The Will to peace
The Will to peace
Fifty years ago our fathers stood at the threshold of the Twentieth Centurv. That was a time of progress and of belief in progress, and the eyes of all men looked forward to the future. But events were soon to dash their hopes. Twice, since then, war has plunged the world into bloodshed and horror. And our generation asks today: "What grounds have we for belief in a better future?"
It would be easy - but quite unjust - to blame the men of the Twentieth Century for errors which are, after all, but the result of earlier centuries of self-interest, of greed and of misunderstanding. Why were the men of 1900 so certain that they were moving into an era of peace and well-being? What had the Nineteenth Century done hut extol the glories of nationalism? There were enlightened exceptions, but in the main it is fair to say that the man of 1900, so certain of the glorious prospects of the days to come, saw world history from a purely national angle. His ancestors had, no doubt, fought for liberty, for equality, for fraternity-but It was for liberty and for fraternitv in a world still divided bv the barriers of frontiers and of customs. There were a few peoples who ruled and made history, but in most of the others, history was imposed. Was it reasonable, in such a world, to expect any peace other than one of mere resignation?
The wars of the Twentieth Century have, indeed, made things no better. But through suffering men have at least-and at last-learned the unity of human destiny. We have learned, by tragic experience, to believe what the philosophers had vainly attempted to teach us : that no man can save himself alone; that no class, no state, no race, no nation, can save itself alone. As Dostoievskv wrote: "We stand responsible for all things, before all men."The bullet which strikes down any man, even though he be our "enemy", strikes us too. When he is lost, a part of ourselves is lost likewise. And the family he leaves behind him has lasting claims upon us. The Twentieth Century has already witnessed two great catastrophes. But, in the midst of disaster, it has also been responsible for two inspired creations, unprecedented in history: the League of Nations and the United Nations. Whatever the immediate results of these two enterprises, one fact remains: this century, like no other before it, has sought a world solution for the problems of mankind. At last the nations of the world have understood that security for one requires security for all, and that political security is meaningless if it is not founded upon the four fundamental human rights, to which the great Agencies of the United Nations correspond: the right to life, to health, to work and, Unesco's own reason for being, the right to education and culture.
The conquest of these rights will demand many long years. We cannot even hope that this century will see the full achievement of such a programme. Nevertheless, only through such a programme can world peace become peace for mankind, peace for all men, everywhere.
If we are to deserve and to achieve this we must, above all, vigilantly maintain our will to peace. We know now that the most generous resolutions and the most admirable intentions are of little value if we are not ready to translate them into action. We have proclaimed Rights of Man; now, through our efforts, the union of the peoples must become more than a legal phrase. If we do not work for peace that is possible today, we shall never create peace that will last for ever. This torn world of ours needs a faith; faith in the brotherhood of human kind.
In wishing all the peoples of the world a New Year of concord and harmony, Unesco reaffirms its belief in the power of the values of the mind for the cause of liberty, of justice and of peace.