Reimagined by Women A Whole New World
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
Courier
T H E U N E S CO
July-September 2020
A Whole New World,
Reimagined by Women
• “Women are the unsung heroes”: Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
• Towards a new social pact in Latin America: Karina Batthyány
• The health crisis, fertile ground for disinformation: Diomma Dramé
• Rethinking museums for the future: Sally Tallant
• An opportunity to reinvent school: Poornima Luthra
Subscribe Subscribe
to the print version to the digital version
1 year (4 issues) : 27€
2 years (8 issues) : 54€
It’s 100%
Subscription fees cover printing costs.
There is no profit motive. FREE
https://en.unesco.org/courier/subscribe
Follow the latest news Read and share
from the Courier Share the UNESCO Courier
@unescocourier with your network by promoting it,
in line with the Organization’s
Open Access publishing policy.
Facebook Twitter Instagram
2020 • n°2 • Published since 1948 Production and promotion Information and reproduction rights:
The UNESCO Courier is published quarterly by the United Ian Denison, Chief, UNESCO Publishing courier@unesco.org
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. and Branding 7, place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, France
It promotes the ideals of UNESCO by sharing ideas on issues Eric Frogé, Senior Production Assistant © UNESCO 2020
of international concern relevant to its mandate. Digital production: ISSN 2220-2285 • e-ISSN 2220-2293
The UNESCO Courier is published thanks to the support Denis Pitzalis, Web Architect/
of the People’s Republic of China. Developer
Acting Director: Matthieu Guével Communications: Laetitia Kaci
Acting Editor-in-chief: Agnès Bardon Periodical available in Open Access under the
Translation: Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO (CC-BY-SA 3.0 IGO) licence
Associate Editor: Katerina Markelova Peter Coles, Cathy Nolan (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/).
Section Editor: Chen Xiaorong Design: Jacqueline Gensollen-Bloch By using the content of this publication, the users
Editions accept to be bound by the terms of use of the UNESCO
Cover illustration:
Arabic: Fathi Ben Haj Yahia © Luba Lukova, USA (www.lukova.net) Open Access Repository (https://en.unesco.org/open-
Chinese: Sun Min and China Translation & Publishing House access/terms-use-ccbysa-en). The present licence
Printing: UNESCO applies exclusively to the texts. For the use of images,
English: Shiraz Sidhva
Interns: prior permission shall be requested.
French: Christine Herme, proofreader
Lei Runzhou, Li Yihong (China) The designations employed in this publication and
Russian: Marina Yartseva
Spanish: William Navarrete Farah Hanafi (Morocco) the presentation of the data do not imply the expression
Linda Klaassen (Sweden) of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO
Digital edition: Mila Ibrahimova concerning the legal status of any country, territory,
Photographs and illustrations: Danica Bijeljac Co-editions city or area of its authorities, or concerning the
Translation and layout co-ordination: Catalan : Jean-Michel Armengol delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
Marie-Thérèse Vidiani Esperanto: Chen Ji Articles express the opinions of the authors and do
Administrative and editorial assistance: Korean: Soon Mi Kim not necessarily represent the opinions of UNESCO and
Carolina Rollán Ortega Portuguese: Ivan Sousa Rocha do not commit the Organization.
Courier
T H E UNE SCO
Contents
Editorial
More egalitarian? More respectful
of the planet? Dominated by new
WIDE ANGLE technologies? The world that emerges
A Whole New World, from the health crisis will bear the
scars of this unprecedented collective
Reimagined by Women 4 experience – the near-universal lockdown
imposed to contain the COVID-19
What the pandemic says about us. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 pandemic. But will it really be different?
Ekaterina Schulmann And if so, in what way? Much has already
The pandemic: Mirroring our fragilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 been said on the subject. For months,
Kalpana Sharma specialists across the globe have held
forth in the media, providing a wide
Rethinking museums for the future. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 range of opinions. What they have had
Sally Tallant in common, for the most part, is that
Education: An opportunity to reinvent teaching. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 they are men.
Poornima Luthra As nurses, caregivers or teachers, women
“Women are the unsung heroes of this crisis”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 have been on the front line in the fight
An interview with Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka against the pandemic. They have been
hit hard by the social and economic
Latin America: Towards a new social pact. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 crises, confronted with domestic violence
Karina Batthyány amplified by the lockdowns – yet their
The health crisis: Fertile ground for disinformation . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24 views have not been heard enough.
Diomma Dramé In this issue, the UNESCO Courier gives
Research: “This epidemic will be a detonator”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 women a voice. Political scientists,
An interview with Nathalie Strub-Wourgaft journalists, sociologists, researchers,
writers, and teachers have drawn
Indigenous peoples: Vulnerable, yet resilient . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 the contours of the post-pandemic
Minnie Degawan era – whether it is the future of
Shifting borders: Invisible, but very real. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 museums, changes in schools, the rise
Ayelet Shachar of disinformation, or the challenges
of scientific research.
Women’s writing: Illuminating the darkness. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Zhai Yongming These are all subjects that resonate
at the heart of UNESCO’s mandate,
and around which the Organization
ZOOM 36 has rallied during the crisis – providing
global data on the situation of schools,
Lockdown travel diaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 defending open science, disseminating
Photos : Twelve photographers from Women Photograph’s content to counter disinformation,
The Journal project and supporting education systems
and cultural industries.
This issue paints a sobering picture
IDEAS 46 of our times – highlights the fault-lines
exposed by the health crisis, and shows
The microbes and viruses that made history . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
the magnitude of the challenges
Ana María Carrillo Farga
ahead. It also underlines the potential
for scientific, cultural and educational
OUR GUEST 48 co-operation that this unprecedented
event has revealed. If the reflections,
“Every crisis is also an opportunity” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 the desire for change, and the movements
An interview with Yuval Noah Harari of mutual aid that have emerged are
not short-lived, the world really could
become a more united, more sustainable
MAPPING THE WORLD 54 and more egalitarian place.
