The U.N.'s New Censor
The next head of Unesco has a record that speaks for itself.

September 6, 2009
Wall Street Journal
Original source:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204731804574392190566142468.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

To Farouk Hosni's fans, it seems the only conceivable objection to crowning him global protector of culture is his public habit of making anti-Israel slurs, notably last year's offer to burn Hebrew books. If he had held his tongue, perhaps a red carpet would await Farouk Hosni in France, an article in Le Figaro lamented last week, as the Egyptian Culture Minister landed in Paris ahead of this week's meeting to decide the next chief of the U.N. Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (more commonly known as Unesco). But there is another reason to pause before appointing Egypt's Culture Minister as Unesco head: namely, the unbroken social, political and cultural repression in Egypt under his tenure.
 
Having told Agence France-Presse that he believes he has won over 32 of the 58 nations on Unesco's executive council, the 22-year steward of Egyptian culture can taste victory. Cairo is now scrambling to quash any stray quibbles with his candidacy ahead of a vote this week on his appointment. To this end, since the Unseco job campaign began, Egypt has announced plans to allow the translation of Israeli books while feverishly contextualizing Mr. Hosni's past tirades against the Jewish state. And last month Egypt ostentatiously unveiled the ongoing restoration of an important synagogue in Cairo.
 
That scramble, sincere or not, cannot erase Mr. Hosni's sorry record as a culture czar in general. Human-rights activists are not the only ones reeling at the thought of one of Egypt's pre-eminent censors being named standard-bearer in Unesco's self-described goal to build peace in the minds of men. One can only imagine the peace in the minds of thousands of Egyptian writers, bloggers, artists, musicians, filmmakers, lecturers, broadcasters and other culture-purveyors who have been tortured, harassed, imprisoned or banned in Egypt since Mr. Hosni took office in 1987. Or the 100-plus heavy-metal fans arrested there over the last decade for their supposed Satanism. Or any of the remaining 80 million Egyptians regularly denied access to any new ideas their government deems harmful.
 
Even if Mr. Hosni's supporters succeed in cajoling or coercing pro-Israel groups to back their man, he would remain as suitable to lead Unesco as a Cairene cat would be to guard a stew. Try convincing jailed blogger Kareem Nabil Soliman, or blackballed satirist Ali Salem, or chronically harassed activist Wael Abbas, that Mr. Hosni's brand of cultural preservation should be exported throughout the world.
 
A painter himself, Mr. Hosni has never had to worry about Egyptian censorship, given the abstract nature of his work. It would seem that in Mr. Hosni's hands, culture must either bolster the state, or carry no intelligible message at all. Would that all Egyptian creators were so savvy.
 
On his Web site, Mr. Hosni implores the world to dismiss his vow to destroy Israeli literature: Do not look at one sentence. Review twenty-seven years spent in the service of culture and make an assessment of what I did in the service of humanity, creativity, writers and books.
 
One can only hope that Unesco's executive council does just that.