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University Daily Kansan Thursday, April 13. 1961
Not for You
You stand on the steps of the city's public library building. The month of March is drawing to a close and the weather is clear.
You climb the steps, open the door and enter the library. Before you is the recorded knowledge of the human race—volumes of books in which those who have gone before us and those who live in our time have preserved their knowledge, their thoughts, their feelings. But before you have a chance to pick one of the books from a shelf, you are arrested.
THE CITY IS JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI.
Your skin is black.
Last week, nine Negro students went through this experience. They knew what would happen.
The students—from Tougaloo Southern Christian College—were making the first anti-segregation "sit-in" move in the state of Mississippi, a stronghold of segregation.
After their arrest, they were found guilty of breach of the peace, fined $100 each and given 30-day jail sentences, which were suspended. The library was for whites only, but the students said they wanted to use the facilities because they could not find material needed for term papers at Negro branch libraries.
SO, AS THE WORLD WATCHES the continuation of the bitter apartheid policy in the Union of South Africa, the approaching trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem and the costly regional warfare in the Congo, it also watches the United States—still another place where man does not feel his fellow man is fit to live with.
The demonstration in Mississippi was another part of a subtle wave. It is a wave designed to convince a nation whose inhabitants admit "It
will probably have to come sometime," that the time is now.
Elsewhere in the South during the past two weeks, as part of the same wave:
- Twelve Negro youngsters at Chattanooga, Tenn., were convicted on disorderly conduct and public annoyance charges and declared delinquent. They were arrested while seeking to purchase tickets at motion picture theaters traditionally reserved for whites.
- Negro sharecroppers in Haywood and Fayette Counties of Tennessee, allegedly refused lease renewals by landowners because they registered to vote in 1960, got a boost when the Justice Department asked a circuit court of appeals to order the landowners to take the sharecroppers back.
- A television cameraman was convicted of trespassing while taking pictures of a sit-in demonstration at Sumter, S. C.
- A crowd of approximately 100 Negroes, gathered outside the courtroom for the trial of the nine Tougaloo students, was scattered by club-wielding police and German shepherd dogs.
THE WAVE IS A COMPARATIVELY quiet one. There is more Mahatma Gandi than Genghis Khan. It is a calculated design, designed to rid the South of a principle that just doesn't stand up morally . . . but to do so without violence.
Nothing is ever perfect. Racialism will never disappear. It should, but it won't. Nevertheless, last week's Mississippi demonstration was an important part of the fight — largely a students' fight — to attain one aspect of that near perfection toward which the human race is struggling.
—(From the "Colorado Daily," University of Colo.. April 5)
A UN Seat for Red China?
In 1945 when the United Nations was chartered, there were five principal nations in the world These five nations, supposedly the five most powerful, were given a special position in the structure of the United Nations. Because of their great power, they were each to have a permanent seat on the Security Council with a veto power on all matters that came before the Security Council. These five nations, the United States, France, England, Soviet Russia, and China, were given these positions. There was no provision as to what to do if and when the power structure in the world changed. Thus the United Nations still has these five nations serving as permanent members of the Security Council
regardless of their position in the world.
From the original purpose of the Security Council as stated when the United Nations was chartered, the reason for favoring one nation with a permanent veto power over another nation was that the favored nation was much stronger and a leader in the world with much more at stake than a small weak nation. It would follow then, that when a nation with a veto power had fallen in power and leadership to a second or even third class position it would no longer merit a position on the Security Council. The nation which had taken the declining nation's position in the power structure of the world
"Actually, I'm from Earth, comrade—but you'd better list me as being from Russia—orders from the boss."
should be given the permanent seat on the Security Council.
Nationalist China is at present a permanent member of the Security Council. If one stops to look at the relative power of Nationalist China and Red China, it can be seen that Red China has a much greater population and power potential. On the basis of this alone Red China deserves the seat on the Security Council as well as a membership in the United Nations.