Education: An unprecedented crisis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Agnès Bardon
WIDE
ANGLE
A Whole New World,
Reimagined by Women
Francesca Palumbo, a nurse
at the intensive care unit of the
San Salvatore Hospital in Pesaro,
Italy, photographed in March 2000,
after a gruelling twelve-hour shift.
© Alberto Giuliani (@alberto_giuliani)
What the pandemic
says about us
The higher value placed on human life, the rise of the influence
of health services, the medicalization of our lives, the extension
of state power – these phenomena did not arise from the crisis
caused by the pandemic, but were revealed by it.
Ekaterina Schulmann
What the recent global health crisis has violence – are in fact the corollary of our
Associate professor at the Moscow School revealed is that governments can no longer need for security.
of Social and Economic Sciences (MSSES), afford to allow an epidemic to spread. If
and Associate Fellow, Russia and Eurasia Life has become so precious that no
they want to ensure their political survival,
Programme at Chatham House, The Royal government in the world can afford a loss
they must show they are doing everything
Institute of International Affairs, London. of life that society considers preventable.
possible to preserve human life.
Moreover, it should be noted that states
While it is too early to discuss In the past, the emergence and spread of – whether democratic or authoritarian –
the consequences of the pandemic, we can a disease like COVID-19 would have been have taken measures that are quite similar
already see trends emerging that did not considered inevitable. However, in view in terms of restrictions on freedoms.
arise from the crisis, but which the crisis of our current ethical requirements, this
is no longer possible – because of the They have, however, adopted very
has made salient. Societies, governance
higher value placed on human life. different strategies to support the
systems, businesses and citizens can
economy, shattered by the shock of the
only react with the tools they had before
epidemic and lockdown. The modern
the emergency. As it is often said, generals The primacy economy is based on services, and not on
are always fighting the last war. From
this perspective, we are all generals, of human life the exploitation of resources. It is therefore
individually and collectively. rational to preserve people – producers
In the twentieth century, citizens could and consumers of services – even if it may
accept having their freedoms restricted seem unprofitable in the short term, from
in the name of high ideals or superior goals a strictly economic point of view.
– victory over the enemy, the construction
of a great work or the promise of a golden During this crisis, humanist culture
age. In the twenty-first century, it is not has revealed that it is ready to make
the prospect of a bright future that leads concessions on freedom in the name
people to accept a curtailing of their of public health. The increase in life
freedoms, but the desire to avoid a large expectancy, medical progress, the cult
number of casualties. Today, the constraints of healthy living and the narcissistic
that we are under – and which many valorization of social networks have
perceive as a sign of increased state favoured this phenomenon.
The constraints that
© Victor Bogorad / Cartoon Movement
“Extraordinary
circumstances justify
we are under, are in
and legitimize surveillance
and control, in the eyes
of societies, even
fact the corollary of
in democratic regimes.”
our need for security
6 | The UNESCO Courier • July-September 2020
© Juan Manuel Castro Prieto / Agence VU
“This common tragedy has united humanity around a shared cause.”
The medicalization that we have become accustomed to metal for formulating these recommendations
detectors. Soon, we will hardly remember
of everyday life the time when consulting a doctor was
and monitoring their implementation, if
it is created, will become an important
The imperative of “security”, a notion a matter of free will. Perhaps tomorrow, player in international relations.
to be understood as both “survival” people with fevers will be placed under
and the “preservation of health”, has house arrest, as we have just been.
resulted in the medicalization of our
Common experience
The medicalization of everyday life also
daily lives. This does not refer only means an increased role for the health While the world has suddenly closed in on
to the circulation of medical expressions services, including in the political field. itself, it has never been more connected.
and practices in our lives. Tomorrow, This process can be observed at the state This common tragedy has united
it could well extend to political processes level, but also at the global level. The humanity around a shared cause. Such
and governance – if the international political importance of the World a communion of destiny may not have
community were to decide, for example, Health Organization (WHO) is measured occurred since the race for the atom bomb
that the fight against diseases requires not only by the number of countries – with the difference that today, citizens
the same level of co-ordination as the fight that implement its epidemiological
against terrorism. are much more involved in world events.
recommendations, but also by
Medical knowledge – and with it, the the harshness of the political resistance It is at these pivotal moments that alliances
pseudoscientific representations that to these recommendations. that will shape the world of tomorrow
flourish, particularly online – has invaded The resumption of international trade, are forged – as was the case after the two
everyday language and entered our daily air transport and travel will necessitate world wars that shook the twentieth
lives. Soon, no one will be surprised by the development of a new set of global century. Who will be the winners? Who
the presence of temperature-measuring health rules and regulations, in the near could be the new members of an Anti-
devices in public places, in the same way future. The supranational body responsible Virus Security Council? It is too soon to say.
WIDE ANGLE • What the pandemic says about us |7
What is certain, though, is that
the industrialized countries will have
to assume greater responsibility for It is at these pivotal
addressing the shortcomings of the
health systems of poorer countries.
