YouSaid · the spoken record

Cooper

THE RECORD WRITES THIS SPEAKER AS COOPER

lines on the record: 93
first: 1948-09-24
most recent: 1959-09-24
sittings or episodes: 6
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

“Every age has brought about some remarkable change in the fortunes of man — either a spiral advancement in his culture, his arts and his economic progress, or a retrogression in, or arrest of, his further development. In our age it is generally believed that civilization has reached the peak of achievement, due chiefly to the wonderful discoveries in recent centuries. These discoveries have greatly added to man’s advancement and brought about an evolution in his way of life: better health, greater comforts and more conveniences — in short, a life completely unknown to his forefathers. Equally so, it is also admitted that through such scientific achievements man now stands on the brink of his own destruction. Secrets of nature in his possession make him master of life and death over every living thing upon this planet.”
1956-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 11 (1956)
“We have known the pains of oppression and the stigma of colour, and we owe it to our national self-respect, to our race, to our continent, to our fellow Africans and to mankind itself to lend an ear to the plaintive cries for freedom and to give all the support we can to the aspirations of those people whose only wish is to be free men and masters of their own destinies. No coercion or intimidation, no promises or cajolery will deter us in this cause.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“This rising tide of demand for self-determination and independence, spreading from the East, now beats upon the shores and seeps its way into the innermost part of that continent once known as Darkest Africa. It cannot be arrested. It might be temporarily checked, but it will eventually drive all obstacles from its way. 100. We, as Liberians, whose existence was brought into being through grinding oppression, cannot be indifferent to and uninterested in the cry of our brethren in Africa — whether this be from the East or West, North or South, or any portion of the universe.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“The doctrine of the master race, enunciated by Hitler, and the cry for Lebensraum used by the Nazis in their world propaganda, brought into focus the present-day clash of colour and the awakening of the national aspirations of the peoples of Asia and Africa. The theories and policies of the Nazi regime seem to have worked in reverse; notably in Asia, where the shackles of bondage and the stigma of colour have been forced to give way to the surge of nationalism which is today a reality in the new States of the East. 99. It was bound to follow that such outbursts of national aspirations could not be confined to a particular race or to a particular zone or hemisphere — that the rhythm would eventually be picked up in those parts of the world and among those races of mankind that were still subjected to oppression and intimidation.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“With some degree of hesitation he finally asked how many workers belonged to the Nazi Party. He received a shock at the reply that they were all Nazis. This appears to be the state in the United Nations today. The fragments or splinter groups, though part of the whole, have not tended to strengthen this Organization. It has therefore become clear to all the world that when a major decision is to be taken by the United Nations, concerted action will not follow, as each group views the situation in the light of its own interests and gives its support according to its own conception of right and wrong. 98.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“With the coming of years, conflicting interests and the admission of new Members with different ideologies, we are apt to see many more groups of this kind. 97. This brings to memory a joke that was circulated in Germany during the Hitler regime. It was stated that the notorious Dr. Ley, the German Minister of Labour, visited the port of Hamburg for the purpose of addressing the workers of the great shipyard of Blom and Voss. In his address, he inquired how many workers present belonged to the Communist Party. He was told 40 per cent. He then asked how many workers belonged to the Socialist Party. He was told 30 per cent. He then asked how many belonged to the Christian Democratic Party. He was told another 30 per cent. From this reckoning. Dr. Ley figured that none of the labourers belonged to his own party.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“It must be because of our disappointment in such pacts that we were finally led to form this Organization, known as the United Nations, which would in itself make these alliances useless and unnecessary. 96. Despite our tragic experiences in the past, our prejudices and misgivings about each other have been so tenacious that we have not been able to shed them, and have thus brought with us into this Organization all the old complaints and illnesses of our world of yesterday. The United Nations has shattered itself into fragments which have become labelled: the Communist bloc, or Iron Curtain countries; the Western bloc, or NATO [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] countries; the Latin-American bloc; the Middle-Eastern bloc; and the Asian-African bloc.