Tag: United Nations stamp

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United Nations 1970, Fighting Cancer UN style, with conferences

In theory, international cancer organizations make sense as an advancement made in one place can be offered quickly to fellow cancer sufferers around the world. So the question is, how is this organization founded back in 1935 doing? So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

Despite the not great printing, I do like the image on this stamp. A Greek style hero in direct battle with a deadly beast. The Union for International Cancer Control is of course more about conferences and scientific publications, but it is good to remind attendees that there are people out there battling for their lives who need a hero. Notice the stamp is mostly in French despite being a New York United Nations issue. It was not until more than 10 years later that the Geneva offices of the UN began to offer separate issues.

Todays stamp is issue A110, a 13 cent stamp issued by the United Nations on May 22nd, 1970. It was a two stamp issue in conjunction with the then Union Against Cancer conference in Houston, Texas that year. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.

There was a first ad hoc conference of international cancer experts in Madrid in 1933. There it was suggested that the conferences become regular events. In 1935 in Paris an organization was formed under the Latin name Unio Internationales Contra Cancrum UICC, to provide for the conferences. The group had members both from governments and private cancer societies. In 1947, the organization moved to Geneva to work more closely with the World Health Organization.

As the conferences grew the UICC began to get involved in publishing with both a scientific journal and a frequently updated textbook on cancer diagnosis. There is a full time staff of about 50 in Geneva under a medical professor.

Above her there is a ceremonial head that is chosen by members to serve a two year term. Here is where there as been some backsliding. For the whole history of the UICC the President was a doctor or professor. Instead now we have Princess Consort Dina of Jordan as the President. She is not a doctor though she lead a pro cancer society in Jordan after losing her mother to cancer. Some may view this as breaking the glass ceiling that have kept down Muslim women who are also Princess Consorts, but it also displays going down the modern rabbit hole of virtue signaling celebrity over hard science. Sure enough her accomplishment was scheduling  the next conference, now conference and expo, in the Middle East in that hotbed of cancer research that is Oman. Fate has stepped in and the Oman expo was cancelled due to the coronavirus.

Princess Dina of Jordan without her crown at the UN talking cancer

Fear not, the UICC is still actively producing webinars on fighting cancer in the age of COVID. Subtitled no doubt, go home and die. If the UICC is going to stay with not science leaders, I propose the next one be the singer Bonnie Tyler. She understands Holding out for a hero as conveyed on the stamp.

Well my drink is empty. Come again soon for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2021.

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United Nations 1969, Maybe if we stomped out unequal exchange, we could get past colonialism in Latin America

Here we have a large fancy modern building in far off Santiago, Chile. It was built to house an operation called the UN Economic Commission for Latin America that had been in operation for 21 years at the time of the stamp. It has now been in operation for over 70 years and has added the Caribbean to it’s area and ecology to it’s goals, still out of this building. So, beyond the nice building, what are the achievements of the organization? Good Question? So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays new offering from The Philatelist.

I must say I like the aesthetics of this stamp. This organization’s stated goal is to replace colonialism with a more equitable economic model. A big change. The building with it’s large size and ultra modern design goes a long way to project a positive future through the changes.

Todays stamp is issue A103, a 6 cent stamp issued by the United Nations out of it’s New York office on March 14th, 1969. It was a two stamp issue in different denominations. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents whether mint or cancelled to order.

Well before the founding of the Latin American Economic Commission by the UN in 1947, the organization’s predecessor the League of Nations had grappled with what they felt were unfair trading between the “rich” north and “poor” south of the globe. The idea was proposed Russian born, German and American trained, American Marxist Economist Paul Baron that by northern hemisphere companies setting prices, they maximized their profits at the expense of the poorer areas low salaries and costs and thus acted to maintain the status quo and now allow the poor south’s resources propel development. His ideas were further developed into a dependency theory that the rich north was dependent of the propping up from the south so owed them a debt.