Otherwise the efforts made to combat
moments that alliances
a pandemic will be in vain. The benefits
of drastic measures such as lockdowns that will shape the world
will be negated if a new outbreak occurs
in a country that is unable to contain
an epidemic.
of tomorrow are forged
We have just lived through a common
experience – one that was lived and
shared by a very large number of people
at the same time. It is similar to what threatens to erode privacy even further. between workspace and living space,
happened when the Twin Towers collapsed In democracies at least, counterbalancing tend to become blurred. Such a trend
in New York, nearly twenty years ago. powers exist to limit this intrusion into undermines the hard-won rights acquired
our data. This is not the case in autocratic by social and trade-union movements
The 11 September 2001 attacks regimes. in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
in the United States marked a turning It brings us back – albeit at a new
point. After that date, extensive powers The threat is all the more real in times
technical level – to an earlier situation,
were granted to security services of an epidemic, when everything
when relations between employees
around the globe, and the surveillance favours the power of the state – starting
and employers were poorly regulated,
of citizens was intensified. Practices such with the economic crisis generated by
work was often carried out at home,
as the installation of cameras in public the health crisis, which makes public
and paid for on a piecework basis.
places, the use of facial recognition companies and institutions almost
software and wiretapping systems became the only solvent employers. The crisis also During this unprecedented lockdown
widespread after the attacks. Our daily lives strengthens the welfare state, which acts period, employees also found themselves
– especially our air travel, with its series as a safety net – perhaps turning workers obliged to take on service functions
of controls that we now consider normal – into recipients of a universal income normally performed by others – such
have also been altered. tomorrow. as childcare, care of the elderly, cooking
or other domestic tasks. The pandemic
has highlighted this invisible and unpaid
More surveillance, Invisible work service labour – sometimes referred to as
less freedom While the world was in lockdown, a “second GDP”– that is usually performed
millions of people realized that working by women. The crisis may provide an
During this crisis, certain states have opportunity to discuss the need to pay for
remotely, in all its forms, is more beneficial
taken advantage of the coronavirus these forms of invisible work.
to the employer than to the employee.
epidemic to legally expand their powers
Thanks to this new organization of work,
of surveillance and use of citizen It is always in the wake of major disasters
the costs of heating, maintenance, rent,
data. We see thus, how extraordinary that the international relations system has
and even equipment, were now borne by
circumstances justify and legitimize been reorganized. The First World War gave
the employee.
surveillance and control, in the eyes birth to the League of Nations, the Second
of societies. The same applies Moreover, the boundaries between World War, to the United Nations.
to democratic regimes. The epidemic working time and personal time, On the basis of a common experience,
humanity united and designed for itself
new instruments, new mechanisms
of governance. New institutions could
emerge from the current crisis.
Unlike other past tragedies that
pitted humankind against each other,
the pandemic confronts us with only
a virus. So, we have no one to hate. In
the face of this crisis, we have no other
choice but to show solidarity.
© Magali Lambert / Agence VU
“The pandemic has highlighted
the invisible and unpaid service
labour that is usually performed
by women.” Photo from the series
At home, March 2020.
8 | The UNESCO Courier • July-September 2020
The pandemic:
Mirroring our fragilities
Social inequalities, gender violence, poor housing, failing health
systems – the health crisis has exposed the fractures that divide our
societies. To change the world, we will have to address challenges that
we have not been able to face up to so far.
Kalpana Sharma
© Anindito Mukherjee
Independent journalist, columnist
and author, based in Mumbai. The Silence
and the Storm: Narratives of violence against
women in India is her most recent book.
When you can spot the speck of a fishing
boat on the horizon with your naked eye,
you know that something has changed.
The usual suffocating brown cloud has
lifted. The air is clear. And the sky is a blue
that you have forgotten.
The world has changed in 2020. A new
coronavirus has literally knocked the air
out of the world. Each day brings
greater uncertainty, more news of death
and infection, and increasing anxiety
about jobs and the economy as we battle
a disease that has no cure – yet.
Nothing can prepare you for the
unexpected. But if there is one lesson
to be learned, it is that those countries The announcement of a lockdown in India resulted in a mass exodus
that invested in affordable and accessible of migrant workers from the cities to their villages. New Delhi, March 2020.
health care are today best equipped
to deal with an unexpected health crisis.
Given the nature of this new virus – Fault-lines exposed In India, this “violence of inequality”
contagious, deadly and swift – one would has played out in a heartbreakingly
have expected nations, and people within At a time when a virus is not choosy about vivid manner in the spring of 2020, as
nations, to come together to fight it. who it infects, our societies continue a nation of 1.3 billion people was locked
Instead, tragically, we have watched how to discriminate against their own people down to stem the spread of COVID-19.
COVID-19 has laid bare the existing fault- on the basis of age-old entrenched Thousands of men and women – left adrift
lines in all our societies. attitudes towards the ‘other’ – be it people in cities where they had migrated, looking
from another religion or another race. A for work and sustenance – lost their jobs
pandemic cannot erase hate and prejudice; when the economy ground to a halt. With
tragically, it tends to exacerbate them. no money or safety net, they were left
The world Another fault-line exposed is inequality.
We can watch what the French economist
with no alternative but to set out on foot,
walking hundreds of kilometres to reach
their homes in the countryside.
has changed Thomas Piketty terms “the violence
of inequality” playing out in this crisis. They trudged in the heat, with little food
Those at the bottom, without a safety net, and water. Some survived, but many died
in 2020 are also the very people now struggling on the way. The images of this exodus
to stay afloat during this global pandemic. of rural migrants are testimony to how
WIDE ANGLE • The pandemic: Mirroring our fragilities |9
unjust patterns of economic development
elevated their suffering in the event
of such an emergency.
There is little to indicate
The third fault-line that runs through every
society, but jumps out at times of crisis,
that things will not return
is that of gender. Women are “locked
down” with their abusers, with few avenues to the old, profligate
of escape. Yet this phenomenon is not
getting the attention it deserves. Could
it be because this gross violation of the
ways of living
rights of millions of women across the world
occurs even in so-called “normal” times?
Urban poverty These people literally hold up our cities In such settlements, the spread
In many countries, COVID-19 has struck – the conservancy workers, those of COVID-19 cannot be controlled by
hardest in urban areas. The disease has in the service industry, in construction, way of physical distancing – because
spread rapidly among the urban poor, in small-scale industries, domestic help, the urban poor have no space to escape
who live in congested, often unhygienic, caregivers, and many more. Most of them each other. The lack of running water
conditions. The chances of the people are poorly paid and live in dense urban makes hygiene measures such as
living in such conditions surviving this poor settlements, where there is no frequent hand-washing and disinfecting
pandemic are slim – given the poor public running water and inadequate to non- surfaces impossible.
health facilities, especially in most poorer existent sanitation.
countries.
