REPORT ON UNESCO

New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 409, 24 April 1947, Page 6

REPORT ON UNESCO

‘é INCE wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed." Those are the opening words of the Charter of UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation). They are fine words, but no more than words, and in themselves can do nothing to make the defences of peace secure. It was to find out what practical plans lie behind them, what concrete proposals have been agreed upon, wk xt material is at hand and needed for this great project of fortifying world peace in its most easily assailable yet most vital sector, the human mind, and to what extent the architects and builders are already at work — it was to find out something about all this that "The Listener" called on Dr. C. E. Beeby, Director of Education, who has just returned from a trip abroad, duting which he represented New Zealand at UNESCO's first general conference in Paris near the end of last year. He was chairman of the sub-Commission on Administration and Finance-the central committee of the conference, laying down the pattern of the secretariat, arranging for staff, passing the budget-and he was also chairman of the Nominations Committee, which had the job of nominating the officers of the conference.

HEN we interviewed him, Dr. Beeby did not merely answer our questions. To assist with supplementary information, he called in Miss Lorna McPhee, who was his colleague at the conference and who has just come back to the staff of the Prime Minister’s Department after 10 years abroad. And both of them gave us conference reports and other literature about Unesco to read and digest. Confronted by all this information, one’s immediate reaction is to wonder whether Unesco may not be tackling an impossibly ambitious task, may not be in some danger of dissipating its energy and good intentions upon a programme that is much too wide in scope. But this, we learned, was identically the first reaction of most delegates to the conference; and because it was, one notices as soon as one studies the reports that all projects have been listed in order of priority according to their "crucial importance and obvious usefulness." This then, as we got it from Dr. Beeby and Miss McPhee, and from the documents they showed us, is the story -or more correctly the opening chap-ter-of this agency of the United

Nations for the liberation and protection of the human mind-an organisation which, by a stroke of almost cosmic irony, has its headquarters in Paris in the very building used as Gestapo headquarters for France during the Occupation and before that as headquarters of the British delegation to the 1919 Peace Conference. 3 % * FIRST PRIORITY: Reconstruction HE first and most immediate aim of Unesco in all its activities is the rehabilitation and reconstruction of wardevastated countries," Dr. Beeby told. us. "It is impossible, for instance, to imagine the conditions for school-teach-_jng which exist in countries like Poland, Yugoslavia, China, Czechoslovakia, and parts of the Low Countries. Teachers in those countries have absolutely nothing -no books, no pencils, no paper, no chalks, no blackboards-sometimes only a handful of pebbles. The devastation of libraries, and the equipment of science laboratories in the universities, has also been terrific. It is true, of course, that the central and over-riding objective of Unesco’s whole programme is world peace; not just the advancement of education and culture for their own

sake, but the advancement of world peace through educational and cultural means. Yet just imagine whole generations growing up without opportunities for education, as they are growing up in many countries now — and not countries which are ordinarily _ illiterate either, but which formerly had high standards of scholarship. You can understand the amount of resentment there is among parents suddenly faced with the prospect that there will be almost no education at all for their child-ren-not just inferior. education, but none at all to speak of. Why, that feeling of resentment is sufficient in itself to shake world peace, quite apart from the danger of children growing up in ignorance. So rehabilitation in the educational field is not just humanitarianism; it is ah essential--not, of course, such a first priority as food, but certainly a second priority. "Among its educational projects, therefore, Unesco is asking that fellowships for students should be made available; Denmark has already done a lot in this sphere, and so has England. Teams of field-workers and consultant groups will go into the devastated countries to assist and report; and, as fellowships become available, men and°

