UNESCO Will Lay the Foundations of Peace

New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 381, 11 October 1946, Page 22

UNESCO Will Lay the Foundations of Peace

7 AST week Dr. C. E. Beeby, Director of Education, left New Zealand on

_. his way to Paris where he will attend, in November, the Conference of

UNESCO. As many of our readers probably know, those initials stand for

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation; ; but

UNESCO 1s better described as "the specialised agency for international co-

operation in things of the mind." That is how it is described in this talk (broad-

cast recently in the Pacific Service of the BBC)

by DR.

JULIAN

HUXLEY

who its executive secretary of the preparatory commission for UNESCO,

HE first beginnings in international co-operation in the things of the mind were made after World War 1 when the Institute of Intellectual Co-operation was set up in Paris, under the League of Nations, in 1925. However, there’s a big difference to-day. The Institute had very little money, it was hardly allowed to touch education because that was supposed to be a matter for domestic concern, and it didn’t bother itself with anything so popular as the wireless. To-day’s UNESCO’s provisional budget for next year is nearly seven-and-a-half million dollars, education is included in its title, and not only am I talking about it on the wireless, but its constitution expressly lays down that it shall use the wireless together with all other means of mass communication, like press and films, to advance mutual knowledge and understanding amongst people. Peace is Defended in the Mind Its constitution sets forth various aims and purposes for it of a sort that had never previously found their way, so far as I know, into international documents. The preamble begins with Mr. Attlee’s sober words that since wars begin in the minds of men it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed. It goes on to lay down that the wide pursuance of culture, and the education of humanity for justice and liberty and peace, are indispensable to the. dignity of man and constitute a sacred duty which all the nation$ must fulfil; that the peace based exclusively upon the political and economic arrangements of governments would not be a peace which could secure a unanimous, lasting, and sincere support from the peoples of the world; and that the peace must therefore be founded, if it is not to fail, on the intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind. All the states which have signed the constitution thereby affirm their belief in full and equal opportunities of education for all, and in the free exchange of ideas and knowledge. At Copenhagen, Sir John Boyd Orr said that the FAO through the’ new. World Food Board was out to combat hunger and poverty throughout the world. I think we can sum up the task of UNESCO in one phrase by saying that it is out to combat spiritual hunger and mental poverty throughout the world. In pursuance of this aim we have already in the few months of our existence started work on a number of concrete. projects. For instance, since UNRRA is debarred from providing relief in the educational and _ similar spheres, we are trying to get money raised for these aims and starting to organise relief in this in all the wardevastated countries both in Europe and the Far East.

In the course of this we have already found out that the lack of standardisation in scientific apparatus-especially for teaching- is a serious handicap, and we're preparing recommendations to remedy this. Again, since UNESCO can hardly be expected to work well in a world about half of whose inhabitants are illiterate, we have already prepared a factual and critical survey of various methods used by different countries in anti-illiterate and mass education cam-paigns-by Mexico, China, Russia, Turkey, and by British, French and other colonies. Every nation seems to have its own special methods and we hope that each will find that they can learn something from the other. Educational Broadcasting Then we are already taking steps to hold a conference to draft a new copyright convention. This is of great importance since, for one thing,. neither of the two most powerful nations in the world-the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R.have so far adhered to the Byrne convention on copyright, and, secondly, the whole position of copyright in radio, films, and works of art is in a chaotic staté. We are now setting out on a study of text-books, especially in history, geography and physics, to see what can be done to remove causes of international friction, and misunderstanding, and misrepresentation in this sphere. We are preparing a conference on educational broadcasting in Europe and we are starting an ambitious survey on the whole of art and general educationart, that is to say, not in connection with training professional artists, but the value of the arts in developing the personality and possibilities of the ordinary child. And, finally, since language is one of the barriers which keep different parts of the world in ignorance of each other, we are starting to organise a better system of translation, partly by preparing lists of books, old and new, which we think ought to be translated, and partly by organising a panel of first-class translators in different languages. History of UNESCO But perhaps I ought to go back for a moment and say a little about our history. UNESCO really grew out of the conference of allied Ministers of Education which met in London during the worst years of the war. They worked out various projects and these finally took form at the San Francisco Conference in 1945, where it was definitely decided to set up a United Nations organisation to deal with education and culture, with permanent headquarters in Paris. Then last November a big conference was held here in London to draw up the Constitution and decide on the future organisation and general outline. Among other things it put the S in