A man who was unable to return to his village observes the Ramadan fast, outside his shuttered shop in Old Delhi.
© Anindito Mukherjee
10 | The UNESCO Courier • July-September 2020© Anindito Mukherjee
Connaught Place, the commercial centre at the heart of New Delhi, is deserted on Day 1 of India’s lockdown.
Affordable housing has rarely been There are many challenges ahead, COVID-19 has compelled us to slow
a priority in our cities. The consequence starting with the fundamental overhaul down. But as and when we succeed
is what we are witnessing today. of our health-care systems. Countries, in overcoming this particular crisis,
The overwhelming number of new and states and provinces within will we witness a new world order?
infections have occurred in some countries, that have come out well Will we recognize the precarious existence
of the most densely-packed and poorer of millions among us? Will we hear
in this crisis are those that have invested
parts of cities – whether in Mumbai the voices of the women, and the most
in quality public health.
or in New York. vulnerable, once the noise of business-as-
The second is addressing the embedded usual begins?
inequities in our societies. Even
A whiff of good news the best systems fail in an unequal
There are no easy answers. But we can,
and must, ask. And, perhaps, hope.
And finally, coming back to clean air in our society. This is a long-term project,
cities. The Global Energy Review 2020, for sure, and cannot be addressed
the flagship report of the International overnight. Irrespective of whether
Energy Agency (IEA) released in April, we live in countries with strong or weak
noted a record annual decline in carbon economies, if there is systemic inequality,
emissions of almost eight per cent this it will manifest during crises – by
year. This is good news. Except that it is killing those who are already impaired
a fortunate fallout of an unfortunate crisis,
and vulnerable.
and not the result of addressing the very
real dangers of climate change. “The world has enough resources for
everyone’s needs, but not for everyone’s
COVID-19 has changed many things, yet
changed nothing. But once this crisis greed,” Mahatma Gandhi once said.
passes, there is little to indicate that things Yet, it is greed that has fuelled our
will not return to the old, profligate ways economies – as borders and boundaries
of living. We have seen little evidence have lost relevance in the global fervour
of any concrete plans to permanently to satiate consumerist appetites. It has
reorder our cities, for instance, so that also threatened the future of the planet,
the poor can live with dignity, or where as natural resources are devoured, never
eco-friendly public transport is prioritized. to be replaced.
WIDE ANGLE • The pandemic: Mirroring our fragilities | 11Rethinking museums
for the future
With new constraints on welcoming visitors, the Queens Museum in New
York City – like many other institutions around the world – is reflecting
on how best to redefine our ties to art and culture. The museum’s
team is working on an inclusive model that places artists, educators
and residents at the heart of its activities, as it seeks to reinvent itself.
Sally Tallant
President and Executive Director, going through rapid change. Digital Globally, cultural leaders are working
Queens Museum, New York. content is now essential for maintaining together to share information
audiences confined to their homes. and knowledge at this time and there
Across the globe, museums have been The challenges of adapting to reduced is a real sense of community, support
closed due to the impact of COVID-19. visitor numbers, social distancing and collaboration in spite of the
This has meant that these institutions in the museum, and ensuring challenges we are each facing. In
have had to learn quickly how to operate staff and public safety mean that New York, there have been regular
remotely and to remain relevant the experience of culture has radically meetings of small groups and much
and visible while their buildings remain changed. These unpredictable times larger coalitions. Over 200 people from
out of bounds. The role of culture necessitate quick decision-making cultural organizations met daily to gather
and museums in our society is already at all levels. and share information and lobby together.
Detail from Maintenance Art, a sculptural installation by Mierle Laderman Ukeles at the Queens Museum, 2017,
in which the artist highlights the role of essential workers who maintain indispensable urban systems.
© Hai Zhang / Courtesy of the Queens Museum
12 | The UNESCO Courier • July-September 2020 The painter Ilya Bolotowsky (left)
and John Joslyn, his assistant, working on
a mural for the Hall of Medical Sciences
at the 1939 New York World’s Fair.
We are finding innovative ways to keep
our institutions afloat and to inspire our
communities locally and globally.
A need to change
models
Until there is a complete recovery,
Public domain
museums with large endowments
and collections to draw from will be
in a better position than small ones, that
rely on contributions from supporters,
who themselves will likely experience
deep losses. All museums will be analysing
their income streams. Large museums diversity. Working-class communities project for the public and for the economy.
that depend on tourism and admission in our neighbourhoods are suffering The theme, The World of Tomorrow,
fees, will need to change their models. disproportionately. emphasized this optimism and hope for
Small museums will have the advantage; the future. From 1946 to 1950, the building
Now we are living with a palpable
we are nimble, used to working with small housed the General Assembly of the newly-
precarity. We are faced with many
budgets and more attuned to the needs formed United Nations until the site of the
questions: how will we make our way
of our neighbours and communities. UN’s current home in Manhattan became
back to the Museum? What will it mean
available.
As we navigate the challenges for people to gather once again in public
of a dramatically altered world due places? What measures will we need Many important decisions were taken there,
to COVID-19, we are thinking about to take to make our spaces safe – for our including the establishment of the United
the future of the Museum. Queens, staff and for the public? Together with Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). By way
the city’s most diverse borough, my colleagues in Queens, we are working of honouring this history, we are developing
where the museum is located, was at with the community to understand what a Children’s Museum, which is inspired
the epicentre of the pandemic in New York. is relevant and what is needed. We will by the history of recreation and play
Its neighbourhoods have been among need to recover, reconnect, repair, heal; in the surrounding park and in the building,
the most vulnerable in the five boroughs. we will need to learn together how we can which was also once used as an ice rink.