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“The excuse given for such arrangements has been that of self-protection, which precept has become famous in history as the policy of the balance of power. It was hoped by such geographical grouping or racial combining or the merging of self-interests that nations would be deterred from attacking each other. But this form of alliance has not been able to check wars; it has rather accelerated the conflicts among nations. We witnessed the failure of the regional groups in the Great War of 1914-18 between the Triple Alliance and the Entente Cordiale. We saw similar unhappy examples in the Second World War between the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis and the Allies.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“Humanity would be lost if God condemned the whole human race simply because one individual was found to be wrong. If we persist in trying to settle our differences on the basis of the Munich Agreement, we shall accomplish nothing, and our fear and distrust will eventually involve us in another catastrophe, which may end our civilization. The purpose for which this Organization was founded would therefore have been defeated, and the United Nations would become simply a rostrum for world propaganda, exploited by each side for its own use and convenience. 95. Men through the ages have formed themselves into clans, tribes, and eventually nations, for the better protection of themselves. With the advance of culture, nations, like individuals, have bound themselves together, by treaties or tacit understandings, into alliances, groups and blocs.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“It is this deception, nurtured to soothe our guilty conduct, that breeds the suspicion and distrust that we have for each other. So intense and alive has become this feeling of mistrust, that our entire outlook on world problems is based on what we see through the narrow end of a telescope of apprehension and fear — and it is this outlook which has made it impossible for us in this Assembly to assess honestly one another’s proposals for the settlement of disputes, despite the genuineness and sincerity of such proposals. We have come to believe that behind the hand of friendship must necessarily lurk the danger of destruction. 94. There may be grounds for suspicion. True is the proverb that, “once bitten, twice shy”, and we are constantly verifying that adage by quoting the notorious Munich Agreement.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“As the poet, Burns, said: “Oh that God the gift would give us, to see ourselves as others see us.” It is therefore interesting and amusing to those not directly involved, and on the other hand perhaps alarming to those who are in the forefront of the struggle of East versus West, that each side finds among its own citizens advocates and followers of the doctrines of its opponent. These dissents are generally not based upon any settled principle, either communistic in origin or democratic in form; they are simply precipitated by the aspirations of the individual for the rights and privileges which are due to him by his Maker, and which he feels are being denied him by somebody. 93. We deceive ourselves into believing ourselves infallibly right and our opponents unfailingly wrong.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“The reason must be the one which has been well learned through the ages: that no government, no people, no race will continue to live which lives on suppression or the denial of the rights of life, liberty and property to the individual. No State can long thrive that thrives upon the misery and poverty of the weak. 92. The world is troubled not by the doctrines we expound, but rather by the way we apply those doctrines, whether they be communistic or democratic. The proof of the pudding, after all, is in the eating.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“What would impress one coming from a world foreign to our own is that the chief aims of both these worlds appear to be identical, the ostensible aims being the safeguarding of the rights and privileges of the individual. This identity is illustrated by the terms used by the two types of governments when they style themselves “peoples’ democratic governments” in the East, on the one hand, and “Western democracies” on the other. What is the reason, what is the purpose, when both sides use the selfsame word, “democracy”, and then charge each other with fraud and deceit for using such a term; when each accuses the other of suppression and exploitation of the individual — acts which this symbol, “democracy”, certainly precludes?”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“As long as man seeks to prey upon man; as long as the individual attempts to exploit the weaknesses and ignorance of his neighbour; as long as the blessings of the universe are not apportioned upon the principle of share and share alike but upon the lion’s policy of strength; as long as the precept of freedom is interpreted in defiance of the moral code that man, made in the image of his Maker, is fully entitled to a share in the yield of the earth; as long as justice is meted out on the basis of skin pigmentation, physical structure or geographical situation, all our gestures of assistance will make no difference, and we shall be bound to have clashes among individual's, nations, races. 91. Today we live in two distinct worlds: the communistic world, with its many democratic republics, and the Western world, with its broad democracies.