UNESCO as a Global Public Intellectual Guiding Systemic Change: Promoting Sustainable Development Goal 4.7 and Educational Futures

• In Event: Systemic Socio-Environmental Change From the Local to the Planetary: Comparatively Analyzing Needs and Leveraging Possibilities

Abstract

We stand on the precipice of a planetary cliff, two options laid out before humanity. On one side is the continued expansion of democracy, the further extension of human rights and freedoms and concerted efforts to address the growing threats and realities of global climate change. On the other, the dismantling of democracy in lieu of a populist, authoritarian rule, increased attacks on the marginalized, oppressed and exploited populations of the world and acceleration of the degradation of planet earth. The future now unfolds as a battle between two dominant discourses, one that seeks to recapture the heart and imagination of the Enlightenment and the power of scientific research and rationality to lead us on the road to a brighter future for the great mass of people, the other an atavistic return to a past where a small cadre of global elites dominate the political, economic and cultural worlds, where propaganda and ideology dictate the contours and content of the public sphere and where multinational corporations and the power elite decree policy by fiat at the local, national and global levels.

In this battle, the institutions charged with knowledge production take on an increasingly essential role in challenging the new paradigm of fake news, insular politics and discourses of nationalism, intolerance and hate. UNESCO finds itself in a uniquely powerful position in this fight, as the key global voice amongst the institutions tasked with fostering and revitalizing the global public sphere, able to bring together schools and universities, scientific institutions, political organizations, think tanks and the media to counteract the rising tide of cynicism and authoritarianism. Its breadth and reach is unparalleled on a global scale and we thus argue that it has the best opportunity available to take on the responsibility of not only continuing to foster contemporary and future generations of scholars, researchers, thought leaders and public intellectuals but to also serve as a public intellectual itself.

Authors

• Carlos Alberto Torres, University of California - Los Angeles

• Richard Van Heertum, College of Staten Island - CUNY