They include many of our essential workers generate productive and joyful spaces,
– they drive cabs, stock supermarkets, The strategies of the past – of employing
while responding to the care and practical artists to work together with communities
make and deliver food, and work in the gig needs of our communities.
economy. Often, their jobs do not offer and in organizations – can provide us with
health insurance, benefits or employment inspiration for how we might once again
protection. Many are undocumented Showcasing existing assert culture and the arts as an essential
industry, and central to society and its
immigrants and do not have the luxury collections recovery. We will need new financial models
of staying home and not working.
The history of the Queens Museum, and new tax initiatives to aid recovery.
There has been a systemic political failure
and its location, can provide a guide
to provide equitable resources and health
care, and this has led to the development
to understanding how we might Writers, designers,
create a relevant model of a Museum
of a society that lacks empathy,
for the future, and develop strategies architects, invited
care and respect for people and for
to support artists, educators and our to contribute
communities. The collection of over
13,000 objects enables us to tell stories For the 1939 World’s Fair, many projects
that will help us to inform our future, were produced through President Franklin
using the fragments of the past. We will D. Roosevelt’s New Deal work-relief
programmes, which created employment,
We will need invite artists, curators and the public
to agitate and activate its content to make
exhibitions and displays.
including artistic production in the wake
of the Great Depression. Artists were paid
to recover, Founded in 1972, the Museum is located
in the New York City Building, which was
to create work for government buildings,
community centres and institutions through
various programmes, which created
reconnect, built to house the New York City Pavilion
at the 1939-1940 World’s Fair. The Fair
employment for thousands of artists over
the years. These initiatives and histories
repair, heal
was planned during the Great Depression continue to inform generations of artists
(1929-1939) and intended as an uplifting and organizers in the US.
WIDE ANGLE • Rethinking museums for the future | 13 Today, we face the prospect of mass Education is at the heart of our work “The only thing that makes life possible
unemployment and an economic and we will continue to develop is permanent, intolerable uncertainty;
recession, a growing refugee crisis, as digital content and will broadcast from not knowing what comes next,” wrote
well as living in the midst of a global the Museum as well as convene and create the American author Ursula K. Le Guin in her
health crisis. We will need to develop much-needed moments of connection 1969 science-fiction novel, The Left Hand
an understanding of how we can live and intimacy. We will be hyper-local of Darkness.
and work with a constantly shifting world and international in our reach.
Are we living in the dystopian future
and how we can together face collective
we feared and that was described so
grief – grief for the loss of loved ones, loss
of habitat due to the climate emergency,
Connecting through art eloquently by Le Guin? I hope that we can
find our way back to our communities.
and grief for the loss of a way of living. Queens is multicultural in its traditions,
I hope that we can recover and reimagine
and over 160 languages are spoken
So, what have we learnt, what does it our cultural spaces and once again create
in the borough. This diversity will be
mean to reimagine a museum and what and connect through art and culture. I hope
reflected in the art that is produced
tools do we need to be able to create that this experience has shown us how
and education and social practice
relevant and useful organizations? we can overcome distance and find new
that takes place. At the same time,
At the Queens Museum, we will embrace ways to communicate, collaborate and build
the dissemination of what is produced,
the uncertainty of this moment and trust proximity and community.
and descriptions of what takes place
that artists, writers, designers, poets
in the borough, will be communicated I know that museums and culture have an
and architects can help us to remake
digitally to a global audience – both in important role to play in the healing and
the Museum. We are developing
places that reflect the backgrounds of the recovery that we will all need in the coming
a model of a museum that puts artists,
Queens communities, and in dialogue with months and years, and look forward to
educators and organizers at its centre.
other culturally diverse neighbourhoods us finding our place together with our
We will work in coalition with cultural,
and cities around the world. communities – in Queens and elsewhere.
educational and community partners
locally and create the conditions to
support the production of work, ideas
and collaboration. We will employ
artists from our communities and will
provide studio space, support, resources,
technical support and mentors to create
intergenerational and international
The only thing that makes
conversations. We will reimagine how
the Museum can operate and focus life possible is permanent,
intolerable uncertainty…
on production on-site, and in our
neighbourhoods.
Creative industries: Increasing resilience
The cultural and creative sectors have been among the hardest the considerable impact of lockdown measures on the culture
hit by the pandemic. Museums were particularly affected, sector. Its aim is to mobilize professionals from the cultural
with nearly ninety per cent – or more than 85,000 institutions industry and other stakeholders to increase the resilience
– forced to close their doors (UNESCO, May 2020) for varying and sustainability of creative industries and cultural
lengths of time during the COVID-19 crisis. institutions.
Deprived of their public, these institutions are facing sharp As part of this movement, UNESCO Member States have
declines in revenue. The professions linked to museums, their placed among their priorities, the adoption of measures
operation and the extent of their influence, could be seriously and policies to support and promote the diversity of cultural
impacted as a result. A survey conducted by the International expressions – such as capacity-building, social protection for
Council of Museums (ICOM) in mid-May on International
museum staff, digitization and inventorying of collections,
Museum Day estimates that nearly thirteen per cent of the
and the development of online content.
world’s museums may never be in a position to reopen.
This international mobilization has made it possible to initiate
The crisis has also revealed major cultural and digital
disparities. The digital divide, already significant between dialogues to inform countries on the development of policies,
countries and regions, has been exacerbated by the crisis. In and financial mechanisms to help creative individuals
Africa and the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) – which and communities overcome the crisis. The discussions have
account for only 1.5 per cent of the total number of museums highlighted the means available to the public and private
worldwide – only five per cent of museums were able to offer sectors to preserve cultural ecosystems and explore paths
alternative online content to audiences during the lockdown to recovery.
period, according to UNESCO.
By the end of May, over fifty ResiliArt debates had already been
In response to this cultural and social crisis, UNESCO organized in more than thirty countries – with the participation
launched the ResiliArt movement in April 2020, to highlight of artists and cultural professionals from all the world’s regions.
