YouSaid · the spoken record

Nasser

THE RECORD WRITES THIS SPEAKER AS NASSER

lines on the record
66
first
1960-09-24
most recent
1960-09-24
sittings or episodes
1
sources
un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

  1. “The logic of imperialism, as manifested in its crime against the people of Palestine, has been to break the geographical unity of the Arab world, on the one hand, and, on the other, to create for itself in the very heart of the Arab world a base from which to threaten the Arab peoples. I believe no stronger proof of this could be given than the conspiracy which led to the tripartite aggression against us in 1956. 132. Have the peoples of the Arab nation accepted the geographic division imposed on them by imperialism? 133. A phenomenon worthy of reflection is that the drive of Arab unity has extracted its great power from this aggression; in fact, we find that in its footsteps came the birth of the United Arab Republic. 134. Have the people of Palestine accepted the loss of their motherland? Did the Arab nation accept that loss?”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  2. “In our part of the world, the-Arab East, the United Nations has forgotten its Charter and disregarded Its responsibilities towards the rights of the people of Palestine. 130. Have the days and the years led to a solution of the problem? Have the people of Palestine forgotten all about their country, their land and their homes? Bid the Arab nation forget the tragedy of the Arab people of Palestine, against whom imperialism conspired — with a mandate from the League of Nations — taking upon itself to promise to certain groups a country belonging to another people? Since when have the motherlands of peoples been the property of the imperialist, to dispose of arbitrarily and to give to others? 131. Imperialism has its own logic.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  3. “The answer, in the opinion of the United Arab Republic, is that matters should be restored to what they were. Rectification of the error necessitates that we should re-establish the situation as it was. If it occurs to any one of us that the way back is hard to take and that the "fait accompli” is now the true basis for rectifying the whole situation, I shall permit myself, because of our own experience and the sufferings in our part of the world, to raise my voice in warning and admonition. To condone a mistake will most assuredly engender a series of mistakes, the sheds of error which, if left to take root — no matter how small — time will not cover with oblivion. The seeds will grow bigger and bigger as the days go by. The passing of a year will add to their ramifications and complexity. 129.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  4. “The answer is that imperialism with its armies and armaments is still in parts of the Congo. Let us inquire: where is the national unity? The answer is — an appalling paradox — that the legitimate national government of the Congo is unable to function, while the dissident group, manipulated by imperialism, alone has a free hand in Katanga. It is a situation which is dangerously deteriorating, but the greatest danger is that all this happened while the flag of the United Nations was flying over the Congo. How did it happen? Who is responsible for it? These are questions to which we have the right — nay, the duty — to answer, not for the sake of the Congo people alone, but also and equally for the sake of the United Nations and the honour of its flag. 128. After that, this one last question remains to be answered: how to face the situation.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  5. “It is for the sake of both, who face the same danger, that we call on all who believe in freedom and in the United Nations as the foremost way to the development of human society to stand together in their defence. 126. The United Nations went to the Congo invited by the legitimate Government of the Congo, which was born the same day of independence and was, so to Speak, its fruition, entrusted with the realization of two aims — to safeguard the independence of the Congo and to preserve its national unity. The first necessitated the withdrawal of imperialist armies, the second imposed the necessity of removing the artificial barriers whereby imperialism and its agents sought to disrupt the country’s unity and divide its people. 127. What happened? Where is the independence of the Congo?”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  6. “The trial which the courageous people of the Congo faced — a people whose struggle we uphold and support — was to prove to imperialism that, if freedom with its arms and friends is able to defend itself against armed aggression as was the case in Suez, freedom has also its thought, awakening and self-consciousness by which it is able to pierce the mask of imperialism and destroy the veils behind which it tries to hide. 125. However, the greater danger that confronts the people of the Congo, a danger which we ourselves share, is that imperialism is trying to use the United Nations as a mask to conceal its designs. This imperialist manoeuvre today has two victims: the people of the Congo and the United Nations.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  7. “Thus we saw the tide of Belgian imperialism in the Congo fail to meet with force the African wave of liberation; on the contrary, we saw Belgian imperialism confront this liberation movement not with hesitation but with a quick withdrawal — or, rather, an outward show of a quick withdrawal. 123. In reality, this apparent imperialist retreat was not that retreat represented the real design, but — as was proved later by events — that it was a manoeuvre to strike at freedom, and to strike at it from behind. Imperialism thought that the surge of freedom was but an emotional eruption, which sooner or later was bound to consummate itself, become exhausted and die away. 124.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  8. “Its ambitions summoned it to strike and strike boldly; the realities of life told it to refrain. 121. This period of imperialist hesitation was most clearly apparent during the revolt of the people of Iraq. When this, glorious people rose to liberate their homeland from foreign influence, we saw imperialism, seething in anger, mass its armies and organize its fleets. When the second hour struck, following the first hour of anger, we saw imperialism awake to the realities, find itself uncertain, not knowing what to do with the armies that were gathered and the fleets that had been sent across oceans. 122. When the recent events in the Congo unfolded, they showed us how imperialism had tried to benefit from the lesson of Suez by finding for itself an answer to its uncertainties.