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“To the victors they have brought vain glory, pride and loot, gathered from triumphs that have eventually ended in man’s own destruction. Luxury and comfort beget decadence, decadence generally leads to depravity and softness, and the victor of battle becomes the victim of his own lust. To the vanquished, defeat brings bitterness and kindles the flame of vengeance. 90.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“Through this Organization, we have been endeavouring, with some remarkable degree of success, to bring to the less fortunate of our fellow-beings the blessings of the prosperous world — by food through the FAO [Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations], health through the WHO [World Health Organization], education and science through UNESCO [United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization]. But, we wonder, to what avail all this if our struggles through the years to improve and help the less fortunate are to be wiped away overnight by our failures in the political and diplomatic fields to redress our wrongs and to settle our differences? It would be tantamount to fattening the ox before its execution in the arena. 89. Wars have accomplished nothing.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“To many it must appear that, as man advances in science and learning, he declines at the same pace in his moral conception of right, justice and the simple principles of honesty and fair play towards his fellow man; there seems to be no equal balance in the scale between his material wants and necessities and his moral rectitude, because his desires for the riches of the world are stimulated according to his cravings, which, through science, have brought him all the luxuries and conveniences of life. Basking in a state of contentment, man is unmindful of his duty towards his fellow man, which, by the moral code, is to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”. 88.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“Or shall we be the victims of our own folly and greed, which with our rapid burrowing into the secrets of nature have assured our own total destruction? 86. Our only hope can be the success of the United Nations. Through the ages, we — as the savage, the barbarian or the modern, cultured gentleman — have developed no other remedy for settling our differences and grievances than congregating around a conference table, whether that table has stood outdoors in the shade of an oak or a palm, in the splendid palaces of the learned and' cultured, or in the bare hut of the simple peasant. God has endowed man with a mind, with a tongue and with the power of reasoning. It is these assets — if he cares to use them — that distinguish man from the beasts of the jungle where the right of survival depends upon the strength of the great. 87.”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“85. As we commence this session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, despite our pious hopes, we have seen no relaxation of world tension. Much as we are gratified over the armistice in Korea, the political horizon still casts a shadow of pending gloom and destruction. To paraphrase the poet, “humanity with all its fears, with all its hopes for future years, still hangs breathlessly on thy fate”. What shall be that fate? Shall it be peace with plenty? Shall it be peace according to the Charter, devoid: of all fear, of all oppression, of all poverty and of all disease; where the rights and liberties of each individual and the safety of each nation are guaranteed and respected by small nations and the great Powers alike?”
1953-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 8 (1953)
“In conclusion, we should like to record our appreciation to the French Government and people for the very cordial and warm reception extended to the various delegations attending this General Assembly in Paris and we should like to believe and hope that the motto of the French. Revolution, “Liberty, Equality and Fraternity” was not conceived with a view to being applicable to any particular nation or race or any particular people or creed, but rather to the world in general and mankind in particular.”
1951-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 6 (1951)
“To continue to use such arguments, such as the benefits of Western culture and civilization as a means to justify continuous occupation, subjugation and, exploitation, as if without such foreign rule the conquered people could not have continued to exist as a nation and social unit, is not only misleading but absolutely false, and cannot be borne out by the facts of history. Before the coming of the Europeans, there were, and in some cases still are, great empires in Asia and Africa whose scholars and scientists have contributed much to the so-called Western culture and civilization. As one writer has said, “Few things are more galling than to be told by those whose favours we have to accept that without these favours we would hardly be alive.” 17.”
1951-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 6 (1951)
“We are of the considered opinion that this economic and social inequality should now be considered an anachronism, and that the vast wealth of the African continent should be used. not for the enrichment of certain countries, but for the benefit of the world in general and the African in particular. 16. It is to be admitted and is generally put forward from "this very rostrum, that in some cases subjugated people have to some extent benefited by the rule of the conquerors, but it must also be admitted that in nearly every instance the conqueror has never failed to demand and receive his pound of flesh.”
