Evidently the Arabs have grown addicted to the taste of defeat, which has haunted them for years. They also still insist that the cause is always a grand conspiracy to tear them apart. They are so in the thralls of this theory that they are longer able to step back in order to discern the real reasons that brought them to this nadir. The Arabs have come to excel in causing harm to themselves and in plunging headlong into losing battles. They have only themselves to blame for their current state of deterioration that has earned them worldwide scorn and ridicule. The butts of foreign conspiracies, regardless of whether or not there are grounds for such talk, would be wiser to act instead of talk — to unify ranks and take the steps necessary to thwart any such plots, rather than using “conspiracies” as a convenient screen to hide their mistakes and negligence. UNESCO has more than 190 members who fall into six groups or “cultural regions”: Western Europe and North America; Eastern European countries; Latin American countries and the Caribbean; Asia and the Pacific; Sub-Saharan Africa; and, lastly, the Arab region. Individuals from the first group (Western Europe and North America) have dominated the UNESCO leadership ranks for many years. For over half of this international organisation's life, so far, it was headed by persons from Britain, France, Italy, Spain and the US, in particular. It was only after pressure mounted since the early 1970s that it became possible for people from the other five groups to become UNESCO director-general. Individuals from Mexico (Group 3), Senegal (Group 5), Japan (Group 4) and Bulgaria (Group 2) have served as UNESCO chiefs for one or two terms. The only group that has so far been unable to attain that post is the sixth group. No Arab has served as UNESCO director-general since it was founded in 1945, even though Arab candidates were fielded in three previous electoral rounds (1999, 2009 and 2013). Many Arab figures have stepped forward for this year's elections, but so far none of them appear to stand a better chance than their predecessors. One can only ask why. In 1999, a curious thing happened. There were two Arab candidates, one was Ghazi Al-Qasibi, who was officially nominated by Saudi Arabia. The other was Ismail Serageddin, who was officially nominated not by an Arab country but by an African one, Egypt. Since the Arab vote was split, as was that of their friends, both Arab candidates lost and the winner was the Japanese candidate, Koïchiro Matsuura. The same situation repeated itself in 2009, with Farouk Hosni (Egypt), officially nominated by Egypt, Sudan, Kuwait and Libya, and Mohamed Bedjaoui (Algeria), officially nominated by Cambodia. Again, both lost, in spite of the fact that Mubarak personally intervened in order to persuade President Abdel-Aziz Bouteflika to withdraw the Algerian candidate. The winner that year was Irina Bokova (Bulgaria). Once again, in 2013, there were two candidates from the Arab region: Rashad Farah from Djibouti and Joseph Maila from Lebanon. However, the ballots favoured the Bulgarian candidate for a second term. Clearly, the Arabs have failed to learn lessons from their previous experiences. Once again, they are repeating the same mistake as the elections for Bokova's successor approach in 2017. So far, four Arab figures have stated their desire to run for UNESCO director-general: Moushira Khattab (Egypt), Hamad Bin Abdul-Aziz Al-Kawari (Qatar), Vera Khouri (Lebanon) and Ghassan Salama (Lebanon). The latter has not yet been officially nominated, although I personally prefer him, regardless of the confusion and discord in the circles of Arab officialdom. Whatever criteria Arab governments use when it comes to nominating someone for that high international position, competence is probably the last qualification they think of. The most frequently applied criterion is personal acquaintance between the ruler and the candidate. This is because Arab rulers regard such posts not as influential administrative or intellectual positions that can benefit their societies and states, or the region, the international community and humanity as a whole, but as “prizes” that they can award to their friends or supporters in return for services rendered and obsequiousness served. In my opinion, Ismail Serageddin was worthy of the post to which he was nominated in 1999 because of his extensive administrative expertise, international connections and encyclopaedic cultural knowledge. Although he was close to both President Mubarak and Suzanne Mubarak, who devoted particular care and attention to the activities of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, which she personally oversaw, the usual political toadying kept him from being officially nominated by the state. In the 2009 elections, Egypt pitted its weight behind Farouk Hosni, offering him unprecedented levels of material and political support, although I believe that Egypt, at the time, could have found a better candidate than this former cultural minister. It could, for example, have nominated Serageddin and made up for its earlier mistake of not doing so. In all events, today the government is committing the same mistake again because of its short-sightedness. I can see no reason why an eminent and highly qualified Arab figure can not be nominated as UNESCO director-general, especially at this stage in the evolution of the Arab and world orders when the Arabs need more than ever to rectify their image abroad. In the 1950s, the Arabs fought tenaciously in UNESCO in order to gain recognition as a distinct regional group. It was a battle to affirm their cultural particularity in the largest international organisation concerned with cultural affairs and, at the same time to reject the notion of the “Middle East” as a basis for UNESCO's regional activities. With all my respect and esteem to the Arab candidates that have been nominated, especially those nominated by some Arab countries, I believe that Ghassan Salama is the most appropriate Arab candidate for the UNESCO leadership, at this stage in particular. I have many reasons for this, some having to do with his personal qualifications, others with the current circumstances in the region. By virtue of his profession and past experience, Ghassan Salama has a political vision for the nature of this international organisation and its work. Above all, he is particularly acute to the sensitive role it should play to promote the values of tolerance and to the need to put into practice the principle in the UNESCO constitution that states, “since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed.” Given our regional circumstances, it is important both for Lebanon and for the Arab region to have a highly erudite Lebanese figure in the international cultural organisation in order to reaffirm the values of peaceful coexistence in a world filled with hatred and extremist tendencies. Could the Arab countries agree on Salama and pool their concerted weight behind him as their candidate for the post of UNESCO director-general? I believe that this time they could and then feel proud that they brought in someone who is truly capable of performing a useful and needed role at this juncture. The writer is professor of political science at Cairo University.
