• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Jewish French Moroccan Ms. Audrey Azoulay voted new UNESCO chief

D

DiipuSurotu

Banned
PARIS: UNESCO's executive board has chosen former French Culture Minister Audrey Azoulay to be the UN cultural agency's next leader over a Qatari candidate in an unusually heated race overshadowed by Mideast tensions.

The US announcement this week that it's quitting UNESCO rocked the multi-day election and heightened concerns about the agency's funding and future direction.

Azoulay succeeds outgoing Director-General Irina Bokova of Bulgaria, whose eight-year term was marred by financial woes and criticism over Palestine's inclusion as a member.
Click to expand...
The 45-year-old took the stage to chants of "Audrey! Audrey!" following her victory and said the response to UNESCO's problems was to reform the agency, not to walk away an understated rebuke of the US and Israel.

"In this moment of crisis, I believe we must invest in UNESCO more than ever, look to support and reinforce it, and to reform it. And not leave it," she said.

In a short address, she also thanked "the Executive Board member states that gave me their trust" in her surprise 30-28 vote win yesterday over Qatari candidate Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kawari.
Click to expand...

Ms. Azoulay, who was born into a Jewish Moroccan family, served for just over a year as culture minister under President François Hollande. Although she declared her candidacy before the election of the current president, Emmanuel Macron, the new government supported her bid.
Click to expand...

More at: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/13/world/europe/unesco-france.html

Criticize my anti-search function bias if old
 
W

Wickerbasket

Member
daviyoung said:
you mean their response to Trump saying they have an anti-Jewish bias is by hiring a Jewish CEO?

that isn't a "fuck you", that's a grovel
Click to expand...
Nobody's going to grovel to Trump.

They didn't pick her because she was Jewish, they picked her because she was the best candidate for the job.

It does have the added bonus of making Trump look ignorant on yet another topic, but I doubt that was even on their mind when making the decision.
 
D

daviyoung

Banned
N7.Angel said:
Nope.
Click to expand...

lol, explain

if those things are related, which I highly doubt, it's literally a "I can't have a Jewish bias, I have a Jewish friend!"

Wickerbasket said:
Nobody's going to grovel to Trump.

They didn't pick her because she was Jewish, they picked her because she was the best candidate for the job.

It has the added bonus of making Trump look ignorant on yet another topic.
Click to expand...

exactly, that's why I'm dubious that it was related at all which the very intelligent "nope" poster seems to imply
 
N

N7.Angel

Member
Westbahnhof said:
Why not? I mean, it's not necessarily a grovel, but it seems like an action of appeasement.
Maybe one could argue it's not, but regardless, it's not a "fuck you".
Click to expand...

Because it sound like "see you're wrong again Trump, like always" kind of stuff, people know the US will do dumb things during Trump mandate so it's not a grovel, did you see other nations do an action of appeasement when Trump leaves the Paris agreement ? no because as stupid as it was, we can't do anything about stupidity.
 
W

Westbahnhof

Banned
N7.Angel said:
Because it sound like "see you're wrong again Trump, like always" kind of stuff, people know the US will do dumb things during Trump mandate so it's not a grovel, did you see other nations do an action of appeasement when Trump leaves the Paris agreement ? no because as stupid as it was, we can't do anything about stupidity.
Click to expand...

I still don't see it as a "fuck you" unless it was done because of Trump.
This is just Trump being wrong, isn't it?
 
Q

Quixzlizx

Member
So does that mean America isn't racist because we elected Barack Obama?

I'm not arguing either way about UNESCO, but I don't see how this proves anything other than UNESCO is willing to send a "fuck you" Trump's way.
 
H

HStallion

Now what's the next step in your master plan?
daviyoung said:
you mean their response to Trump saying they have an anti-Jewish bias is by hiring a Jewish CEO?

that isn't a "fuck you", that's a grovel
Click to expand...

Even if it wasn't because of Trump, the fact it happened still is a veritable slap in Trump's face.
 
Z

Zenner

Member
The US suspended paying its UNESCO dues 6 years ago, in Obama's term. Was it the Republican-majority House & Senate who did that, or was that the President's call back then, too? I guess Trump's just making the end official.

UNESCO's done some amazing preservation over the decades. I hope they come through.
 
Jag

Jag

Member
Visualante2 said:
Trump accused the organisation of having an anti Jewish bias while pulling out this week.
Click to expand...

Wrong. He said it was anti-Israel, not anti-Jewish. I've been told on GAF that being anti-Israel doesn't mean you are anti-Jewish, so being clear on the distinction is relevant.

Also putting the person's religion in the thread title is questionable. Irina Bokova's religion was never at issue or brought up.
 
Thelonelykoopa

Thelonelykoopa

Member
Jag said:
Wrong. He said it was anti-Israel, not anti-Jewish. I've been told on GAF that being anti-Israel doesn't mean you are anti-Jewish, so being clear on the distinction is relevant.

Also putting the person's religion in the thread title is questionable. Irina Bokova's religion was never at issue or brought up.
Click to expand...
How does listing a persons religion in a thread title signal they are biased? Would "SoandSo was elected as the first muslim mayor in Osaka" indicate that because the mayor is muslim he or she is gooig to be biased, of course not thats appears to be more your interpretation.
 
K

kirblar

Member
Zenner said:
The US suspended paying its UNESCO dues 6 years ago, in Obama's term. Was it the Republican-majority House & Senate who did that, or was that the President's call back then, too? I guess Trump's just making the end official.

UNESCO's done some amazing preservation over the decades. I hope they come through.
Click to expand...
Looks like it was an automated legislative trigger, Obama's admin had no control here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/01/w...pproves-full-membership-for-palestinians.html
PARIS — Palestine became the 195th full member of Unesco on Monday, as the United Nations organization defied a mandated cutoff of American funds under federal legislation from the 1990s. The vote of Unesco’s full membership was 107 to 14, with 52 abstentions
Click to expand...
The whole situation at the UN is a complete mess in general when it comes to this stuff.
 
N

NimbusD

Member
Quixzlizx said:
So does that mean America isn't racist because we elected Barack Obama?

I'm not arguing either way about UNESCO, but I don't see how this proves anything other than UNESCO is willing to send a "fuck you" Trump's way.
Click to expand...
UNESCO isn't a country of millions. It's an organization and the head of it has much more control over it's direction than the president of the US.

Not a great comparison.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Ubisoft: French newspaper attacks with stories of harassment, rape and sexual assault.
Rumor 2 3
117
11K
Gankthenew replied
  • Locked
Britain becoming U.S. vassal state, says French presidential hopeful Macron
42
6K
Dabanton replied
  • Locked
Spiegel: Merkel Anticipates Frosty Relations with U.S.
3
2K
Laevateinn replied
  • Locked
Fractured France: An unprecedented election, with unprecedented risks
17
4K
darkace replied
  • Locked
Why It’s So Hard for a Woman to Become President of the United States
6 7 8 9 10
496
46K
Platy replied
Top Bottom