14 | The UNESCO Courier • July-September 2020Education: An opportunity
to reinvent teaching
More than 1.5 billion students – or ninety per cent of the world’s student
population – have been affected by temporary closures of schools
and universities in 2020 due to the health crisis, according to UNESCO.
Educational institutions have been forced, almost overnight, to switch
to remote learning platforms and devise alternative teaching methods.
Poornima Luthra
districts have responded to this crisis will With stringent social-distancing
Educator at the Copenhagen Business have a ripple effect on students as they requirements in place, it will likely be
School, and founder and chief consultant a while before social interaction levels
advance, ready or not, to new grade levels.”
of TalentED Consultancy ApS, a training return to pre-COVID-19 times.The impact
and consultancy firm based in Copenhagen, The negative impact on the mental of this on today’s generations of learners
Denmark. health of students being away from may be felt for years to come. “Once
the social interaction and routines that schools reopen and a sense of normalcy
With over a third of the global population a school environment provides, is of prime prevails, the job of educators will be tough
under some form of lockdown due concern. Even the technology- saturated – to bring students up to speed, plug gaps
to COVID-19, the health crisis has caused generations of Z (children born in the years in learning and provide greater social
an unprecedented disruption in education. 1996 to 2015) and Alpha (children born and emotional support to students who
From kindergarten to university, schools after 2015) have been craving social require it,” Sarita Somaya, a primary teacher
worldwide have been temporarily closed, interaction and physical experiences away at an international school in Singapore,
forcing educators to find alternative from their devices. This has been perhaps explained.
teaching methods. This situation is likely the biggest challenge for educators
to leave a lasting footprint. For many children around the world,
to address through online platforms.
schools provide their one main meal
“We will feel the effects of COVID-19 on “Human contact is important when
of the day. The closures have forced these
students globally until a vaccine is widely it comes to education, especially for teens,” children to seek out alternative options,
available, at the very least,” says Amy a high school teacher in Singapore said. often unsuccessfully. Gayathri Tirthapura,
Valentine, executive director of Future “Most students would definitely rather go co-founder trustee of the Tejasvita Trust
of School, an American public charity that to school, to feel included in a community, – an organization based in Bengaluru,
supports the growth of innovative school where there is more structure to their which provides education to underserved
models. “The way systems and individual learning.” communities in south India – explains
that “families are struggling to have three
meals a day, and are depending on private
donors and relief packages announced by
the government.”
© UNICEF / Frank Dejongh
Seven-year-old Nelly studies on
her tablet at home in Abidjan, Côte
d’Ivoire, April 2020. Educational videos
produced by UNICEF and the country’s
Ministry of Education are also
broadcast on national television.
WIDE ANGLE • Education: An opportunity to reinvent teaching | 15© UNICEF / Ali Haj Suleiman
Diplomas received
by robots
Yet, in spite of the grim scenario,
educational institutions around the world
are finding creative and innovative
ways to address the challenges posed
by COVID-19 – from holding university
graduations with robot avatars replacing
students in Japan, to using social-
distancing hats in China. Educators have
also had to get creative about designing
content to deliver academic lessons in an
engaging way across the digital platforms
available.
To address the lack of social interaction,
counsellors in some schools have created
themed activities to engage students Nine-year-old Maria follows a pre-recorded lesson via WhatsApp
– some educators have even organized on her father’s smartphone at a camp for internally displaced
virtual picnics with their classes. In rural people in Kili, north of Idlib, Syrian Arab Republic.
schools, teachers have had to think
of different ways to engage with students
– often via text messages to parents’ In countries including the United States, at Gurushala, a learning portal which
mobile devices and phone calls. Where United Kingdom, and New Zealand, provides digital education for teachers
children do not have access to even concerted efforts have been made and content for students, explain that
a pencil at home – let alone a computer to ensure that disadvantaged children “access to education has never been easy
– teachers have had to think on their feet are provided laptops, tablet computers for India’s children from disadvantaged
to find new ways of teaching them. and mobile hotspots. In India, the team groups. With mobile and internet
penetration growing by the day, there
is a sudden spotlight on technology”.
There is the chance that The end of group
activity?
COVID-19 will be disruptive What does this health crisis mean for
in a positive way education in the long run? “Primary
classrooms have become more clinical
A global coalition, so learning never stops
The situation is unprecedented: schools in over 190 countries About a hundred United Nations agencies, international
around the world closed their doors overnight, to contain philanthropic, non-profit, and media organizations, and private
the pandemic. By mid-April, 1.57 billion children and young enterprises have joined the initiative. They include Microsoft,
people – ninety per cent of the world’s school population – Google, Weidong, KPMG, Khan Academy, and the BBC World
were out of school. This education crisis has disproportionately Service. Mobile phone operators like Orange and Vodafone
affected vulnerable and disadvantaged students, for whom have also partnered with the coalition, to provide increased
school also plays a key role in terms of nutrition, health, connectivity and free access to online educational content.
and even emotional support.
While the proportion of young people without internet access
To ensure educational continuity during the health crisis, at home is under fifteen per cent in Western Europe and North
UNESCO launched the Global Education Coalition on 26 March America, it is as high as eighty per cent in sub-Saharan Africa.
2020. Its objective is to pool the resources of international Although mobile phones today allow learners to access
partners, civil society, and private sector partners, to help information, connect with their teachers and each other, about
countries develop equitable distance learning solutions. 56 million students live in areas with no mobile networks –
While endeavouring to ensure that responses are co-ordinated around half of them in sub-Saharan Africa.
and meet the specific needs of different countries, the coalition
UNESCO’s work in the coalition has included the global
will also work to facilitate the return of students to school
monitoring of national and localized school closures
when they reopen.
and the numbers of students affected. It has also set up weekly
webinars for education ministry officials on the educational
response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
16 | The UNESCO Courier • July-September 2020– where students can’t share, use shared
resources or work in huddles, excited
over a science experiment. I hope I’m
Even technology-saturated
mistaken, but will this be the end of group
work and rotations? Will we go back
generations of children have
to classrooms with the teacher lecturing at
the front and students sitting in their seats been craving social interaction
all day?” Taryn Hansen, a primary school
teacher in Perth, Western Australia, where
schools reopened in late April, wondered.
