Did you know the UN is trying to take over the Alamo? It’s true! Just ask Alex Jones:
The Alamo emerged from the battle as a sacred shrine for individual freedom in the face of collective evil.
Now the shrine is besieged by the collective UN, whose policies follow Santa Anna’s dictatorial rule rather than the values the Alamo defenders died for “in the name of Liberty, of patriotism and everything dear to the American character” as Alamo Commander William B. Travis wrote in Feb. 1836.
How exactly would UN management affect the Alamo?
In 2002, the UNESCO World Heritage Center published a manual entitled “Managing Tourism at World Heritage Sites,” which outlines UN obligations that the historic site managers are expected to follow.
The manual states that it is “the duty of the international community as a whole to cooperate” in managing World Heritage Sites, meaning that bureaucrats from China or France could oversee and influence the Alamo’s operation.
One of the “protection obligations” of a World Heritage Site is the requirement to “use the World Heritage logo,” meaning that the Alamo Plaza would be adorned with UN symbols.
So here’s the story: the city of San Antonio wants UNESCO to designate the Alamo and other Spanish Missions in the city as World Heritage Sites. This has caused some uproar among certain conspiracy minded cohorts who believe this means that the the UN would then control the Alamo. That’s absolutely not the case. World Heritage Sites do not come under international control. It is simply a designation honoring the international relevance of the historic site for the good of all humanity.
There are already 21 World Heritage Sites in the USA. You won’t find Blue Helmets in their black helicotpers guarding the Statue of Liberty, Monticello or the Grand Canyon any more than you’ll see the Alamo come under UN Control. The city of San Antonio presumably wants the Alamo to get this recognition not least because of the tourism dollars that it could generate, among other reasons. (Not to mention the honor it confers!)
I’m actually glad that conspiracy theorists are making a stink about this because this silly sideshow offers us a welcome teachable moment about US policy toward UNESCO.
Next week, the USA is poised to lose its vote at UNESCO and in so doing, lose a great deal of influence over UNESCO’s day-to-day work–like World Heritage Site designations. That’s because the USA has not paid its annual dues to UNESCO in two years due to a decades old law that prohibits American dues payments to UN entities that accept Palestine as a member. In October 2011, UNESCO member states admitted Palestine and so this old legislation kicked in. Since then, the USA has not paid its share of UNESCO’s operations, like Tsunami early warning systems, Holocaust education, and World Heritage preservation. Congress has the power to reverse this policy, but so far it has not. Until it does, the USA will be sitting on the sidelines at UNESCO.