Marxist Economist Paul Baran

The result was that the work done by the Latin America Economic Commission was mainly aid to lower the price paid on imports from the rich north to Latin America. This is quite less revolutionary than the ideas of Mr. Baron, but it must be remembered that the Associate Members of the Commission, the rich north west and Japan, notably not the Marxist North East, were who was providing the aid. With the UN there was also much administration expense.

In addition to adding the Caribbean nations in 1984, the commission gradually took more of an interest in the ecology of sustainable development. Ecological economics are an offshoot of Marxist economics so the cross purposes implied are not so straight forward. The Secretary General seat of the now UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean has been vacant of 6 months. The last holder of the seat was Mexican born, Harvard trained Biologist and Public Administrator Alicia Barcena Ibarra. Before her work for the UN, she was the Under Secretary for the Environment in the Mexican Federal cabinet. Knowing what a heck of a job Mexico does on environment, the UN was no doubt lucky to attract her services and now all of Latin America and apparently the UN is dumfounded on who could possibly replace her.

Former General Secretary Alicia Barcena Ibarra in action, at a conference.

One achievement of the commission that is hard to argue with is the building itself in Santiago. It opened in 1966 and was the work of Chilean architect Emilio Duhart who had been influenced by the earlier work of the French Architect Le Corbusiar. I t is considered one of the best examples of Latin American modern architecture.

The building in more modern times looking a little weather beaten as older concrete structures often do.

Well my drink is empty. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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The United Nations wants to help you with your factory, or did until the developed world realized the implications

Today we look at the cycle of the United Nations. The initial promise, the flawed execution, the abandonment, and then the reassessment to perhaps justify a continuation. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This is the first United Nations stamp I have covered. It is a great period piece of a different time. Factory smokestacks spewing not pollution but streams that turn into arrows signifying economic growth. It makes one want to join Gregory Peck and don the grey flannel suit. Notice also the acronym on the stamp. It is the French acronym for the organization. The lower denomination of the stamp issue is similar but has the English acronym UNIDO. Remember French and English are the international languages of diplomacy.

Todays stamp is issue A98, a 13 cent stamp issued by the United Nations in New York City on April 18th, 1968. It was a two stamp issue that celebrated the forming of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization in 1966. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents, mint or used either denomination of the issue. Sometimes with collectibles, things go up in value as they become seen as a failed period piece. This stamp may have a shot at such a revival.

The United Nations Industrial Development Organization arose out of whiz kid studies done for the Secretary General’s office in the 1950s. With so many new nations forming at the end of the colonial period, a universal plan for quick industrialization of the new countries was imagined. Expert help, capital, and help meeting international standards so goods could be exported were all parts of the plan. You have to admire the audacity of thinking they could actually pull something like that off. Remember though the 1950s was a more optimistic time. The Secretary General realized quickly that the task at hand was great and a dedicated organization was required, so one was formed in 1966.

This was something that the third world was highly in favor of. A UN organization would work most easily with the kind of socialist operations that were being envisioned by the new countries. A group of 77 such countries banded together in Lima, Peru during 1976 calling for more resources and setting the specific goal that 25 percent of the worlds industrial output originate from their countries. This may seem an understandable, low short term goal to the developing world that still had great hopes for the future now that they were setting their own path. To the developed world it crystalized that production was to them a zero sum game and the goal was to take from the rich and give to the poor. Such a pose cannot be received well by the people of the developed world, who were implicitly being asked to provide resources for the effort.

A large bureaucracy was formed in Vienna that absorbed much of the rich country largesse. The work of the agency did not successfully develop any of the 77 counties. Indeed UNIDO did little to keep going the socialist enterprises as economic reality struck in the 80s and 90s. During the 90s, the USA, the UK, France, Canada, and Australia all withdrew from the organization. The organization still continues with 700 employees and a budget of 500 million Euros, paid for mainly by Germany, Japan and Scandinavia. It has refashioned itself with talk of sustainable development and renewable energy, so a President Trump probably wouldn’t have much success gaining UN funding for a scheme to bring smokestack factories back to the Midwest. Even if he allowed solar panels on the roof. An office building filled with children of the rich bureaucrats in a swank, jet set, European city. Now you are talking about something more realistic.