women will be chosen to come out of those countries to continue their studies in more fortunately-placed countries. "Less than half-a-million dollars is available in Unesco’s 1947 budget for this particular work of rehabilitation, but this amount is purely for administration and co-ordination. Much vaster sums will have to be raised by donations to finance the actual projects. But I think they will be forthcoming: America alone has already voluntarily given 40 million dollars for this purpose, and the Americans haven’t really got going yet. All delegates who spoke at the conference stressed the urgency of the reconstruction aspect of Unesco, and each programme of activity in all the various sections puts primary emphasis upon it." "ee ‘ 2 oe The rehabilitation and+ reconstruction proposals are non-recurrent items in UNESCO operations: they are suggested for development and probable completion during 1947. meee It should be emphasised that these proposals do not make’ UNESCO a reliet agency in its field comparable with UNRRA in its broader scope. The chief function ot UNESCO is still that of stimulating and helping to co-ordinate the work of reconstruction and rehabilitation. . . . It is proposed, therefore, to strengthen and expand the appropriate staff of UNESCO, and to make it responsible for a vigorous and world-wide campaign. It should be_ the

organising centre of such a campaign, working in close co-operation with all other agencies interested in the problem. Such a paign, organised in each country through national commissions (or co-operating bodies), or voluntary organisations, would appeal to the people of the world, and should set as its goal the contribution ot 100 million dollars for needéd materials or services to devastated areas of Europe and _ Asia in 1947. EXTRACTS FROM THE REPORT OF THE +-RECONSTRUCTION AND REHABILITATION COMMISSION CF UNESCO. as *

ATTACK ON ILLITERACY INESCO’S plans for an attack on world illiteracy were next discussed by Dr. Beeby and Miss McPhee. "Sixty per cent. of the human race is illiterate. Not much imagination is needed to see the threat to world peace that exists in the fact that 60 people out of every hundred can’t even read and write — quite apart from any consideration of whether the rest use their reading and writing to good purpose. Much good work has, of course, already been’ done in devising techniques to tackle this problem-for example, the ‘Each-one-teach-one’ technique used in Mexico and China. But there’s a need almost: everywhere for books with a childish syntax. yet adult contents, for use by the natives of South America and of our own Pacific islands, for instance. There is no reason why a job like that should be done independently; what is needed is a central clearing-house, such as Unesco will provide, to collect and disseminate such special, skills and techniques as have already been developed, and to devise new ones for attacking mass illiteracy. Because we haven't got illiteracy in New Zealand, we daren’t wash our hands of it: so long as more than half the human race is illiterate we in our more favoured position can still become the victims of an easilyled mob. "Obviously, even one organisation like Unesco can’t teach 60 per cent. of mankind how to read and write; but Unesco can carry out ‘pilot projects,’ can coordinate the knowledge and methods that already exist, can go to governments and say, ‘Can you train people for us? Can you supply experts for this

task or that?’ and so on. That is the sort of work that only an international organisation can cover." UNESCO will contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations in the preservation of men’s knowledge of themselves, their world, and each other; in the increase of that ‘knowledge through learning, science, .and the arts; and in the dissemination of that knowledge through education, dnd through communcations generally. . . . . The present educational inequality between nations represents a danger to the peace of the world, which cannot become ONE if half of it remains illiterate. . . . The first step in this great project will be the appointment ot a panel of experts, most of whom would not be permanent members of the UNESCO staff. On invitation they will assist in the, development of programmes of education, making contacts with workers in the field. The central staff of UNESCO will assist in providing suitable materials, in the clarification of language difficulties, and in the utilisation of all forms of instruction-books, pictures, films, and radio-which may serve the purposes of the programme. Assistance will be sought in collateral fields, such as libraries and the social sciences. . The world owes a duty to its lesspeoples, not only in their interests, but in its own. It is not necessary, in order to recognise this duty, to assert that the roots of the evil of our time lie solely in the things of the human spirit, any more than it is necessary to assert, in order to arrive at certain other conclusions, that the roots of these evils lie solely in material conditions. It is necessary only to admit-as all at this conference must admit, for otherwise they would not be here-that what passes in the minds of men is a realityand a reality which may well affect the great issue of peace and war, of life and_ death. STATEMENT BY ARCHIBALD MAC. LEISH, CHAIRMAN OF THE DRAFTING COMMITTEE OF THE PROGRAMME COMMISSION. by sis a SURVEY OF TEXT BOOKS HE seeds of war can lie in the classroom," said Dr. Beeby, turning to the Unesco project of making a world survey during 1947: of the most com-monly-used text-books in history, geography, and civics-a project put before the conference by New Zealand and ‘adopted. "All countries will be asked to send in their most commonly-used textbooks, and the Unesco staff will report on them. Some countries have, as everyone knows, deliberately distorted history for national ends; the fact that textbooks will now come under scrutiny will, in itself, tend to discourage the inclusion of inflammatory material. There is, of course, no intention on Unesco’s part to censor books or to impose its will on any of the member-states: it simply wants to make it possible for

