Dean Rusk Arrives for SEATO Conference - Lcgmn.com

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The PLAIN TRUTH
August, 1966
staff all its needed embassies and
consulates with university graduates, let
alone make a small dent in the tremen·
dous need for educated leaders at horne.
But Zambia had MANY more educated
personnel avai lable for governmental
duties than some other countries.
In Tanzania there were only sixtynine
graduates at the time of independence!
But in Malawi, there were only
SEVENTEEN!
Can you imagine it ?-nations with
only seventeen college graduates having
an equal voice with the United States
and Great Britain, with Russia and
France, and with every other nation in
the United Nations?
Docs THIS begin to look like the
formulators of the United Nations
charter lacked a little in foresight?
Have you h eard about the Maldive
Islands near Ceylon? They are independent-a
"new nation" on the earth.
Yet they are so poor that the United
Nations must forward their mail
through the " Maldivian Philatelic
Agency," which is just down the street
from Macy's in Manhattan!
Take a look at Rwanda. The prest·
dent, Gregoire Kayibanda, lives in a
sumptuous palace. His economy was un·
til only recently a barter economy
based upon cows! Cows were tribal
symbols of wealth and importance. To
purchase anything, from one of the
pitifully few imported manufactured
commodities to a wife, a given ntunber
of cows were the medium of exchange.
While the president of Rwanda may
present quite a few headaches to his
fellow presidents around Africa, and,
indeed, in such far-off places as Washington,
Bonn, Paris, Rome or Moscow
- he has 110 telephone in his palace ;n
Kigali! So, periodically, he sends a
minister of his down the road to neighboring
Uganda to get a look at
what might be happening in the rest
of the world!
Impoverished though they are, some
new nations have national pride and
vanity which tends to create severe internal
problems, and thus threaten
additional international problems.
Impoverished Dahomey, for example,
has a presidential residence that cost
over $6,000,000 to build, and is larger
than Bllckingham Palace! Look at Upper
Volta! So far, it has one quarter.
mile of dual highway! Think of ityou
could walk up and down this
quarter.mile of dual paved highway in
only minutes. And that's all there is.
There isn't any more. The name of this
first section of highway? "The Champs
Elysees '"
graft netted him $800,000 in government
funds before independence was
yet a year old!"
What a world!
NO Government Knows
The Way To Peace
In many countries where government
is the biggest, and sometimes the
ONLY industry in the entire country-
PIP Photo
THE CONGO-After independence, Belgian-owned riverboats-the backbone
of the Congo's colonial transportation system-were tied up, allowed to rot
away north of leopoldville. River become choked with water hyacinths.
Native girl stands near canoe, above, typical of new mode of transportation.
It was revealed there is an important
sounding "Directorate of Forests and
Waters" requiring a minister and staff
in the new nation of Mauritania. Then
it was found there are 110 forests, and
precious little water!
But this is only the beginning
gl impse of the problem. Graft, vice,
corruption, brutal police rule, no rights
for individuals, government seizure of
private industry and farms, tribal wars
and battles, starvation, illiteracy, dis·
ease, squalor and filth- these are the
daily way of life in many of the
new nations. Corruption is so much a
way of life and a part of the daily
fabric of "government" in many of
these emerging new nations that it is
almost unbelievable. As T ;me magazine
said, "A record of sorts was set
by Burma's .first Minister of Commerce
and Industry, whose industriousness at
there exists, nevertheless, an equal voice
in world affairs with the United States
and Russia!
Does it make any sense? Does it
portend safety, peace, productivity and
a new era of prosperity for the world?
Hardly. In many cases, it means only
more suffering for already impoverished
peoples- now subjected to shaky and
inadequate governments of their own.
And so, INSTEAD of law, order, edu·
cation, understanding, magnanimity,
long-suffering, patience, kindness, jus·
tice, equity, trust, faith, a deep grasp of
human nature, total lack of racial and
religious bias; and all of the lofty qualities
which SHOULD go into any govern·
ment- you find illiteracy, selfishnesJ
and egotism. to the point of embarrassment;
an insane desire for personal
powef; graft and corruption, lying,