UNITED NATIONS: West Seeks to Eliminate U.N. Information Centres

By Thalif Deen Reprint | | Print |

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, May 14 1996 (IPS) - Industrialised nations are seeking to cut or eliminate the 70 U.N. Information Centres worldwide on the grounds that high-speed information superhighways have made them superfluous.

But Third World nations are protesting the proposed cut, arguing that the electronic age in communications has yet to reach the world’s poorer nations, where even the telephone is still a high-priced luxury.

“Some of us come from countries where we have to wait for 10 years for a telephone and two more years for a dial tone,” a Third World diplomat told IPS.

In a resolution pending before the Committee on Information, developed nations are seeking to close some of the 70 centres and to cut funding and reduce staff at those that will remain open.

The proposal was spurred by the severe financial crisis that has pushed the United Nations to near-bankruptcy, a crisis sparked primarily by non-payment of more than 1.4 billion dollars in dues by the United States.

Under the resolution, the functions of the information centers — which serve as repositories for reports and other information generated by dozens of U.N. agencies — would be transferred to local non-governmental organisations or to university libraries.

A final decision on the resolution, which has divided the United Nations along North-South lines, is expected Friday.

Kosky Zakaria of Indonesia pointed out that it was unfair to penalise developing countries whose schools and libraries rely heavily on U.N. information centres.

Zakaria said that despite all the advances in modern technology, the information gap between developing and industrial nations continues to widen.

“A handful of states have a virtual monopoly on the gathering, analyses and dissemination of information,” he told the committee.

And for too long, Zakaria added, developing countries have been unable to gain access to advanced technology necessary to promote their own development.

“The U.N. information centres played a crucial role in providing the world’s peoples with timely, direct and comprehensive information on many U.N. activities,” he said.

Fernando Reyes-Matta of Chile argued that while the United Nations expands into electronic publishing, it should not lose sight of the value of conventional media, “especially in developing countries where not eeaners for the specific purpose of picking up my shirts, pay for my shirts, then attempt to walk out without my shirts, as though I were just visiting them. Also: Many times I am looking ALL OVER for my reading glasses — looking, looking, looking, looking — and then I walk past a mirror and notice that they are perched on my head. “Ha ha!” they gaily shout to me, their lenses twinkling. “You cretin!” Also: I have always been terrible at remembering people’s names, but now I forget names INSTANTANEOUSLY, before they have gotten all the way through my ear canal. If somebody introduces himself to me at a social event, it sounds as though he’s saying, “Hi. I’m Blah.” “I’m sorry,” I’ll say. “What was you name again?” “Blah,” he’ll say. “Ah!” I’ll say, smiling brightly while hoping that a meteor will crash into the building before I have to introduce him to someone else. Here’s another symptom: I currently own four — that is correct, four — identical unused tubes of toothpaste, because every time I’m in a drugstore and walk past the toothpaste section, my brain, which by now must be about the size of a Raisinet, racks its tiny shriveled self in an effort to remember whether I have any toothpaste, and it can never come up with a definitive answer, so it always decides: Better safe than sorry!” (The good news is, if the price of Tartar Control Crest rises significantly, I will be a wealthy man!) Anyway, I was very relieved to find out that this was not just my personal problem, but a problem afflicting the brains of males in general, although, as a frequent flier, I hope it doesn’t extend to male airplane pilots (“Ladies and gentlemen, we are approaching either Pittsburgh or Honolulu, so at this time I’m going to push the button that either illuminates the fasten-seat belt signs or shuts off all the engines.”). The University of Pennsylvania study (Note to older males: I am referring here to a study showing that, as males get older, their brains shrink) also showed that we older males tend to lose our sense of humor. This is definitely true in my case. I was just talking to my oldest friend, whose name is … Excuse me while I look up his name … OK, here it is: I was talking to my oldest friend, Joe DeGiacinto, and we were remarking on the fact that when we were teen-age males roaming uncontrolled around Armonk, N.Y., we thought that the most hilarious imaginable human activity was the wanton destruction of mailboxes; whereas we now both firmly believe that this should be a federal crime punishable by death. So my overall point is that the brain-shrinkage study makes me feel a lot better, because now I know that I’m not getting stupid alone; that billions of guys are getting stupid with me, as evidenced by: — Golf — Comb-overs — Marlon Brando Here’s what I think: I think Older Male Brain Shrinkage (OMBS) should be recognized as a disability by the federal government. At the very least, we should have a law requiring everybody to wear a name tag (“HELLO! MY NAME IS BLAH”). Older males would be exempt from this requirement, because they wouldn’t be able to find their tags. I have many other strong views on this subject but I can’t remember what they are.

(C) 1996 THE MIAMI HERALD DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.