Gerd Muller, new head of UNIDO takes office and the fancy folder. He just left office in Germany with the change of government where he distributed German aid. There his result was doubling the budget with no mention of results of the distributions. The two masked people are probably the flower arraigners.
Li Yong the old boss of UNIDA. In China he harmonized fiscal and industrial policy. More on point, but notice the fancy building behind him is no factory

Well my drink is empty and I am left wondering what the former whiz kids thought when reality hit later and they were more mature. Something like the executers were not as smart as the planners, or was it always just a scam to get set up royally in Vienna. A little bit of that modern pessimism seeping in. Come again for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2018.

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United Nations(Geneva offices)2000, Painters for the new century

When you enter a new century, it is a good time to check out what is going on in the arts. The UN is in an especially good place to do that as they have offices and representatives everywhere. What did they find? So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

The competition featured artists from around the world and all the entries went on a traveling exhibition from London to Brussels, then Stockholm, then New York City. Six stamps featured art from the exhibition with 2 stamps each issued by UN offices in New York, in Geneva, and Vienna. The artists were 1 American, 1 Japanese, 1 Philippine, 1 Kenyan, 1 Greek, and 1 Lebanese, Rita Adaimy the painter of “The Embrace” on this stamp and the only female.

Todays stamp is issue A319, a .90 Swiss Franc stamp issued by the United Nations on May 30th, 2000. The two Geneva issues had different denominations with this the lower. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth $1.10 used. Though this is a Geneva issue, I got it in a pack of stamps I bought at the UN headquarters gift shop in New York in 2013. After getting home from that trip, I put the pack aside unopened till I found and opened it last week. Ah, Lost treasures…

The millennium art competition show us where the art world was at. Despite attracting entrants from around the world the entries turned in were remarkably uniform. In this case it might lead you to believe that Auguste Rodin might have an outsized influence on the contemporary female artists of Lebanon. Perhaps he does and maybe that is not so bad. Imagine a similar competition from the dawn of the 20th century, you would have had fewer entrants from fewer places but you would have had much more diversity of style. You also would be dealing with art from Rodin himself rather than someone who ripped him off.

Artist self portrait as a cross stitch pattern. Try that Rodin

Ms. Adaimy is still an artist and Pharmacy educator in Lebanon. She recently participated in a multi section mural at the Lebanon Museum of Contemporary Art. The mural is in the graffiti style and sponsored by the European Union in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the UN Human Rights Commission.

Well my drink is empty and I will pour another to toast the UN for showing us the state of the art world in this millennium. That the state is not so good in not their fault. At least they are not yet doing a stamp set on the current state of postage stamp gasbaggery. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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Sri lanka 1972, UNESCO would prefer if you would read more-guess less

Sounds like an instruction to me on how to make these articles better. But no, The United Nations  had figured out that book output was not keeping up in newly independent areas. In fact in terms of percentages it was going down. Thus we have slogans and conferences to embarrass them about it. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.

This stamp is from Sri lanka, newly renamed from Ceylon that year, shows the logo of the UNESCO International Book Year 1972. The budget for the book year was only $100,000. What was left after the professionally done slogans and logos? Well there was a conference in Paris, where plenty of people already read and wrote books.

Todays stamp is issue A163, a 20 cent stamp issued by Sri lanka on September 8h 1972. It was a single stamp issue that came out on World Literacy Day. So you know, two birds one stamp. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 50 cents used.

UNESCO was formed in Paris under the auspices of the United Nations in 1946 to increase international collaboration in areas like education to promote universal respect for justice and human rights. Even that sounds like a good excuse to have many action packed expense account conferances. I nominate Johnny Dollar to represent the USA at the next one. UNESCO was a successor to a similar program of the League of Nations. If it doesn’t work the first time, try, try again.