each country to know what other countries are saying about it. Yet the very fact that each country will, in order to participate in this project, have to carry out a survey on its own account into its own text-books will in itself be a good thing; it may lead to the uncovering and voluntary elimination of much undesirable material. "This text-book project is, however, only part of Unesco’s programme of inquiry into the whole subject of education for international understanding. For example, some time in the course of this year Unesco proposes to get groups of teachers together from all round the world and to run a ‘workshop’ for them-that’s what it is called; a kind of cross between a conference, a training course, and a discussion course. You see, we don’t réally know much yet about this business of educating for international understanding; we’ve got to discover what are the best ways to go about it. Bound up with it, too, is the whole great problem of breaking down the present barriers between countries which prevent the free flow of information and ideas; the interchange of books, films, periodicals, and so on.. For one thing, there’s the question of copyright. Some time this year the Belgian Government proposes to convene a universal copyright conference; Unesco already has a special committee looking into the present copyright system to see whether a new convention should be drafted for this conference, and New Zealand has already been asked to forward its recommendations on the subject. "There are other obstacles besides copyright which prevent the free flow of communication: there’s the question of postage rates on books, quotas on films; not to mention the whole complicated business of passports and visas for travellers. There’s even the question of exchange rates and tariffs in so far as they affect the movement across national boundaries of men\ and materials-in-cluding even such apparently trifling things as papers and periodicals, and yet if you'can’t get access to a country’s magazines how can you find out much about it? * * * LIBRARIES AND MUSEUMS "SIMILARLY, in this part of the programme, there’s the part Unesco must play as a clearing-house for libraries and museums," Dr. Beeby con-

tinued. "One scheme which was started while the conference was still in session was to set up an international organisation for museums-New Zealand’s other delegate, Dr. R. A. Falla, played a leading part in that-designed to simplify and extend the exchanging of knowledge in this field, for example, by the use of microfilms. So far as libraries are concerned, it is hoped to do something ‘to make good the enormous loss of books through the war by replacements from stock-piles gathered together in Europe. Nobody knows exactly who now owns these. books-the Nazis just took them and then left them all over Europe, including a huge collection of Jewish books-but they will be distributed now where they are most needed to assist Unesco’s reconstruction and rehabilitation programme. % * * FILMS, RADIO AND PRESS " AGAIN, there is a full and important programme of work connected with the mass media of films, radio, and press. Unesco proposes to collect ideas of international significance and _ will stimulate their use in feature films, radio programmes, and press features. It may encourage awards for successful features, based on these ideas. This. project will, in effect, be an International Ideas Bureau. But in general Unesco will not itself produce films and radio features-the key words of its policy in this connection are to facilitate and stimulate. Nor does it yet propose to make awards itself, but will leave that to outside organisations: the argument is that Unesco should wait till it gets established and acquires real world status before it considers making awards in its own right. And that seems very wise. Incidentally, I think that one or two of the ideas concerning the cinema which have found their way into Unesco’s programme originated not merely in New Zealand but in the pages of The Listener."