1951-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 6 (1951)
“We find that some colonial Powers, instead of improving the backwardness of African peoples, have found it more to their advantage to keep them in a perpetual state of ignorance and backwardness, thereby hoping to exploit them more easily. My delegation speaking for, and in the name of, the Government and people of Liberia, earnestly hopes that in the not-too-distant future either through the United Nations or otherwise the liberation of the continents of Africa and Asia will become more than a mere dream, in fact a reality. 15. In the annals of history, it would appear that the continent of Africa has been regarded merely as a source of raw material and cheap labour, fit only for the extraction of super profits to enrich one or two countries.”
1951-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 6 (1951)
“In this connection, my delegation hopes that the benevolent attitude evinced with respect to dependent peoples in Asia, whether spontaneous or not will also be extended to the dependent peoples of the African continent, and that the administering Powers will not hold the view that owing to the backwardness of Africans in dependent territories the same investigation carried out by commissions in the Middle and Far East in ascertaining the preparedness of these peoples for self-government should not apply to Africans. 14. My delegation, however, notes with some degree of satisfaction that certain of the colonial Powers have introduced reforms in territories under their administration with a view to finally educating the inhabitants of such territories for self-government. However, this does not apply to all the colonial Powers.”
1951-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 6 (1951)
“The Liberian delegation must therefore here endorse whole-heartedly the declaration made by one of the representatives speaking from this rostrum that one of the fundamental conditions of real peace, one of the indisputable prerequisites for making the United Nations truly universal, is respect for the political aspirations of countries which have been in the school of so-called “tutelage” for decades, if not for centuries. 13.”
1951-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 6 (1951)
“This is the kind of progress which has spelled progress for the United Nations in a disturbed world. 11. This magnificent work of the United Nations, fulfilling as it does the needs of less advanced, undeveloped and under-developed countries, would now seem to be threatened by the lack of agreement among the major Powers — a disagreement which, if continued, is bound to end in another world catastrophe. If mankind is again plunged into a third blood bath, the responsibility will clearly rest at the door of those who under the guise of national, political and strategic interests have rendered agreement, peace and social progress impracticable. 12. We have heard a lot about world peace, a peace that must embrace all nations and races without distinction.”
1951-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 6 (1951)
“Already a technical assistance mission from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is working in Liberia. Experts from the World Health Organization have begun to arrive to assist us in the fight against malaria and other tropical diseases. Supplementary agreements have just been signed with the International Labour Organisation for the sending of experts to assist us with our labour problems. A United Nations Information Centre for West Africa has been established in Liberia and we are happy to say that it has already made much progress in enlightening the peoples of that region of the world about the activities of the United Nations. There are many other countries like mine which are receiving this kind of practical assistance.”
1951-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 6 (1951)
“No power of speech, no coercion will induce them, the small nations, to follow such a blind and unrealistic course. They will cast their votes and lend their support where their national interest is best served and secured. This does not mean that the small nations have lost faith in the United Nations as the most effective instrument of international peace and security, but as long as such lofty ideals remain a Utopian dream, some other form of national security must be substituted. 10. In other spheres, however, such as in the economic and cultural fields, great progress has been made by the United Nations. Technical assistance is being brought to many under-developed countries for the promotion of science, education, health and agriculture. My country is one of the recipients under the technical assistance programme.”
1951-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 6 (1951)
“No sooner done than the ass was pounced upon by the lion and destroyed. The king of the beasts then called upon the fox to make the division. The fox being mindful of the fate of the ass, in dividing the spoil awarded the bulk to the lion, retaining an infinitesimal part for himself. The lion was much pleased and in addressing the fox said, “Sir, where did you learn such good manners?” The fox in reply said, “Sir, from my dead brother the ass.” 9. As long as might still continues to be on the side of the biggest battalion, as long as the high principles of the Charter still continue to remain a Utopian dream, no one should or could expect little nations like mine to sacrifice their national existence upon an artificial altar of right and justice.”
