
president of
the United
Nations
Correspondents
Association.
There's
a
problem: this
UNCA has
degenerated
into the UN's
Censorship
Alliance,
having sought
to get the
investigative
press thrown
out of
the UN,
and now misusing
copyright law
to ban leaked
documents
showing this
from Google's
search. No
reforms have
been
implemented or
even proposed
under CBS's
Pam Falk.
So what does
UNESCO openly
privileging this
UN Censorship
Alliance say
about UNESCO?
After
Falk's
question -- it
is entirely
unclear if the
answer will
ever get
reported --
Inner City
Press thanked
Jensen on
behalf of the
new Free
UN Coalition
for Access and
asked about
the Internet
and what
percentage of
GDP spent on
education
UNESCO
advises, if
the six
percent of the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo is
too little?
Jensen
said UNESCO does
work on the
Internet --
glad to hear
it -- but said
in this field,
mostly on
teacher
training. What
about the Khan
Academy model,
for example?
Nor did Jensen
ever answer
the percentage
of GDP
question.
Perhaps time
did not permit
- in which
case the
automatic
award of the
first question
to UNCA is all
the more
indefensible.
So
here is a
question that,
because of
this, could
not get asked
on
January 29:
what is the
UN's position
on Coursera
being banned
in
Sudan, Iran
and Cuba,
where
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon just
said
he "addressed
the impact of
the embargo"?
UNESCO's
Irina
Bokova is
widely
reported to be
campaigning to
replace Ban as
Secretary
General. But
now as Inner
City Press first
reported back
on November 18,
Helen
Clark is now
portrayed in
the Guardian
as joining the
fray. Should
commitment to
press freedom
and equality
be at least
one of the
criteria? This
is the UN.
Watch this
site.
, 