THE QUESTION NOW ARISES as to what should the basis for entry into the United Nations and a seat on the Security Council be. Should it be given to the most powerful nations, the nations with the most influence, the nations which would have the greatest impact on world affairs. Or on the other hand, should it be given only to nations who fit a certain code of conduct. In other words, should membership be determined by a realistic code or by a moralistic code.
Nationalist China and France have decreased in power, both absolute and relative, to the point where two other nations have vastly surpassed them. India and Red China are the two new "big" powers in the world. Should not, then, these nations be allowed to occupy their rightful position on the Security Council? When the United Nations was chartered it was not meant to remain a static, unchanging body. New nations have been admitted very rapidly to the General Assembly in the past few years. It follows that the membership of the Security Council should be changed to reflect world reality.
I PROPOSE AMENDMENT TO the United Nations' Charter in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 108 of the Charter to allow India and Red China to replace France and Nationalist China as permanent members on the Security Council. Inherent in this amendment is the admission of Red China as a member of the United Nations General Assembly. If passed, the new structure of the Security Council would allow the United Nations to operate more effectually as an organ of World Government.
—William Bailey
UN General Assembly Increases in Strength
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the second part of an article by Mr. Yancy dealing with the rise in power of the United Nations General Assembly accompanied by the decline in importance of the Security Council. This situation, is currently being discussed across the nation and the world by political theorists and autobiographical authors. What does it mean to be a member of the world? Does the United Nations lack power due to the present Security Council member veto? These are the questions that must be answered.
By Paul Douglas Yancy
Supporters of the first argument agree that criteria such as population, natural resources and industrial strength, and ability to contribute to world order and progress, and other relevant factors could be determined. However, unavoidable subjectivity enters because there is no common agreement upon the importance which should be given each factor. Also, in a dynamic world full of states unequally interested in the varied major purposes of the United Nations, it is impossible to weigh votes according to a non-existent general purpose.
Others argue that representation should follow the second proposal based upon potential fighting strength which can be translated into terms of power. De Rusett argues that power is local, its pattern changes from place to place, and that the idea of changing a fight for a vote could only apply to States prepared to turn every political quarrel into a war, and all wars into global wars. These factors make an exact system of weighted voting in this sphere unacceptable.
OUTSIDE OF WEIGHTED VOTE PROPOSALS, SOME analysts have advocated creation of additional United Nations bodies in which important powers would be given greater opportunity to lead and to gain authority. Proponents believe that sure redistribution of power would serve to strengthen a cooperative spirit and lead to a stronger sense of community among the nations of the world. These proposals would overcome a drawback of weighted vote proposals which do not allow for differing purposes of the General Assembly and capacities of the various States. As an example, advocates of this point to difficulties of weighting votes for purposes of disarmament negotiations. Here, those nations with the greatest armament capacity assumedly would have greater representation.
All proposals for weighted voting aside, the one state, one vote provision does have merit. As has been stated, a basis for operation exists, and any weighted vote proposals could bring violent repercussions within the United Nations and could endanger our position with other nations if we followed such a course. Many of the newly emergent, independent and other nations consider this to be one of the good features of the United Nations. They are equal in voting on any issues before the General Assembly.
Under the Kennedy administration, our policy apparently has shifted from that of the Dulles era ("neutralism is immoral") to one of unquestionable acceptance and cooperation with the growing membership of the General Assembly. Secretary of State Dean Rusk, responding to a question recently before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on our vote in relation to ninety-eight others, emphasized that we should look upon increased United Nations membership as an opportunity and not a burden.
IN THE INTRODUCTION TO HIS ANNUAL REPORT TO the General Assembly, September 1960, Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold opposed changing the voting system. He stated, "There is in the views expressed of weighted voting an implied lack of confidence in the seriousness and responsibility with which newly independent States are likely to take their stands. Such a lack of confidence is not warranted by the history of the United Nations and must be regarded as contrary to facts. Neither size, nor wealth, nor age is historically to be regarded as a guarantee for the quality of the international policy pursued by any nation."
Daily Hansan
University of Kansas student newspaper
Founded 1889, became biweekly 1903, triweekly 1908, daily Jan. 16, 1912.
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