United States Withdraws from UNESCO In Defence of Israel
Byron Katie: “Defence is the first act of war, all war should be on paper”
UNESCO promotes amongst many other positive works, peace education. The purpose of peace education is to teach conflict resolution and learn to deal with offence by discussing it, by sharing perspectives, by working on options and solutions to empower both parties. If the US had have undertaken some of the peace education programs itself it could have encouraged Israel to not react to perceived bias but to recognise that when there is critique it is wise to be open to this. In my work as a peace educator I have realised your greatest critics are your greatest teachers. They often can show you what you can’t see or the forum can be about learning more about each other. Whenever we create an enemy we divide, this is always coming from fear not love. It was Jesus who stated: “Love your neighbour”
I would say you may not ‘like’ them but love them for they have a right to be here, they are here as teachers, there is something for you to learn out of the conflict. Are you present enough to meditate, contemplate what you are learning about yourself. Always life is acting on your highest good, whether you know it or not. There are no enemies in this world only unquestioned thoughts. What you resist persists what you look at disappears. This last statement is one of the pathways to peace. You can never get rid of an enemy, the more you resist the more they remain. That is a universal law, you can try and fight that, but it will never work.
There is great gold in peace education, this is the alchemy that transforms. The real question: Do you want peace or war? There are those who prophet from peace and those who profit from war. The decision always leads to the outcome.
Men typically are not naturally good at conflict resolution as we have seen around the world. They are taught the masculine is to fight to defend themselves. They can become insulted if their pride is hurt, they are exploited, they wish to win at all costs, they may seek revenge. This is the very conceptual reality of masculinity that would benefit from learning to open the mind to differing perspectives, different cultures, different religions and different needs. To learn the art of listening to hear (not be head), the ability to communicate in neutrality not to dominate in perpetuity. The ability to feel empathy for the other “to put yourself in their shoes” what would you do if you were they? To understand different cultures, languages, traiditions see and hear differently, not like you. They literally cannot understand you and they can only operate out of what they were taught. Will violence teach a lesson or perpetuate the hurt? To take offence and make them pay is an old recipe that doesn’t work in the longer term. The challenge is to be open enough to enter into a personal inquiry to resolve conflict by questioning the negative discord. All negativity is untrue, I will repeat that – all negativity is untrue. They are just concepts we have learned and passed down as the great evil over there. Essentially we are more similar than different but we emphasize differences as ‘otherness’ and we may feel distrustful of that as we do not know the other. More often than not we are misunderstanding the other. The work of peace is to sit with ourselves and question thinking, it is to learn to find the middle ground through empathy and experience, it is to find the words that unite rather than offend, to work with an energy of equality rather than superiority and to respect cultures ‘not like me’ as part of a diversity which is meant to be.
I regard Byron Katie as a foremost world expert on inquiry pioneering a simple technique called The Work which enables people to access their negative thoughts to discover ‘is it true?’. She was depressed for 10 years and literally awakened to the ‘oneness’ of life. She felt god as one with all of it. She realised we had lied to ourselves and separated off from each other. That all stress resides in beliefs that are unquestioned. She saw innocence in every person. She is right. In their worldview they innocently believe what they believe, they do what they do out of this perception. When people are confused they will attack each other believing they are unsafe. However, when thoughts are questioned for truth not ‘rightness’ then we are able to see throught the illusions we create. Now for some that will be a place they won’t go as being right is their identity, without being right they may be wrong and feel vulnerable. Yet the greatest strength is sitting in vulnerability and exploring it. As a woman I travelled the world to face my fears, I face myself when I feel negative, always seeking for the truth. It takes discipline to not fall into the trap of demonising the other. For waht goes around comes around universally speaking. We cannot escape natural justice as life counter-balances and all are equal whether people beleive that or not. We have the power to create our reality by focusing on what we want. If we want security then be secure, if we want peace then express it, if we want sovereignty then be sovereign but do not harm others. Do no harm is a universal edict. As you harm others it returns to self. All ways. It is not someone doing it it is life rebalancing.
The Work (http://thework.com/en) is done alone without the other and helps people see that unquesioned thinking leads to projection and justification of hurting others. This type of process would have prevented the holocaust had Hitler been practing this technique. Similarly, in the case of the Palestinians or any other opposition group, had the Israeli Defence Force practiced inquiry to really get to the truth of their own rationale first, could have set them on the path to real reconciliation. The same applies to Hamas. Instead men believe their thoughts, they believe traditions and they forget in the present moment they can actually change their world for a better future for children. Being right is about feeling secure that I can’t be contested, I am right. Being open to being wrong is the beginning of wisdom as the mind opens to possibilities in order to solve the problem and make space for other possibilities. It is not attached to ego or identity, it is open to truth and problem solving.
