Statement by Garry Davis at Press Conference October
22, 1948
City Club, Paris
If a press conference has been organized it is as result of the numerous requests
for interviews which I have received since my expulsion from U.N. territory in the
circumstances which you know.
I have hesitated until now to make a public appearance for I wished to study the
reactions of the hundreds of people who have written to me from all over the world, and I
wished to have some time to prepare the work of the months to come.
I think the first action to be taken consists of allowing the U.N. to establish a World
Federal Government capable of promulgating, interpreting and applying the world law with
regard to the individual. That I believe all people wish ardently and that in recognizing
the restricted character of absolute national allegiance, they go much farther than those
who govern them.
I have continued to ask the U.N. to convene a Constituent Assembly, in application of
article 109 of the Charter, then to ask the people to do it, if the U.N. refused.
I have often been asked if I am a pacifist. I answer: no. I believe in the necessity of
force to apply world law. I would be the first to enroll in an International Police Force
safeguarding world law. It is necessary to distinguish between an "international
army" and an International Police Force; armies make war; police ensure the execution
of law.
I appeal to all World Federalists to exercise a pressure on their national delegations
to the U.N. for the accomplishment of the goals I have spoken of. Some have found what I
have done during these last months abrupt and ill-considered, but it seems to me fantastic
that the people of the world remain without acting, calmly awaiting the day when their
governments will precipitate them into a new catastrophe. I willingly accept to be
considered a fool by whoever has personally exerted on his government all the pressure of
which he is capable in view of the installation of a world government.
The member governments of the U.N. have announced in their respective countries that
next Sunday will be "U.N. Day." They ask for statements of confidence with
regard to the organization and prayers for its success. In my opinion, they are committing
only a pious fraud toward humanity. How to believe today in the U.N. when our governments
themselves have obstructed it, acted outside of it, or refused to recognize in it any real
power? How can we pray for its success when the only prospect is its collapse in the start
of World War III?
Thus the U.N. presents itself as a living symbol of failure. In my opinion we must try
to believe more in ourselves, in all the other human beings. And I suggest that one not
only pray but also do some real work toward the thing which we want the U.N. to become: a
power emanating from the people which is able to assure peace and a sound world
organization before it is too late.
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