Three commissions are. to be set up as soon as possible to examine the. technical needs of the war-devastated countries+in. each of the fields of films, radio, "and press, and to report within six months with recommendations as to immediate and long-term measures for improvement. . . . But the programme for Mass Communication is mainly concerned with work of a more fundamental and lasting character. . . . A UNESCOappointed committee of experts will study the current proposals for a World Radio network, UNESCO will also undertake a 1947 survey on Press and Films, cing a factual analysis of their present worl structure. As regards Alms, the survey's terms of reference will include. (a), Themes and distribution of. films, both: features and shorts; (b) Content and. subject-matter of newsreels; (c) Recent techniques for using films, film-strips, and related visual media, with special emphasis on education, on the discussion of social relationships, on the appreciation of the arts, and on rural needs; (d) Possibilities of improving the sound film so as to overcome language difficulties. UNESCO will stimulate the establishment in all countries-possibly in conjunction with the national library services — National Visual Councils or Institutes. . . and encourage the promotion of National Film Societies and Scientific Film Societies for the provision of specialised programmes in the fields of UNESCO interests. . . . UNESCO will help to form an International Film Council, representing film interests ot all kinds in all countries. DECISIONS OF THE CONFERENCE ON THE REPORT OF THE SUBCOMMISSION ON MASS COMMUNICATION a a Ba THE FIELD OF SCIENCE HERE remain the aspects of Unesco’s programme concerned with the social sciences and philosophy, with the natural sciences (a section which includes some of the most interesting and far-reaching projects of all), and with arts and letters,’ continued Dr. Beeby. "There isn’t time to elaborate now, but I think it is worth pointing out that the aim of the Science section is to stimulate and assist in all branches of scientific work-through a big scheme of exchanges of students, and by *travelling fellowships; by working with (continued on next page) , >

REPORT ON UNESCO

(continued from previous page) other United Nations groups in thé establishment of ‘scientific co-operation Stations’ all over the world; and by assisting with international publications in the scientific field. It is a big programme end a costly one. Unesco will, of course, not bear the cost by itself, but in such work a little financial assistancé by an organisation like Unesco may often produce results out of all proportion to the Money spent." The Natural Sciences programme {ives highest priority to an important proposal in a field in which new knowledge is urgently necessary. It is proposed that UNESCO should study the problem of satistactory living in the Equatorial forest zone. As a concrete beginning, UNESCO will take over the co-ordination of the various researches by many nations into the resources and conditions of life in the great Amazonian forest with a view to establishing later an Equatorial Survey Institute. A similar proposal zelates to the study, in collaboration with other United Nations organizations, of the urgent scientific problems arising in those ’ regions of the world where the majority of the population is undernourished. As a first stage UNESCO will recruit teams of gpecialists expert in nutritional science and ‘ood technology to attack the problem in three sample regions-the Amazon forest, India, and China-and later, when conditions permit, in Africa. DECISIONS OF THE SUB-COM-MISSION ON NATURAL SCIENCES.

"A REAL DANGER" HEN we asked Dr. Beeby a question that must occur to anyone who studies Unesco’s huge programme-how fast and how far was it likely to go? How much, for example, did he himself think Unesco would have accomplished by the end of this year, when the second conference is to be held in Mexico City? "It would be very wrong to expect too much by the end of 1947," he replied. "Unesco has a terrific job this ‘year merely to organise itself and collect its staff, and for the people who are running it to gain a clear idea not merely of the ends they wish to reach but of the means for getting there. They must work not in terms of the things they think it would be nice for Unesco to do, but of their ability to do them. Again, recruiting for the staff has to be done most carefully; the organizations cooperating in Unesco have got to recommend the right men and women for the various jobs, the really keen and useful people. So I shall be very satisfied if, by the end of 1947, Unesco has succeeded in nothing more than in getting its reconstruction and _ rehabilitation schemes properly under way, its staff assembled, and its methods of working clearly defined.

"But there is a real danger that too much may be expected of Unesco for a start. It was for that reason, and for that reason only, that the draft budget of the organization was cut by the conference. The New Zealand delegates supported that, but in no sense was it done from cheese-paring motives. We felt, and the delegates of all the other British Dominions felt too, that a bigger budget might be just an incentive to pipedreams; it was better for Unesco to start on a smaller scale, using a system of well-mapped priorities, than to run the risk of losing its way in a mass of nebulous projects. I want to make this quite clear: it was solely for these administrative reasons that the New Zealand delegation pressed for a reduced budget for 1947. It was not through lack of enthusiasm for Unesco." "Did you, in fact, encounter much enthusiasm?" we asked. "It was remarkable: both what I encountered at the conference itself and what I have run into on my way back to New Zealand through Britain and America. In the U.S. this month there’s a meeting of 7,000 delegates to a special Unesco conference; the State Department is strongly in support — particularly perhaps William Benton, the assist-ant-Secretary of State; and some really important, able, and young-minded men and women are helping all they can. For example, Walter Laves, a noted American political scientist, has been

