Salient. Victoria University of Wellington Student's Newspaper. Volume 31, Number 4. March 26 1968

Speakers' Credentials Examined

Speakers' Credentials Examined

Felix Greene here pictured with Ho Chi Minh on his recent visit to North Vietnam. He is author of "Vietnam, Vietnam", and "The Wall Has Two Sides".

Felix Greene here pictured with Ho Chi Minh on his recent visit to North Vietnam. He is author of "Vietnam, Vietnam", and "The Wall Has Two Sides".

" No One has questioned the standing of the conference or the credentials of the speakers," said Mr. Alister Taylor, chairman of the Peace, Power and Politics in Asia conference committee.

"The conference," wrote Mr. Hamilton Mitchell, Dominion president of the R.S.A., "... is not a forum for rational discussion."

The standing and credentials of some of the speakers at the conference, opening in Wellington on March 30, are examined below. Background papers are being circulated, and some of their authors are included.

Gunnar Myrdal

Dr. Gunnar Myrdal has sent a background paper on "The Moral Isolation of the United States".

At a recent Dress conference Dr. Myrdal, 69, urged "an orderly withdrawal" from Vietnam by the U.S.A. To replace American military resistance to communism he called for strong birth control campaigns by South Asian governments, quick boosts for agriculture, thorough land reform, and an overhaul of the educational system.

In a three-volume, 2284-page study, "Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nations", released three weeks ago in New York, the Swedish economist pulls no punches.

Written alter ten years of preparation, three of which were spent in the area, the book may not be welcomed in Asia.

Basic Asian character defects listed by Dr. Myrdal include: "Low levels of work discipline, punctuality and orderliness; superstitious beliefs and irrational outlook; lack of alertness, adaptability, ambition and general readiness for change and experiment; contempt for manual work; submissiveness to authority and exploitation; low aptitude for cooperation.

"There is little hope in South Asia for rapid development without greater social discipline."

If the United States takes Gunnar Myrdal's suggestion seriously, and does make "an orderly withdrawal," there is little doubt that the communists will apply his "greater social discipline."

Mary McCarthy

Miss McCarthy has indicated that if she is in Hanoi at the end of March she will attend the conference.

Until recently, Mary McCarthy was chiefly famous for her formerly much-banned novel The Group.

Vietnam, published last year, makes no pretence of objectivity. At the outset the writer states that her visit to Vietnam in February 1967 was to seek what was damaging to America.

The book has gained wide acceptance among the American left. In it all her fellow-countrymen are portrayed either as thugs, or as deepening the Vietnamese people's agony while they naively talk of winning hearts and minds.

The Viet Cong, whose atrocities might have minimised American "crimes", are not described.

Jean-Paul Sartre

As chairman of the "War Crimes Tribunal" held last year in Stockholm, after several European countries had indicated their unwillingness to house it, Satre endeavoured to blacken the United States.

The self-styled "tribunal", hearing only evidence from communist and anti-American sources, came to the conclusion it was convened to reach regarding American guilt.

Conor Cruise O'Brien

Professor Cruise O'Brien is listed as speaking on "The United States, United Nations and Revolution."

As United Nations representative in charge of the Congo "Peace-keeping" Mission, Dr. O'Brien launched Operation Morthor, designed to prevent the secession of the state of Katanga. The actions of the mission are considered to have caused the staughter of some thousands of Katangese.

United Nations troops, commanded by Indian Major-General K. A. S. Raja, were seen throwing prisoners from the roof of the Elisabethville, Katanga, Post Office. Sworn evidence detailing atrocities committed by personnel under Dr. O'Brien was suppressed by the United Kingdom government.

Dr. O'Brien later accepted a senior post at the University of Accra during the Nkrumah regime, indicating his willingness to serve under a black dictatorship. Cooperation between European and African, as happened in Katanga, was anathema to him.

He is at present Albert Schweitzer Professor of Humanities and Literature at New York University.