National Commission Meeting Postponed

The U.S. National Commission for UNESCO was scheduled to meet in May, but I have been told that that meeting will be postponed. The new U.S. Permanent Representative to UNESCO and the new Executive Director of the National Commission have not yet been appointed and there remain other vacancies on the State Department staff dealing with UNESCO. The meeting might take place in September when the new staff are in place to meet with the National Commission.

World Poetry Day 2009

July 14, 2008 - Mahmoud Darwich
gave a poetry reading
in the ancient Roman Theater
to celebrate Actes Sud's 30th anniversary.
Photo: Khala via flickr

World Poetry Day is today, March 21st.

Among the various events organized at UNESCO Headquarters on this occasion is an evening, organized devoted to Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwich, 2007 laureate of the Struga Poetry Evenings international festival.

I found on the Internet the following poem in translation attributed to Mahmoud Darwich:

My Mother

I long for my mother's bread
My mother's coffee
Her touch
Childhood memories grow up in me
Day after day
I must be worth my life
At the hour of my death
Worth the tears of my mother.

And if I come back one day
Take me as a veil to your eyelashes
Cover my bones with the grass
Blessed by your footsteps
Bind us together
With a lock of your hair
With a thread that trails from the back of your dress
I might become immortal
Become a God
If I touch the depths of your heart.

If I come back
Use me as wood to feed your fire
As the clothesline on the roof of your house
Without your blessing
I am too weak to stand.

I am old
Give me back the star maps of childhood
So that I
Along with the swallows
Can chart the path
Back to your waiting nest.

The United States and UNESCO

View of the Capitol and its
reflection in Washington DC at night
©Olga Bogatyrenko

In 2007 voluntary contributions from the United States to UNESCO amounted to USD 3.3 million

Voluntary contributions have increased since the United States re-joined UNESCO in 2003. During its 19-year absence, the United States nevertheless continued to make voluntary contributions to a number of UNESCO’s activities.

UNESCO provides a website describing U.S. cooperation with the Organization.

Anthony O'Daly

On St. Patrick's Day I thought I would share this piece with you. The music is from Reincarnations by Samuel Barber sung by the Taipei Chamber Singers. It is a setting of the following poem:

Anthony O'Daly

Anthony!
Since your limbs were laid out
the stars do not shine!
The fish leap not out
in the waves!
On our meadows the dew
does not fall in the morn,
for O Daly is dead!
Not a flow'r can be born!
Not a word can be said!
Not a tree have a leaf!
On our meadows the dew
does not fall in the morn,
for O Daly is dead!
Anthony!
After you
there is nothing to do!
There is nothing but grief!

by James Stephens (1882-1950)
from Reincarnations, published 1918

Stephens, in turn wrote the poem as a "reincarnation" of the lament in Irish by my several times great grandfather, Anthony (Blind) Raftery (Antoine Ó Raifteiri also Antoine Ó Reachtabhra, 1784-1835). The original was written for Anthony O'Daly, a young Irishman hanged by the British as a rebel in 1820. Raftery is supposed to have witnessed the hanging.

Raftery was never published in his lifetime but the poems were stored in memory and in the Gaelic Renaissance were collected and published. Douglas Hyde, later president of Ireland, published Abhráin Atá Leagtha Ar an Reachtúire, Or, Songs Ascribed to Raftery in 1903. The book which is in both Irish and English has been made available on the Internet by Google Books. The Irish version of the poem, Anthony O'Daly, is on page 128 for those who might be interested.

Irish is identified by UNESCO as a language in peril of being lost, with only 44,000 native speakers. If it were to be lost, its heritage of thousands of years of poetry and literature would be seriously diminished. I would not that the Asian chorus, singing Anthony O'Daly, posted originally by Kuang-Chien Chen from Taiwan, is of a setting by an American composer. The intangible heritage, originally in the Irish language, has global importance.

John Anthony Daly

United States and Honduras Extend Agreement to Protect Archaeological Heritage of Honduras

A “Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Republic of Honduras Concerning the Imposition of Import Restrictions on Archaeological Materials from the Pre-Columbian Cultures of Honduras" has just been signed according to the Department of State.

Effective March 12, 2009, this extension represents a continuation of cooperation that began in 2004 when the United States implemented import restrictions to stem the problem of pillage of Honduras’ rich pre-Columbian heritage and the illicit trafficking in such material. Recognizing that this heritage is in jeopardy from pillage, the agreement enables the imposition of import restrictions on certain categories of archaeological material ranging in date from approximately 1200 B.C. to approximately 1500 A.D., including objects made of ceramic, metal, stone, shell, and animal bone. The agreement also calls upon both governments to encourage academic institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and other private entities to cooperate in the exchange of knowledge and information about the cultural patrimony of Honduras, and to collaborate in its preservation and protection.

This U.S. action is in response to a request made by the Government of Honduras under Article 9 of the 1970 UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property

UNESCO Against Racism: Lessons from the past, current challenges and future perspectives

A conference entitled UNESCO Against Racism: Lessons from the past, current challenges and future perspectives will be held on 20 March at UNESCO in Paris to coincide with International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (21 March).

The meeting will include three sessions;

• UNESCO’s 60 years of combating racism: achievements and legacy.
• Building the image of the other within and through culture, education, science and the media.
• Living together in multicultural and multiethnic societies: local authority perspectives

Read more!

UNESCO Videos: World Heritage

There is a wonderful website, which currently has a collection of nearly 200 short, beautifully produced videos chosen to convey the richness of mankind's cultural heritage.

Through the Heritage Images Archives Initiative, NHK and UNESCO are contributing to the documenting and safeguarding of tangible and intangible cultural heritage, and of natural heritage, in order to ensure transmission of knowledge between generations and promote cultural diversity.

The partnership between UNESCO and NHK Japanese broadcasting corporation builds on state-of-the-art digital visual and sound processing technologies for the production of short digital TV documentaries on Heritage using Hi-Vision technology as well as quality 3-D moving images and reconstruction images related to the World Heritage Sites.

These videos have been edited and adapted by UNESCO especially for online access.

Here is one of the videos:

The Water Palace
Alhambra, Generalife and Albayzin, Granada