appointed Deputy-Director-General of Unesco in Paris (he’s second in command to Dr. Julian Huxley); and Milton Eisenhower, president of Kansas State University and brother of "Ike," is chairman of the American National Commission. "Tt is the same in England and France and other countries. When we arrived for the conference it cheered us greatly to see how those countries had sent over their really top-rank people. As you know, Leon Blum, President of France, was elected first president of Unesco. Huxley is the Secretary-Gen-eral-the only permanent appointment actually made by the conference; it’s Huxley’s job now to build up a permanent staff. One of the men he’s already got to help him in the mass-communi-cation field is John Grierson. "LA GRANDE ABSENCE" "Will such enthusiasm last, do you think?" "IT hope so, and I think so. At any rate, returning to Britain after the conference, I have never known English scientists, educationists, and public servants generally so stirred by any project as they were by what Unesco is planning to do. They are building up how in England a series of national commissions, with top-notch people on them, to help the various schemes." "But Russia wasn’t there?" (continued on next page)

(continued from previous page) "No, Russia wasn’t at the conference and it isn’t yet taking part in Unesco. Yugoslavia turned up and sat in on proceedings, though Yugoslavia has not yet signed Unesco’s constitution. But there’s no doubt that Russia’s absence leaves a big gap — Ja grande absence they called it at the conference; you kept hearing the phrase. There was no doubt either that every delegate wanted Russia to be there. It was really impossible to know exactly why the Russians didn’t come, and there’s just no indication either of what are the chances that they may eventually join in. One recognises of course that there is much in Unesco’s policy and programme that might irritate the Russians — in some ways its conception of the causes of war is basically different from Marxist materialism; and then there’s Unesco’s opposition to censorship, jts attempt to break down national barriers and permit the freest possible interchange of people and ideas, and so on. As against this is the strong desire to welcome the Russians and co-operate with them. Unesco can, of course, go a certain way without them and may have to do so; but my own feeling is that, lacking eventual Russian participation, there must be some doubt about the whole future of Unesco." AN AFFAIR OF PEOPLES "In the meantime, what are the immediate steps to be taken by those countries which do join in-particularly by New Zealand?" "There’s already an Interim National Committee on Unesco here. One of its first tasks is to report on the methods to be adopted in setting up a National , Commission in this country (as is being done in all the others). Unesco is far from being a purely Government concern: private organizations are interested too. But in particular, we shall only begin to derive full value from —

Unesco as it gets into the mind, and into the imagination, of the man in the street. The most cheering thing that I have found as I have gone around is that everyone has the same problems. No matter where I was, the problems bothering people in my particular field of education were the problems that were bothering me too, and are bothering teachers in New Zealand. I am sure it is the same in most other fields. Unesco’s real job is to establish warm and human contacts between the ordinary people of the world-contacts at all levels and not, as has been the case up till now, solely at the political and ambassadorial level, and occasionally at the sporting one. The basic assumption of Unesco is that if you can get to know people well, if you can gain understanding of them and their country, their problems and their way of life, then the chances are that you will like and respect them. Frankly, I think it is an assumption which has still to be proved -but by Heaven it would be worth proving." In presenting this programme and proposing that it should be adopted, we are speaking not to the General Conference of UNESCO alone, but to the peoples of the world. Here, in our opinion, is a programme for common action to construct in the minds of men such defences of the peace as the minds of men can maintain. If it is possible in lowering atmosphere and despair for men the’ present dark and of cynicism, suspicion, to agree upon a common programme, they should, we think, be able to agree upon this. In the final count, in the last determination, we must trust our power to be men. As men-as thinking men-as men who think, believe, and have the will to act, we can agree together on the end of peace. Agreeing on that end, we should be able to agree that there are steps by which that end can be approached. In the high confidence that the projects here proposed are projects which can bring us nearer to the hoped-for goal, we put these programmes in your hands. STATEMENT BY ARCHIBALD MAC. LEISH, CHAIRMAN OF THE DRAFTING COMMITTEE OF THE PROGRAMME COMMISSION OF UNESCO.