Sankalp Chaturvedi, an associate
© UNICEF / Yuyuan Ma
professor at Imperial College Business
School, London, believes that “in the long
term, higher education will still be done
in the classrooms. People will be more
comfortable with online education as
an alternative, which was not as evident
or effective before the lockdown.”
“There is the chance that COVID-19 will
be disruptive in a positive way,” Sandy
Mackenzie, director of the Copenhagen
International School, predicts. This
may lead “schools to discard what was
obsolete, to employ technology effectively
and to ensure that educators are
developing the skills that new generations
need for the decades to come.”
Reduced inequalities
Xiaoyu, a high school student in Beijing, follows an online learning
in education programme at home on an educational platform set up by the government.
Her mother, seen in the background, also works remotely, February 2020.
The use of digital technology implies
widespread access to it. The pandemic
has highlighted the inequality in both
the quality and accessibility to education To achieve Goal 4 of the United Nations learning options for students who prefer
globally, and the digital divide that exists, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) such an educational experience.
even in developed nations. With only within the next decade, we will, hopefully,
This crisis has resulted in a digital
sixty per cent of the global population see more public and private institutions
disruption, but also underlined the need
being online prior to the pandemic, come together to make our educational
to rethink what future generations are
governments, publishers, technology systems more resilient, inclusive
taught. This has been driven more recently
providers and network operators have and equitable for all.
by research from the World Economic
had to work together to enable educators Forum (and other organizations) on skills
to provide asynchronous and synchronous Rethinking the role required by the future workforce. These
education online to as many students
globally as possible. of the educator future skills include higher cognitive
skills of entrepreneurship, creativity,
One programme that does this The new remote learning environment has and innovation, and social and emotional
is the Learning Passport, a digital remote meant that educators have had to think intelligence skills – such as resilience,
learning platform, originally developed creatively about content and the best adaptability and having a growth mindset.
for displaced and refugee children by possible ways to teach online. This
To solve some of the world’s most pressing
the United Nations Children’s Fund provides the catalyst for rethinking the role
global challenges in the future, education
(UNICEF) in collaboration with Microsoft. of the educator, while adding value
will need to focus on the development
Due to start as a pilot programme in 2020 to what is taught.
of these skills.
– with children in Kosovo, Timor-Leste This experience has also shown us
and Ukraine being the first to experience Redefining what education will look like
that there is potential for flexibility
it – the project has rapidly expanded for future generations in a post-COVID-19
in how education is delivered – creating
its reach to include schools affected by world will require the combined efforts
alternatives to more traditional
closures worldwide. Now all countries of the various stakeholders. They will have
educational formats and structures.
with a curriculum capable of being taught to think hard and honestly about the issues
Educators and parents have observed
online have access to the programme’s involved, and then take the necessary
that some of their students or children
content through online books, videos actions to address them.
are flourishing in the new context. This
and additional support for parents could lead to the development of more
of children with learning disabilities. sophisticated remote learning, or blended
WIDE ANGLE • Education: An opportunity to reinvent teaching | 17“Women are the unsung
heroes of this crisis”
The health crisis, and the subsequent widespread lockdowns worldwide, have
led to a surge in violence against women. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive
Director of UN Women, warns that women’s rights could be diminished as
a result of the pandemic.
Interview by Laetitia Kaci
UNESCO 743 million
In March 2020, you warned of an
increase in gender inequality due
girls out of school
to the health crisis. Why is this pandemic
particularly detrimental to women?
during the pandemic
(UNESCO, April 2020)
There is no crisis that is gender neutral,
and this one is no different. Often, School closures increase drop-out rates that disproportionately affect
the crisis accentuates the inequalities adolescent girls, reinforcing gender disparities in education.
between men and women that already
exist.
did not have access to social support I hope that this perception will change.
Women have experienced great hardships in the first place, are even worse hit. That is why we have to keep talking about
due to this pandemic. Many of them the role they play – put their efforts front
work on the front line and have been The pandemic has brought and centre, so no one can escape it.
directly exposed to the virus. They have to the forefront crucial professions – such
also been hit hard by its economic as nurses, teachers, cashiers – in which What can women bring to crisis
and social consequences. The interruption women are over-represented. Could this management?
of activity due to the crisis has led crisis change the way we perceive these
Women are viewed by our societies as
to greater economic hardship for workers?
the main carers, whether paid or unpaid.
women, who generally work in more
Women are the real heroes of this crisis, But they also know how to go beyond
precarious and lower-paid jobs than
even if they are not recognized as such. thinking of this as a purely health-
men. Many of them have lost their means
But curiously, there seems to be a lack related crisis to be managed. Because
of livelihood.
of awareness that women are actually women know how to multitask, they are
Additionally, many women depend on shouldering the response to this crisis. perhaps better placed to understand
social services, which have become less Even if they are saving lives, they remain that in a situation like this, we are dealing
accessible during this period. Those who unsung heroes. with several factors – such as economic,
social, health and food security. They have
a better understanding of intersectionality
because they experience it on a daily basis.
Up to 25%
So they are already hardwired to deal with
crises like these.
increase in violence
In a statement in April 2020, you
referred to the shadow pandemic
of increased violence against women.
against girls and women What impact have the lockdowns had
on the situation of women?
(United Nations, April 2020)
In that statement, I said that helplines
Based on data from countries with reporting systems. and shelters for victims of domestic
In some countries, reported cases have doubled. violence around the world have
18 | The UNESCO Courier • July-September 2020© UN Women / Elma Okic
reported an increase in calls for help.
