tional scholars and diplomats, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has withdrawn from the upcoming World Philosophy Day event it earlier selected Iran to host.
A growing number of prominent academics had said they would boycott the event being held in Tehran, November 21 to 23.
The Canada-based Iranian philosopher, Ramin Jahanbegloo, was a key organizer in urging UNESCO’s new Director-General, Irina Bokova, to withdraw the organization’s participation.
Jahanbegloo, who had been imprisoned in Iran in 2006, said, “The definition of philosophy itself is critical thinking and free debate. And that is not possible in Iran today.… You cannot practice this kind of philosophy in a society with one-dimensional discourse and everything controlled by the state.”
The decision to make Iran the host of this year’s World Philosophy Day was made by the previous director-general of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura, in 2008. When the decision become known in the spring, countries in the European Union as well as the United States joined efforts to change the decision. France especially, where UNESCO is based, urged Bokova to disassociate itself from the Tehran event.
World Philosophy Day events are held in numerous cities across the globe, but given Iran’s record of repression and censorship it was an unacceptable site for the main celebration, many argued.
With the growing controversy, Bokova said last Tuesday in a statement, “The conditions necessary to guarantee the effective organization of a UN international conference have not been met.” Now, Bokova is directing the body’s attention towards a previously scheduled secondary event in Paris that will now become the main celebration, set for November 18.
Iran has tried to write off its dismissal. Mehr mews agency reported that besides the “gathering which will be held in Iran for the International Day of Philosophy, UNESCO will hold various events in Paris.” Iran’s Permanent Representative to UNESCO, Mohammad-Reza Majidi, told Mehr last week that the country had not been officially informed of UNESCO’s decision to withdraw, adding UNESCO’s lack of cooperation will be a “blackspot” in the organization’s history.
Blaming UNESCO’s behavior on Zionists, Majidi said Iran would prevail. “Despite all the attempted sabotage by the Zionists, World Philosophy Day will be held in a more impressive manner this year than in past years,” he said.
Other Iranian officials have also asserted an expected success for the event, downplaying any academic boycott. In a press conference at the Iranian Institute of Wisdom and Philosophy, Mohammad-Hossain Imani-Khoshkhu, secretary of the World Philosophy Day planned for Iran, announced that more than 100 foreign guests will be attending the Tehran event and that the first person from Australia had already arrived a week early. According to Imani-Khoshkhu only two invited guests have turned down their invitations and one of those was due to illness.