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December. 1979 ■ New National Bl ACK MONITOR
Andrew Young
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President Jimmy Carter. accompanied by member, of his party, being received by Sei ret ary Genera! Kurt Waldheim al the
Secretariat Entrance of the United Nations in March. 1911. Al left is United Stales Ambassador Andrew Young, and al right is
Secretary of State Cyrus Vance.
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Andrew Young, making a statement at a special meeting to commemorate the eightieth anniversary of the birth of Pau! Robeson
11898-1916), a noted black American active in the world strugglefor equal rights, al the United Nations on April 10. 1978.
Press Conference on August 23. 1919. held by former Ambassador Andrew Young al United Nations Headquarters Al right is
present Ambassador Donald F. McHenry, then a Deputy Representative.
Page 12
A re you supporting the black-owned businesses and the Nack professionals in your community?
macy” of apartheid), social justice and the
improvement, at least to tolerable levels of
survival, in the quality of life that will end
world hunger which afflicts some 400 mil
lion people or 15 percent of the world’s
population every day.
The new perception of world realities and
of a responsible international agenda re
moves—or should remove —from the fore
front the traditional East-West confronta
tion. It was Ambassador Young’s new
perspective upon our nation and our world
which confounded the adherents of conven
tional wisdom and, at the same time, has
marked Mr. Young for greatness.
Freedom’s Requirements
In the field of social justice, Mr. Young
has delineated what he saw as major issues
and priority concerns which called for the
concerted efforts of the world community.
The first three may be seen as interrelated.
They are the concerns for (1) human free
dom, (2) political justice and (3) the right to
eat sufficient food to avoid both starvation
and malnutrition.
Mr. Young explained: “Man is born to
be free, and all that we do must be devoted
to the well-being of human beings—every
type of human being, of whatever race or
religion, of whatever sex, and in all socie
ties, new and old, rich and poor.
“This truth, this great objective, belongs
equally to everyone.. .every country in the
United Nations, and those not in the United
Nations. We are talking about an idea which
is inherent in the human condition. It is
humankind’s nature to strive for dignity, to
struggle for justice, and to seek to live in
community.
“There is yet another truth flowing from
this reality which is equally compelling. It is
the duty of public officials, and especially
the governing elite, of every nation, to do
their utmost to realize these common goals
of mankind.... The responsiveness of the
governing elites to the popular will for
justice, for peace, for dignity and for free
dom is the test by which we should be mea
sured ....
"At the same time, there are some things
which simply must never be accepted—the
governing elites are not doing their best to
meet human needs, to avoid starvation and
malnutrition.” Ambassador Young punc
tuated his remarks with the comment: “No
matter how hard we try, there is going to be
a lot of room for improvement. No system
within societies, no amount of wealth, will
create perfect justice.”
World Problem of Torture
It was when Mr. Young spoke of the
global problem of torture that he became at
once the most graphic and the most com
pelling. Let us listen to his own remarks:
“I would like.. .to turn to the problem
of torture. There’s an obvious connection
with the problem of fighting hunger. In
each case the central focus is the same—the
dignity and worth of the human personal
ity. If we are to mean what we say about
(Continued from page 9.)
promoting human rights, we should be
concerned wherever a human being suffers,
whether his physical or spiritual existence is
threatened, either through lack of food or
through abuse of his body.
“To put it bluntly, it is nothing less than
deplorable that in our supposedly enlight
ened time, some of the gravest offenses to
the human person known throughout his
tory are still being committed....
“1 want to make it clear that we in the
United States understand that our society
still has subtle but very strong systems of
intimidation at work that inhibit the possi
bilities of our poor, or discriminated
against, and our dissidents from speaking
fully to redress themselves. The bright but
poor young man from our ghettos is much
more likely to go to jail and find himself
abused there. For those few from affluent
families who get into trouble with the law,
lawyers are readily available, while for the
majority of the poor, minimal legal assis
tance is very different indeed....
“‘Torture’ is a word that is repugnant to
all our ears.... There are some things we
don’t like to talk about in supposedly polite
society.... Perhaps our ‘politeness’ is
something of a mask for cowardice or for
our basic unwillingness to do our duty as
human beings as well as representatives of
our peoples and our governments.”
Flesh-And-Blood Stories
“In order to focus our attention firmly
on the nature of the problem..., let me
mention some of the kinds of torture of
which 1 have heard, from various parts of
the world.
In some cases, the prisoner is hung by his
or her knees, with the mouth taped tightly
shut. Then a piece of cotton is stuffed in the
nostrils—then the head is hanging down,
perhaps held tightly in place by the hair.
And then water is dripped from an eyedrop
per on the cotton, until the prisoner nearly
drowns with only a few drops of water
applied. The terror—not to mention the
great potential for permanent physical
damage—is hardly imaginable to us.
“We have all heard stories of how electric
shocks are used to torment prisoners—a sad
application of modern technology! Os how
leather or canvas hoods are placed on pri
soners’ heads. Os the sexual violations, of
especially young female prisoners, that even
has gone so far as the raping of people of
religious orders before groups of security
personnel.
“And then there are the more ‘subtle’
kinds of torture, using drugs or enforced
dehydration. I know of one case where a
peasant leader was hung for over two days
in a refrigerated room with a group of
corpses, also suspended, but by meat hooks,
and constantly bombarded by a loudspeaker
denouncing him and telling him that if he
didn’t denounce his fellow peasant leaders
he would be allowed to stay there until he,
also, died.
Continued on next page.