The confinement has exacerbated tensions
and increased the isolation of women with
The confinement
abusive partners, while cutting them off
from the services that are best able to help
has exacerbated tensions
them. This particular context has made
reporting abuse even more complicated,
due to limitations on women’s and girls’
and increased
access to phones and helplines,
and disrupted public services like police, the isolation of women
justice and social services.
In some countries, where services
to protect victims of domestic violence
Is there a risk that women’s rights are This year, 2020, is a big year for women.
are not considered essential services,
being diminished? It marks the twentieth anniversary
women have been deprived of all help,
of the United Nations Security Council
while they remain locked in their homes Definitely, women’s rights have taken
resolution 1325 (on Women, Peace
with their abusers. This has made it even a step back – they are even grinding
and Security). We must push on all
more difficult for women to cope with to a halt in some cases. We must not allow
the plans that we have, and get ready for
the violence. this to happen.
when it is possible to be more active. But
we have to stay on top of that agenda
and we cannot shelve it. It is as important
for women to achieve their rights as it is
to survive COVID-19. These two battles [for
70% women women’s rights and against the disease]
have to be fought together. And we have
to win them both.
exposed to the virus
in health systems
How can we ensure that women’s rights
are not victims of this crisis?
In the economy, for instance, we have
As women make up the majority of health-care workers
to make sure that the stimulus packages
(WHO, 2019), they are on the front line in the fight against
[offered by governments in different
COVID-19, and are at greater risk of being infected.
WIDE ANGLE • “Women are the unsung heroes of this crisis” | 19 countries] target women very clearly,
and that they work for the women
in the informal sector. These are 47 million women
deprived of modern
some of the rights that we will have
to continue to fight for. The fight against
gender-based violence will not end
after the crisis. We must remain vigilant
and aim to flatten the curve of violence
contraceptives
against women. (UNFPA, April 2020)
We must also encourage women to take The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the overburdening of health
up positions of leadership in the response systems and the closure of social service institutions, including
to the pandemic in the fight against family planning facilities on which these women depend.
the virus – especially in countries where
they are under-represented in the health
sector and beyond – and call for fairer
while ensuring that it is not accompanied divide. We have to continue to make that
representation in certain sectors. This
by a widening of the digital divide. fight a reality. We have to make sure that
is where our efforts must be focused.
Communities do not always have access girls in poor communities do not miss
It is also necessary to encourage to technology, and even where there out on education when education moves
the development of distance education, is technology, there is still a gender digital to digital platforms.
I hope that UNESCO, UN Women,
the Broadband Commission,
740 million women
the International Telecommunication
Union (ITU) and ministries of education can
work together to ensure that a broadband
at risk of poverty
infrastructure is established in rural schools
and communities in informal settlements
– so that everyone, everywhere, has access
The economic crisis related to the COVID-19 pandemic
to education.
disproportionately affects the 740 million women
working in the informal sector (ILO, January 2019).
© UN Women / Ryan Brown
Christine Banlog (centre), carries large sacks of produce up the crowded stairs to the Sandaga market
in Douala, Cameroon. The 64-year-old has worked as a market woman for twenty-two years.
20 | The UNESCO Courier • July-September 2020Latin America:
Towards a new social pact
Declining incomes, school drop-outs, the growth of informal work,
and steep rises in unemployment. The social consequences of the health
crisis for the inhabitants of the Latin America and the Caribbean region
have been massive. The author calls for the establishment of a fairer
and more supportive social system to avoid a deepening of inequalities.
Karina Batthyány
Executive Secretary of the Latin American
The poorest
Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO) are hardest hit
and Professor of Sociology, Universidad de la Given the economic and social inequalities
República, Montevideo, Uruguay. in the region, the consequences
of unemployment will disproportionately
The coronavirus pandemic has affect the poor and vulnerable layers of the
had an unprecedented impact on middle-income population. Women will
the lives of people in Latin America also be impacted more severely.
and the Caribbean (LAC). The
repercussions are particularly severe The crisis is also likely to result in an
for low-income households. The health increase in informal jobs, as poorer
emergency declared in response families are forced to send their children
to COVID-19 completely disrupted to work, in order to survive. This will lead
everyday life, like in most countries around to an increase in child labour. Poverty
the world. is projected to increase by 3.5 percentage
points, while extreme poverty is set
The magnitude of the crisis in the region to grow by 2.3 percentage points (ECLAC,
has reopened debates on the role of the 2020).
state, politics in general, and public policies
in particular. While some predict the end The collapse of health systems in many
of humanity, others argue that nothing countries also emphasizes the need
will change. What is certain, though, to move towards the consolidation
© Nadège Mazars / Covid Times Project
is that we are in a phase of transition of a universal health system – that
– our societies, in some aspects, will guarantees quality and has the necessary
undergo reconfigurations in the short resources to cope in times of crises.
and medium term. It should also take a comprehensive
approach to health, accounting for
Forecasts by the United Nations the socio-economic situation of people
Economic Commission for Latin America and their quality of life.
and the Caribbean (ECLAC) predict
a 5.3 per cent fall in regional gross The current economic model has
domestic product (GDP) by 2020 – generated inequalities and a high
the worst recession in the region in the last concentration of wealth. And in Red flags appear at windows
100 years. Unemployment is also projected the absence of a universal welfare state, in working-class neighbourhoods
to rise by 12 million, in an area where fifty- access to social benefits remains a in Bogota, Colombia, signalling
three per cent of jobs are in the informal privilege in the region. This was already to the government that families do
economy. This is particularly serious, a major problem before the pandemic, not have enough to eat, April 2020.
given that few countries in the region but it is now a question of survival. It is
offer unemployment benefits. In 2019, therefore essential, in the medium term,
only Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, to rethink economic, social and labour
Ecuador, and Uruguay had unemployment policies, and to promote decent work and
insurance for workers in the formal sector. the universal fulfilment of social rights.
WIDE ANGLE • Latin America: Towards a new social pact | 21You can also read