1951-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 6 (1951)
“S. Under such conditions the small nations are bound to look elsewhere for their national security, and we find them either members of some regional pact or aligning themselves on the side of some great Power; for they can never be unmindful of the rape of Ethiopia, or the subjugation of Norway, Belgium and Denmark by hitlerite Germany. Small nations like mine must therefore ever be mindful of the old Aesop fable of the lion, the ass and the fox. The lion, the ass and the fox went on a hunting expedition and between them managed to kill a deer. As king of the beasts, the lion called upon the ass to divide the spoil. The ass relying upon justice and right based upon fair play, divided the game into three equal parts: one for the lion, one for the fox and one for himself.”
1951-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 6 (1951)
“It implies, therefore, that the almost insoluble divergencies of views among the great Powers have shown that in the political phase the United Nations has become paralysed and static. As long as this situation prevails, and as long as the great Powers feel that they are not bound to respect the wishes of any majority on any issue and can thus ignore such wishes without penalty either by illegal means, that is, by total disregard for the will of the majority, or through legal means by the use of the veto under the Charter, such lofty ideals as saving coming generations from the scourge of another war or the reaffirmation of our faith in fundamental human rights, or the establishment of conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, or the promotion of social standards, become mere phrases used to appease the conscience of mankind.”
1951-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 6 (1951)
“We have had our hopes for the last three years dashed asunder by the refusal of the great Powers to agree on any formula for world peace. 6. As long as there is such a disagreement among the leading nations of the world the small nations, mindful of their own fate, are bound to reach decisions on world affairs not necessarily based upon a sense of right and justice but chiefly on grounds of their national interests and security of their sovereignty. It therefore does not matter what eloquence might be displayed by the great Powers in setting forth the rightness of their cause; this will have very little effect on those nations whose right to existence is in some way or form linked to one or the other of the conflicting Powers. 7.”
1951-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 6 (1951)
“We have neither armies nor navies to maintain and protect our independence, but have chiefly relied upon the moral conscience of our two great colonial neighbours, on their honesty and moral integrity to respect the sanctity of their obligations which were couched in the various treaties signed between us. We regret to say, however, that these obligations have not always been scrupulously respected. 4. It is therefore from this standpoint of the sanctity of treaties and the moral obligations of nations that we have resolved to participate in this general debate. It goes without saying that the existence of all small nations must rely upon the moral integrity of the great Powers to respect the sanctity of treaties. 5. We cannot therefore but view with alarm the disagreement among the great Powers.”
1951-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 6 (1951)
“It therefore can never be a reproach to us that a portion of our race was exploited to maintain the fruits of luxury of the western countries, as history has shown that man in his greed for the comforts and conveniences of this world was never hesitant in exploiting his weaker brother, regardless of what race or of what creed. The reproach, therefore, must always be levelled at the exploiter, for in exploiting his less fortunate brother he has violated all the principles upon which the dignity of man rests. 3. We, the Liberian people, have maintained our independence not through any physical force, as we have already pointed out.”
1951-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 6 (1951)
“One might wonder why such a small country as Liberia finds it necessary to take part in this general debate which concerns the destinies of mankind, especially after the speeches of the great Powers such as the United States of America, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom and so on. Liberia is a small nation with no great armies, navies or air forces and would have little to contribute to the fate of the world if that fate rested upon the might of armed forces. Our very existence as a State springs not from our might or the force of power to liberate ourselves from grinding oppression and cruelty but rather from the remorse of conscience of those States which have exploited the weaknesses of our race. 2.”
1951-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 6 (1951)
“In conclusion, the Liberian representative expressed his thanks to the French Government for the cordial reception which had been given to its guests. They would take away with them very pleasant memories of the generosity and courtesy of France and its people, symbolized in their magnificent motto: «Liberty, Equality, Fraternity».”