UNESCO by adding the word "scientific" to its title. It set up a preparatory commission whose job it was to prepare a programme and a provisional budget in readiness for the first conference of UNESCO itself which is to be held in Paris this November. As executive secretary Sir Alfred Zimmern was appointed, but he fell seriously ill and I was asked to succeed him. I am glad to say, by the way, that he is now well again, and back with us as: adviser. As an Englishman I am proud of the fact that UNESCO was conceived and born in London, London, which during the war, became the cultural centre of the world without wanting, or indeed for the time being, knowing it. But as a citizen of the world I am glad that we are now going to move to Paris with its outstanding traditions in the domains of literature, art, and science. Meanwhile"I know I shall be speaking for all our member governments in expressing our warmest thanks to the British Government for all it has done for us during our time here in London. By the way, it’s quite a job, I find, transporting more than 160 people, and a great many documents, and a good deal of office equipment from one country to another. How It Will Work The main job of the Preparatory Commission has been to draw up a pro-) gramme to lay before the Conference in November for their approval for our future work. This will be a considerable document of some 70,000 or 80,000 words, which we needn’t be surprised at, since UNESCO has to cover education in all its aspects; all the natural sciences, and all the social sciences, both pure and applied; the creative arts, such as painting, music and literature; philosophy and humanity; libraries, museums, and publications; and finally the so-called mass media of press, radio, film, and television. In drawing up this programme of work we have got certain general principles in mind. First of all, UNESCO will always try to work through existing international organisations. For instance, in science there are a number of international scientific unions which are federated in an international council, and we will give this council office room in our own headquarters, and in the field of science will operate as much as possible through it. Then UNESCO will, of course, try to facilitate hanges of every sort in all its fields’ Exchange of students, teachers, research workers, of books, films, music, works of art, of scientific results for general information. To do this it will have to get rid of, or at least remove, many blocks to free communication — barriers of language, censorship, passports to Paris, commercial restrictions, government and business secrecy. All such exchanges will be planned by UNESCO in such a way as to secure better educational, scientific and cultural equalisation. Of course, this equalisation must be equalisation afterwards all over the world. We want to get rid of illiteracy, we want to see that more educational. opportunities are provided in backward areas and we want to spread the butter of scientific research more evenly over the world, Projected Surveys Another field for UNESCO will be the making of special surveys and studies. Let me give one or two examples. The advance of science is really in danger of getting choked out and abandoned.

Scientific publication is getting chaotic, and neither the abstracting nor the reviewing services which exist now are adequate. We propose to make a survey of this big problem to see what might be done. And another study is to be made of the distortion or corruption of the arts and crafts of nonindustrialised countries, caused by the impact of modern civilisation on them. We want to see what can be done to preserve their artistic vitality and we know that in one or two cases, like the Navajo Indians in the U.S.A., this has been successfully accomplished. Again, we shall study the problem of using the discussion group method which was used during the war as a means of Adult Education in countries where so far it has hardly been used at all, like China or Africa. One proposal has been suggested from many sides, the setting up of an international university, and it isn’t as easy as it sounds. We’re going to make a thorough survey of the question and all the difficulties involved in. it. However, these are concrete projécts which UNESCO wants to set up, or see set up. International Bird-watching In view of the fact that we shall have to operate with limited funds, in general we propose to set up merely sample projects to show what might be done. First, we propose to set up an international youth camp; we propose to set up an international institute of home and community planning to show how the principles of planning can be applied in different geographical regions; and also an International Theatre Institute. And we want to set up as soon as possible a UNESCO Institute of Applied Mathematics, equipped with all the latest calculating machines, which really are quite miraculous and uncanny in what they can do. Perhaps we'll put it in India. And perhaps I may mention in conclusion the proposal to take over the German bird-watching and bird migration station in Heligoland and internationalise it. By the way, I hope listeners will keep an eye open for what we shall be doing in Paris in November. Besides the conference we have organised, with the generous help of the French Government, a UNESCO Month-plays, exhibitions, concerts, films, lectures, broadcasts and so on-which I think is really going to be interesting, I suppose there are sceptical people who will say, What is the use of all this sort of thing when we are faced with the possibility of atomic bombs, and another war? To such I would reply, first, that war is only a possibility, and the very horror involved in the atom bomb is making governments throughout the world more than ever anxious to avert it. Secondly, anything that UNESCO can do to promote freer exchange of information, to build up international service in education, science and the arts, will actually help to make the risk of war less. And finally, even if the worst should come to the worst, and there should be another war, I am quite certain that the work of UNESCO will not have been in vain, and would continue afterwards, There we have the example of the International Labour Office, which in spite of the collapse of its parent, the League of Nations, and the outbreak of the second World War, is still very much alive and is carrying on the admirable work which it started 25 years ago. So we are going to Paris full of hope and belief in our future, —