By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 9 -- From
bikes up
Beekman to the
Law of the
Sea, the
summer party
season was
kicked off
Friday at the
UN. It started
at
4:30 pm when
Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon
appeared in a
bicycle
helmet to
introduce
Janette
Sadik-Khan.
Ban
called
her the "High
Commissioner"
of
Transportation
-- an
appropriate
malapropism
given
Brooklynites'
perception of
her as
imperious. He
then
"launched,"
without
participating
in, a
six block
bicycle ride
up First
Avenue to 50th
Street and
Beekman
Place. Ban has
a broken hand
so his not
riding is
understandable
(though
several other
more
physically
challenged
Ambassador did
ride).
But
why did Ban
Ki-moon don a
bicycle helmet
if he wasn't
going to ride?
This is the
UN.
Up
on Beekman
there was a
reception,
champagne at 5
pm in a back
garden
overlooking
the East
River. There
was talk of
how Ban killed
off
reform of the
Security
Council's
working
methods, and
his bad
treatment of
Africans as
he's been
doling out top
posts.
A
legally-minded
Permanent
Representative
told Inner
City Press
that it
is
hypocritical
for the UN to
talk about
media freedom
but not
practice it,
and suggested
a litigation
strategy to
hold Ban to
account.
Back
south in the
UN's North
Lawn building,
a "media
availability"
by Ban,
announced with
only fifteen
minutes
notice, had
come and
gone, just the
way Ban likes
it. In the
so-called
Riverview tent
there was
drinking and
bitter talk
that even the
UN Singers
group is
"corrupt" and
full of
"ringers,"
discriminating
against
Africans and
those of
African
descent. Inner
City Press had
to move on.
In
the General
Assembly lobby
a fancier
group was
assembled,
with live
chamber music
and lamb chops
and Singha
beer from
Thailand.
It
was for the
Law of the
Sea, which
Inner City
Press
exclusively
covered
earlier in the
day, including
Palestine
gaining
Observer
State status.
After that,
more swag was
passed out in
Conference
Room
1, where
Continental
Shelf
candidates
vied for voted
with free pens
and Danish
chocolate; now
there were
coffee mugs
and posters.
In
the GA Lobby a
crowd gathered
around a
surprisingly
large fish:
Serge
Brammertz,
formerly of
the Lebanon or
Hariri
Tribunal and
now the
ICTY. The
French
Mission's
legal
specialist,
genially
forthcoming of
late about the
ICC, conversed
with Brammertz
and others.
One wondered
what he
thought of the
election
earlier in the
day of
Serbia's Vuk
Jeremic.
Before
the
vote,
based on
informal
polling, Inner
City Press tweeted
a
prediction:
Jeremic
winning with
97 votes.
Many laughed.
Then he won
with 99 votes.
Well, no one
is perfect.
This
prediction
must have been
from the worst
journalist at
the UN in the
last 20 years.
Watch this
site.