I can only sit back and imagine the world as it could be when we are seriously interested in peace and truth. I know Jesus and Mohammad were. The truth sets us all free and when we become still enough to listen inwardly, we can hear that we are each others keepers. We have the power to create a peaceful world.
Here is an overview of UNESCO http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=15244&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
I am mindful that Australia is developiong its defence industry (industrial/military complex) to the tune of $200 billion over a decade and their defence alliances include the US and Israel. I wonder what that means for Australian society?
US pulls out of UNESCO over ‘anti-Israel’ bias
The US decision, announced in Washington, follows years of tension at the organisation which it accused of having an “anti-Israel bias”.
“This decision was not taken lightly, and reflects US concerns with mounting arrears at UNESCO, the need for fundamental reform in the organisation, and continuing anti-Israel bias at UNESCO,” US State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said.
The United States has walked out of the 195-member organisation once before under ex-president Ronald Reagan, who quit in 1984 over alleged financial mismanagement and claims of anti-US bias in some of its policies.
Washington opposes any move by UN bodies to recognise the Palestinian territories as a state, believing this must await a negotiated Middle East peace deal.
But President Donald Trump’s administration is also reviewing many of its multilateral commitments, pursuing what he calls an “America First” policy that has allies in Europe worried.
“UNESCO is about promoting our ideals and values through culture, education and science,” France’s UN ambassador Francois Delattre told reporters in New York, adding that “we need an America that stays committed to world affairs.”
But Nauert said that the cost to the United States of remaining a member had also influenced the decision.
“As many of you know, we were in arrears to the tune of $550 million or so. And so the question is, you know, do we want to pay that money? And do we want to pay more money going forward,” she said.
Nauert noted that there is a US law which forbids the government to pay membership dues to any organisation that recognises Palestinian statehood.
“So that’s part of it, financially, OK? Second part of it is we’d like to see overall UN reform,” she added.
In a statement announcing its own withdrawal, Israel called the Trump administration’s decision “courageous and moral” accusing the the UN body of becoming a “theatre of the absurd” after a series of resolutions condemning the Jewish state.
Trump had already dismayed European partners by saying last June he would withdraw from the 2015 Paris climate change agreement, while later this week he is set to deal a blow to the Iran nuclear deal, which the European Union is desperate to uphold.
The outgoing head of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, called the US withdrawal a “loss to multilateralism”, while UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said through a spokesman that he “regrets this development deeply”.
Russia’s foreign ministry said it “regretted” Washington’s decision.
‘Observer mission’
UNESCO was once a low-profile UN agency best known for producing a list of World Heritage sites including tourist favourites such as the Grand Canyon or Cambodia’s Angkor Wat, as well as running science, media and cultural programmes.
But in addition to the controversial decision to admit the Palestinians in 2011, it has been the scene of repeated diplomatic flare-ups after efforts led by Arab countries to pass resolutions critical of Israel.
In May, Israel was infuriated by a resolution identifying Israel as “the occupying power” in the divided city of Jerusalem and calling on it to rescind any move changing the city’s “character and status”.
In July, another resolution declared the Old City of Hebron in the occupied West Bank an endangered World Heritage site.
Despite cutting its funding to the agency the US has continued to cooperate with UNESCO since 2011 on programmes of interest to Washington, such as combatting extremism and perpetuating the memory of the Holocaust.
The double withdrawal by the US and Israel comes as board members are voting to elect a new director-general, with Arab candidates from Qatar and Egypt vying with a French competitor.
“The worst news is the withdrawal of the United States which has overshadowed the election,” defeated Lebanese candidate Vera El Khoury told AFP on Thursday. “Every time a member leaves it weakens the organisation.”
Washington’s withdrawal is set to take effect on December 31, 2018, when it will establish an “observer mission” to replace its representation at the agency.
“It has nothing to do with the director-general race,” a spokesman for the US mission told AFP.
Francois Heisbourg, chairman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the decision was probably motivated by Trump’s desire to send a message of support to Israel and underlined his “America First” policies.
“UNESCO is an easier target than others: it’s relatively small, it doesn’t concern vital interests, and UNESCO has gone much further than other UN organisations in recognising the Palestinian authorities,” he told AFP.