Lets look at the world circa 1970 when the idea of a book year in 1972 was cemented. 70 % of the worlds population lived in parts of the world that only produced 19% of the worlds books. This had not improved with the decline in colonialism. In fact it had gotten worse down from 24% of the worlds books 20 years before. The problem was most acute in Africa where 10% of the worlds population  produced only 1.5% of the worlds books. Most of the newly independent African nations had created zero books. Imput from publishers and bookselling organizations was that it was never cheaper to produce and distribute a book. Naturally UNESCO lept into action, or rather scheduled conferences.

Regional conferences were held in Tokyo for Asia in 1966. In Accra, Ghana for Africa in 1968. In Bogotá for Latin America in 1969. In Cairo for Arab states in 1972. Then the conferences moved to where UNESCO was more comfortable, the big cities of Europe. A “Books on Books” fair was put together as part of the prescheduled book fair in Frankfurt, Germany. This display then hit the road to Paris and then around the world for the next two years. Some of the stunts revolving around the book year was printing the logo on textbooks made in Mexico that year that the government was paying for anyway. There was a manuscript contest for would be publishers in Rwanda and a “book flood” in Fiji that saw one classroom of 35 school children receive 500 books. Gee we have a logo, and slogans, now how about some photo opportunities.

Well my drink is empty and I am afraid I will not be pouring another to toast UNESCO. If you are not going to solve a problem, you shouldn’t expect people to pay you to rub their nose in it. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.

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The league gets a palace, but so late they just leave it empty

Welcome readers to todays offering from The Philatelist. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. We have an interesting story to tell of an organization painstakingly building a palace, but then leaving it unoccupied because their failure left them unworthy.

This is a good looking stamp. It looks twenty years newer than it is. Switzerland must have seemed an oasis from all the political and economic turmoil around them. Avoiding all the destruction and defeat must play into while the style is so predictive of Switzerland’s neighbor to the north 15 to 20 years later.

The stamp today is issue A64, a 30 centimes stamp issued by Switzerland on May 2nd, 1938. It was part of a four stamp issue in various denominations celebrating the opening of the League of Nations facilities in Geneva. This stamp displays the Palace of Nations complex. According to the Scott catalog, it is worth 25 cents in its cancelled condition.

The League of Nations was formed after World War I. The destruction from that war was so overwhelming that it was referred to as the war to end all wars. The winners of the war hoped that by setting up an organization to mediate disputes a future war could be prevented. With advancements in the field of arms, the death toll became worse over time. It was hoped that a League of Nations could bring global pressure on potential combatants to allow for mediation of disputes.

The problem arose when a powerful country had a dispute with a less powerful one. The other powerful countries would have had to be willing to take big chances to successfully reign in a powerful country. This proved impossible because the other countries in the final analysis just do not care enough. So despite the League of Nations countries like 30s Ethiopia and Czecheslovakia were left to their fate and the world went into World War II.

The Palace of Nations took 17 years to build. Over 300 proposals for the design were submitted and the organization could not decide whose plan to use. After several years they settled on a team of 5 architects from 4 countries to build the classically inspired building. It was the second, to Versailles,  largest official complex in Europe when new. Under the foundation is a time capsule with items from all the countries who were members of the League. With World War II approaching the building was left empty and it was decided during the war that a new organization, The United Nations, would take over from the failed league after the war.

By the time the building was complete it was obvious that the league was a failure and so to commemorate a giant palace must have been a little embarrassing to those involved. This is of course on the big assumption they were self aware. The building was later turned over to the UN where it has hosted great figures in world peace like Yasser Arafat. It is now being renovated, so it can continue the embarrassment for many years to come.

Well, my drink is empty, and so it is time to open the conversation in the below comment section. I might be a little hard on the league and the UN, the intentions if not the results are good. Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.