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  9. “You yourselves, in this very hall, are between the arms of freedom and among its supporters. It is due to you and to your efforts, embodying the highest human hopes in freedom, that our people were able to withstand aggression. As a result, the imperialist tide withdrew from our shores and was defeated. Its defeat marked the end of armed ambitions, after which it was necessary for imperialism to look for other means to achieve its aims. Thus, after Suez we witnessed what may be called the period of "imperialist vacillation". It was a period in which imperialism stood perplexed in the midst of its designs and ambitions, and the strongholds of freedom — the various liberation movements — were able to strengthen themselves. Thus we witnessed imperialism hesitating between aggression and retreat.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  10. “Four years ago the African continent witnessed the end of one era of colonialism, and today it is witnessing a new form of imperialism. The aggression on Suez was the end of unmasked imperialism and its graveyard. Today we find the Congo presenting us with masked imperialism, which does not shrink from exploiting the United Nations itself in order to realize its hidden designs and aims. The real meaning of Suez to liberation movements in Asia and Africa was that an era had gone forever, an era in which imperialist forces were able to possess and mobilize armies and launch fleets to strike deadly blows at the liberation movements. The Suez war has proved that the victim of aggression has its own armies and that freedom has its supporters everywhere in the world.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  11. “There is no problem which concerns our homeland, the United Arab Republic, or which concerns our nation, the Arab nation, or which relates to the two continents, Asia and Africa, through which the frontiers of our country extend, or which relates to any of the world problems — I say that there is no such problem for whose solution we are not ready to accept the Charter of the United Nations and its principles, the resolutions of the United Nations and its recommendations for a just settlement, with the best of good will. From this hope in the United Nations, from this unrestricted readiness to co-operate within its framework, we derive our absolute right fearlessly to confront the circumstances that have lately surrounded the work of the United Nations. We are inspired with zeal to this end and with the greatest concern for its good, 120.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  12. “I do so because I believe that the future of the United Nations in its entirety, and consequently the future of the peaceful development of mankind, faces at this particular hour a grave test. The United Nations is now at the crossroads and it is incumbent upon us, as we face history and the future, to know precisely where we stand so that we are not led astray. 118. Before attacking the heart of the matter, however, I wish, in confirmation of the faith that our people have in the principles of the United Nations, to declare the following now before all of you. 119.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  13. “That is why I take this opportunity of reiterating once again the desire of the United Arab Republic that the doors of the United Nations should be open to the People’s Republic of China. Our people cannot, in fact, imagine or conceive that this door should remain closed to a quarter of the inhabitants of our globe. We firmly believe that, if the widening of the membership of the United Nations is an important matter, it is equally important to work for safeguarding the basis on which the United Nations has been built. The United Nations on which we have pinned our hopes and our faith is not these grand, magnificent halls in which we sit, it is the principles and provisions of the Charter of the United Nations that have brought us all together here. 117. Allow me, then, to raise this delicate question with the utmost frankness.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  14. “Thus, it is a source of great happiness for me to add my voice to. the voices which have preceded me in congratulating the States that have joined the body of the United Nations, and to extend a hearty welcome to our colleagues in freedom, to our partners in the defence of peace, to our associates in the responsibility for world progress. If I were to add anything to this hearty welcome and to these congratulations, it would be to stress the hope that larger participation in the international Organization may be realized so that its doors may lie open without discrimination or fanaticism, without hindrances or obstacles, and so that this world rostrum may become the real echo of the aspirations of the peoples and an accurate balance for their sense of their responsibilities as members of the community of nations. 116.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  15. “This makes It an imperative duty for all those who have joined the Organization and who believe in the principles of the Charter to rally together now for its defence, since the Organization is the primary means through which the community of nations can pursue its peaceful development and achieve its high ideals. 113. Thirdly, the fifteenth session of the General Assembly opens at a time when international tension has increased on an unprecedented scale and the cold war has reached a climax unknown since the end of the Second World War, bringing with it a serious threat to mankind and to human culture accumulated throughout the ages. 114. All that makes the work of safeguarding peace and establishing its solid foundations not only a vital necessity but, equally, a moral duty. 115.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)

  16. “It is a source of great satisfaction to have an opportunity of taking part in the deliberations of the General Assembly. It is the more gratifying because there are many and unique factors adding to the gravity of this session. 111. First, at this particular session participation in the work of the United Nations has achieved world scope to a degree never achieved before. Thirteen new African States, as well as Cyprus, have joined the family of nations. They were enabled to do so after the peoples of those countries had struggled for their political independence and had made great sacrifices to achieve it. 112. Secondly, at the same time as the scope of the United Nations has been enlarged to this extent, we feel that there are great dangers which threaten the very foundation on which the United Nations has been built.”

    1960-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 15 (1960)