Tag: League of Nations

Importance of being intolerant

Posted on by kathiemm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYPRudsBzBY
Following the mindless slaughter of the First World War, the failure of the League of Nations, the horrors of the Holocaust, and the unendurable losses of World War II, nations came together as the United Nations.

In the Preamble to the United Nations Charter, we find the words:

‘We, the peoples of the United Nations determined to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, … to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, … and for these ends to practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours…”

The theme of tolerance appears frequently in U.N. documents. At the urging of UNESCO, 1995 was declared the United Nations Year for Tolerance. The year-long campaign for tolerance and non-violence was followed by the selection of November 16 to be the annual International Day for Tolerance.

Tolerance means respect for differences, appreciation of diversity. It means liberating oneself from the chains of prejudice, the burden of discrimination,  and achieving freedom from hatred of others who happen to differ in skin color, religion, language, sexual orientation, and other human characteristics.

For peace and social justice to be achieved, tolerance for diversity must go hand-in-glove with intolerance for many barbaric practices that continue to create suffering and anger in today’s world, including:

  • Rape
  • Female genital mutilation
  • Torture
  • Violence against women
  • Violence against children
  • Violence against men
  • Murder, including capital punishment and war-time killing

Tomorrow is the day to show tolerance for other human beings and intolerance for inhumane practices.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

War kills workers (Labor Day 2012)

Posted on by kathiemm

You are probably familiar with the names of some Nobel Peace Prize winners—for example, Desmond Tutu, Linus Pauling, Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King, Jr., Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.

Leon Jouhaux
Nobel Prize portrait of Leon Jouhaux, in public domain.

But can you name the 1969 winner of the Peace Prize?

It was the International Labour Organization (ILO). Yes, a labor organization won a Nobel Peace Prize. This should not be surprising given the historical connection between labor movements and peace movements.

The ILO, like the League of Nations (forerunner to the United Nations), grew out of the deadliness and devastation of World War I. It was the first specialized agency within the U.N.

Included in the Treaty of Versailles that ended WWI, the preamble of the ILO constitution says, “Universal and lasting peace can be established only if it is based upon social justice.”  Can anyone fault this belief?

The Treaty of Versailles also included three proposals from American delegates to the peace commission:

  • “that labor should not be treated as a commodity;
  • that all workers had the right to a wage sufficient to live on;
  • and that women should receive equal pay for equal work.”

Have these commitments been achieved? Won and lost? Why?

In their 1969 acceptance speech, the ILO quoted 1951 Nobel Peace Prize winner Leon Jouhaux, who warned that:

“War not only kills workers by thousands and millions, and destroys their homes…but also, by increasing men’s feelings of impotence before the forces of violence, it holds up considerably the progress of humanity toward the age of justice, welfare, and peace.”

On this Labor Day, let’s honor the work of labor on behalf of peace and social justice.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology