ADDRESS TO THE UNITED NATIONS 1963 cont'd...
On the question of racial discrimination, the Addis Ababa conference taught, to those who will learn, this further lesson: that until
the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently dicredited and abandoned: that until
there are no longer first-calss and secind-class citizens of any nation; that until the colour of a man's skin is of no more
significance than the colour of his eyes; that until the basic human rights are guaranteed to all without regads to race; that until
that day, dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be
persued but never attained; and until the ignoble and unhappy regimes that hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique and in
South Africa in subhuman bondage have been toppled and destroyed; until bigotry and prejudice and malicious and inhumane
self-interest have been replaced by understanding and tolerance and goodwill; until all Africans stand and speak as free beings,
equal in the eyes of all men, as they are in the eyes of Heaven; until that day, the African continent will not know peace. We
Africans will fight, if neccessary, and we know that we shall win, as we are confident in the victory of good over evil.
The United Nations has done much, both directly and indirectly to speed the disappearance of discrimination and oppression
from the earth. Without the opportunity to focus world opinion on Africa and Asia which this organization provides, the goal, for
many, might still lie ahead, and the struggle would have taken far longer. For this, we are truly grateful.
But no more can be done. The basis of racial discrimination and colonialism has been economic, and it is with economic
weapons that these evils have been and can be overcome. In pursuance of resolutions adopted at the Addis Ababa Summit
Conference, African States have undertaken certain measures in the economic field which, if adopted by all member-states of the
United Nations, would soon reduce intransigence to reason. I ask, today, for adherence to these measures by every nation
represented here which is truly devoted to the principles enunciated in the Charter.
I do not believe that Portugal and South Africa are prepared to commit economic or physical suicide if honorable and reasonable
alternatives exist. I believe that such alternatives can be found. But I also know that unless peacefull solutions are devised,
counsels of moderation and temperance will avail for naught; and another blow will have been dealt to this organization which will
hamper and weaken still further it's usefulness in the struggle to ensure the victory of peace and liberty over the forces of strife
and oppression. Here, then, is the opportunity presented to us. We must act while we can, while the occasion exists to exert those
legitimate pressures available to us, lest time run out and resort be had to less happy means.
Does this organization today posses the authority and the will to act? And if it does not, are we prepared to clothe it with the power
to create and enforce the rule of law? Or is the Charter a mere collection of words, without content and substance, because the
essential spirit is lacking? The time in which to ponder these questions is all too short. The pages of history are full of instances
in which the unwanted the the shunned nonetheless occured because men waited to act until too late. We can brook no such
delay.
If we are to survive, this organization must survive. To survive, it must be strengthened. It's executive must be vested with great
authority. The means for the enforcement of it's decisions must be fortified, and, if they do not exist, they must be devised.
Procedures must be established to protect the small and the weak when threatened by the strong and the mighty. All nations
which fulfill the conditions of membership must be admitted and allowed to sit in this assemblage.
Equality of representation must be assured in each of it's organs. The possibilities which exist in the Untied Nations to provde the
medium whereby the hungry may be fed, the naked clothed, the ignorant instructed, must be seized on and exploited for the flower
of peace is not sustained by poverty and want. To achieve this requires courage and confidence. The courage, I believe, we
posses. The confidence must be created, and to create confidence we must act courageously.
The great nations of the world would do well to remember that in the modern age even their own fates are not wholly in their
lands. Peace demands the united efforts of us all. Who can foresee what spark might ignite the fuse? It is not only the small and
the weak who must scrupulously observe their obligations to the Unted Nationsand to each other. Unless the smaller nations are
accorded their proper voice in the settlement of the world's problems, unless the equality which Africa and Asia have struggled to
attain is reflected in expanded membership in the institutions which make up the United Nations, confidence will come just that
much harder. Unless the rights of the least of men are assiduously protected as those of the greatest, the seeds of confidence
will fall on barren soil.
The stake of each one of us is identical - life or death. We all wish to live. We all seek a world in which men are freed of the
burdens of ignorance, poverty, hunger and disease. And we all shall be hard-pressed to escape the deadly rain of nuclear fall-out
should catastrophe overtake us.
When I spoke at Geneva in 1936, there was no precedent for a head of state addressing the League of Nations. I am neither the
first, nor will I be the last head of state to address the United Nations, but only I have addressed both the League of Nations and
this organization in this capacity, The problems which confront us today are, equally, unprecedented. They have no counterparts in
human experience. Men search the pages of history for solutions, for precedents, but there are none. This, then, is the ultimate
challenge. Where are we to look for survival, for the answers to the questions whcih have never before been posed? We must
look first to Almight God, who has raised man above animals and endowed him with intelligence and reason. We must put our
faith in Him, that He will not desert us or permit us to destroy humanity which He created in His image. And we must look into
ourselves, into the depth of our souls, We must become something we have never been and for which our education and
experience and environment have ill-prepared us. We must become bigger than we have been: morecourageous, greater in
spirit, larger in outlook. We must become members of a new race, overcoming petty prejudice, owing our ultimate allegience not
to nations but to our fellow men within the human community.