1948-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 3 (1948)
“Having faith in the United Nations Charter, the small nations had accepted the rule of unanimity among the great Powers but the latter, instead of making use of that special right in the general interest of humanity, had used it as a weapon in the conflict which divided them and which threatened to destroy the whole of humanity. Taking into consideration the failure of the great Powers to settle world political problems, one had the right to wonder whether the United Nations was being dogged by the same lamentable fate as the League of Nations. Despite those misgivings, the small nations still hoped that wisdom, reason and fair play would characterize the activities of the great Powers, who held in their hands the destiny of the human race.”
1948-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 3 (1948)
“It was sad to have to recognize the fact that the United Nations was powerless to interfere, but nothing in the text of the Charter gave it that power, because such questions were essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of each State. What hope was there, therefore, for those minorities? After having acknowledged the progress that had been made by the various committees of the United Nations, Mr. Cooper pointed out that the Organization had not been able to set up a body for the control of atomic energy. The small nations could not but view with anxiety that failure, which demonstrated the inability of man to master the dreadful monster he had created.”
1948-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 3 (1948)
“The great Powers seemed to have forgotten the fine phrases of the United Nations Charter concerning equal rights for all men and for all countries, great or small, which they had helped to draft. The Charter contained the words: «... in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language or religion». As Members of the United Nations, the small countries had undertaken to fulfil those conditions and had respected their undertaking. Yet, in certain parts of the world and even in the territory of certain Member States of the General Assembly, fundamental rights were being denied, to minorities on the grounds of race or religion, and new laws were being adopted which would intensify and perpetuate that form of oppression.”
1948-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 3 (1948)
“They did not want to be involved in that deadly struggle for world domination, but their geographical and economic situation left them no alternative. History showed that the neutrality of small nations was only respected so long as it served the wishes and purposes of their great neighbours. In spite of the gravity of the political situation, it was sometimes amusing to listen to the propaganda of the two blocs. If a depressed people in, the Western world exerted itself to obtain a better political and economic regime, it was labelled Communist by the interested great Power. If, on the other hand, the oppressed peoples of the Eastern world demanded the right to determine their own fate, the interested great Power branded them as servants of Western imperialism.”
1948-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 3 (1948)
“Those people could but observe with some degree of irony the labour and long researches carried on by Western scientists for the elimination of diseases such as cancer or tuberculosis and, on the other hand, the amount of energy expended daily by those men in the discovery of new weapons of destruction for the liquidation of the human race such as the atomic bomb or the flying projectile. The Liberian representative was sure that he expressed the feelings of all small nations when he said that they watched with fear and anxiety the political struggle among the great Powers for control of the universe. They could not refrain from a certain feeling of nervousness when they observed the division of the world into two blocs: on one side, the forces of Communism and on the other the forces of democracy.”
1948-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 3 (1948)
“The peoples of Asia, Africa and other parts of the world, who had been forced by circumstances to adopt Western culture and civilization in some degree, could not help asking themselves whether more suffering and misery, than benefits, had resulted from the adoption of that civilization imported from the West, and whether their economic and political life had really been improved as a result of contact with Western culture. Had it been worth while to exchange poor sanitary conditions, poverty and tribal warfare for Western methods; for better sanitary conditions and new economic ideas? Western culture was forever giving rise to eternal conflicts, affecting the lives of millions of human beings and causing more destruction than was caused by the forces of nature in the form of disease or poverty.”
1948-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 3 (1948)
“Mr. COOPER stated that all the nations of the world had gathered together to try to check the unbridled passions which otherwise would take control of the world Man had brought forces of nature under his will and service, but he had not yet gained control over his lust for domination nor his greed. The whole world was actively interested in the deliberations of the United Nations, for on those deliberations would depend the fate of the human race. The small nations could not but view with trepidation what was happening in Palestine, Greece, China, Korea and Indonesia and could not but wonder if the Preamble of the United Nations Charter was made up of empty phrases.”
1948-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 3 (1948)