UNESCO News

• At twelve o'clock on the seventeenth of November, 1948, the UNESCO conference opened its third session in Beirut, in the cultural city built by the Lebanese government.

• The sitting was opened by the head of the Mexican delegation, in his capacity as president of the conference; he spoke in French.

• The address of the Lebanese Minister of National Education, His Excellency Hamid Frangieh, was in Arabic.

• Those present agreed that the speech of His Excellency the President of the Lebanese Republic at the opening ceremony was a literary and intellectual masterpiece, in which His Excellency proved himself one of the masters of profound thought and splendid eloquence. The speech has been printed in an elegant booklet in the three languages: Arabic, French, and English.

• It was noticed at the opening ceremony that the number of elegant ladies was great.

• Many of the men of thought in this country complained that they were not invited to the opening ceremony.

• At the first of the conference's sittings, His Excellency Hamid Frangieh was elected president of this session.

• At the sitting devoted to considering the admission of new members into the organization, argument and debate grew heated, until some feared that it would lead to a deviation from the principles which the men of UNESCO preach. Lebanon succeeded in having the exclusion of the Jewish bodies from the conference approved.

• It was noticed, with much astonishment and surprise, that the head of the Indian delegation was among the most vehement defenders of the necessity of inviting the Jewish bodies to attend the conference; and when Lebanon presented its proposal to admit those bodies that had accepted the invitation — the Jewish bodies not being among them — the head of the Indian delegation remained for a while unable to conceal the signs of agitation on his face.

• Radio Moscow said, in its broadcast directed to the Arab peoples, that the UNESCO conference continues to propagate the reactionary principles professed by the capitalists of the world, and said that the peoples of the eastern Mediterranean see no benefit in these conferences... And Russia does not take part in this conference..

• Among the members of the Cuban delegation is Dr. Chidiac, who is of Lebanese origin.

• At one of the conference's sittings the head of the Argentine delegation rose and began to speak in Spanish; the president reminded him that the two official languages are French and English, whereupon he began to speak in French, rendering each of his sentences into Spanish.

The head of the delegation of the Republic of Peru followed his example, and this act aroused the admiration of those present.

• The Lebanese government intends, after the close of the UNESCO conference, to place the city of culture at the disposal of the Lebanese Academy, to make of it a national university.

• On the fourth of December the exhibition of education and instruction was opened in a pavilion belonging to UNESCO. Its preparation was entrusted to Mr. Fouad Ephrem al-Boustani, assisted by the lawyer Miss Mona Haik. The private institutes and the government schools of Lebanon have taken part in it, and the Syrian and Egyptian governments are also taking part.

• The UNESCO organization concerns itself with translating the outstanding books of the world, and has adopted a program of choosing one hundred of the world's books from among those published before the year 1955, in order to translate them into all the languages that do not yet know them — this in the endeavor to unify, little by little, the direction of human thought...

• Forty-four states are taking part in the UNESCO conference; their flags were fluttering over the entrances of the UNESCO city which the Lebanese government prepared.

• Most of this country's weekly and monthly papers have brought out outstanding issues for this occasion, while the daily papers devote large pages every day showing the activity of the conferees, and Radio Lebanon broadcasts every day the speeches delivered at the general meetings.

• Dr. Jaime Torres Bodet, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico, was elected Director-General of the UNESCO organization, in succession to Dr. Huxley.

• The public noticed, at the art exhibition opened in the UNESCO palace on the thirtieth of November, that the Egyptian section was the richest corner of the exhibition: the fine and applied arts were heaped up in it, from photographic pictures to sculptures, to metal objects and ceramic pieces, furniture, jewelry-work, textiles, and carpets. The Lebanese corner appeared simple, with few exhibits, relying only on artistic values and standards.

The Iraqi corner was rich. And in the Lebanese corner one noticed excellence of presentation, strength in coloring, and an inspiration drawn from the richness of the colors of this land's nature. But there is no excuse for our artists showing their old canvases..

• The Women's Rights Committee in Lebanon invited the great Indian woman of letters Mrs. Kaladevi, one of the members of India's delegation to the UNESCO conference, to deliver a lecture on the subject of "Women's Rights." Mrs. Kaladevi has her literary standing in India and a number of published works; she has contributed greatly to the struggle of the Indian woman, and was elected president of the All-India Women's Conference. She is also one of the fighters at the side of the leader Jawaharlal Nehru.

She was invited to take charge of one of the ministries, and refused.

• The Italian government has officially invited the UNESCO General Conference to hold its fourth session in Rome during the coming year.

And Britain proposed holding this session in Paris, in the spring instead of the autumn.

• The United States is among the states most enthusiastic for UNESCO, and among the states with the greatest faith in it. This was evident in the talk of the head of the American delegation, Mr. Allen, when he invited the journalists, on the evening of the thirtieth of November, to meet with him. Mr. Allen answered the questions of some of our colleagues, defining UNESCO from the practical side. Among what he said: the freedom in which UNESCO works is secured only by each country's own struggle, singly, for its liberties. And Mr. Allen declared: "America itself does not enjoy absolute freedom."

Mr. Allen went on to say:

"I am proud that, in my capacity as an official of the American government, I head its delegation to the UNESCO conference, and I find no conflict between my duties to my government and my devotion to the cause of this organization.

My government wants freedom for all people everywhere, as UNESCO wants it. My government wants knowledge to reach every corner of the world. It wants to encourage developments in every science. It wants the arts and letters of every country to be known in every other country.

It wants intellectual freedom for all the peoples of the world.

• The lecture of Mr. Jacini, head of the Italian delegation to UNESCO, turned upon "Man." The lecturer centered his subject on humanity and on the culture that respects the personality of man and enriches it, and he expanded in setting forth the values and conceptions contributed by the countries of the Mediterranean, upon which culture has been built.

"Man is he who lives and feels and turns in upon himself," says Dante — that is, man is he who watches himself, criticizes himself, builds himself up, and drives himself toward development, progress, and elevation.

The lecturer gave proof of a deep, abounding, opulent culture.

• On the second of December the choir of the Lebanese Academy of Fine Arts presented the "Divine Mass" of Beethoven, under the direction of Mr. Alexis Boutros.

The Minister of National Education invited to this concert a select company of connoisseurs of splendid classical art.

• The UNESCO Month committee had entrusted to a group of men of letters the task of publishing selections from the Lebanese writers in the three languages: Arabic, French, and English.

The English selections have appeared; they gather seventeen writers in a choice of those of their works that show their personality and their standing.

• There have arrived in Beirut artistic canvases by French artists, sent by the French museums to be exhibited here on the occasion of the UNESCO Month.

These canvases are, for the most part, what French artists painted of "the East" during visits they made.

This exhibition has been called "The East as the French Artists Saw It."

• On the first of December was opened the "Modern Art" pavilion, organized by the UNESCO administration itself and filled with its own collections.

As for the canvases exhibited, they are colored engravings printed from a selection of the most famous canvases of modern art in Europe, of the various artistic tendencies and styles. The canvases shown are very well known to the people of art and its devotees.

• The Lebanese performer and composer Anis Fuleihan gave a concert in the Dunia Hall, in which he presented to the Beirut public pieces from the masterworks of modern musical art. Artistic circles in Beirut regretted that a large number of connoisseurs of fine art were unable to obtain the invitation cards, which were distributed here and there but did not reach those who deserved them.

The hope had been great that this brilliant Lebanese artist would find the atmosphere befitting him.