Minorities and Peace -- Mission in Connection to each other.
A sketch for a Course during the Summer School at Gland 16 July -- 4 Sept. 1926.
Motive: As nobody can obtain real results of Peace-mission-work without knowledge of the minorities concerned, and no settling of the difficulties of minorities is possible without the goodwill at which the peace-mission aims, these two groups of questions ought to be studied together in order to make people understand their relationship.
I. Questions of Minorites.
1. General Lectures.
1/ A Survey of minorities existing after the war: where they live, their number, their race, language, religion and so on, new statistic accounts.
2/ An Account of what has been tried to settle the problems of minorities after the war.
1. in the peace-treaties;
2. in the constitutions of different countries;
3. by the League of Nations;
4. by the minorities themselves through their Committee. Geneva 1925. [page 2]
2. A penetrating study of one or two minority-districts, including firstly the following questions.
1/ Historical study of former relations between the nations concerned.
2/ The situation of [today] on both sides of the frontier.
3/ The chief claims now raised by the different minorities and majorities.
This part of the work ought to be to a great extent, performed by the students of the course. (In tutorial classes or something of that kind.)
Frontiers with minorities on both sides would be especially interesting to study, for instance the Polish-German and the German-Danish border.
It would be valuable if papers were prepared by representatives for the majority as well as for the minority on both sides.
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A study of the Saar-district would be of a special value. A peace mission in such a district could prepare the minds for the coming plebiscite.
Necessary literature and maps
ought to be at hand.
1. Good maps and atlases with new and former borders.
2. Ethnographical maps.
3. Historical [literature]. [page 3]
4. New statistics.
5. The publications of the League of Nations.
6. "The Problem of minorities in Europe" published by the English Section of W.I.L.P.F.
II. Questions of Peace-mission work.
Scheme: 1/ The peace-missionary ought to go in for needed and existing social and educational work in his district, and so have a reason for his staying and an opening for connection with both majority and minority.
The course ought to give information as to what is needed in different districts (through representatives for them amongst the students.)
2/ The Peace-mission must try to establish a free cooperation with existing organizations, who have already begun a similar work or are disposed to do so, as for instance The Friends, The Fellowship of Reconciliation, The Women's Suffrage Leagues, The Y.W.C.A. of U.S.A. and so on, aiming at general opinion for good-will and peace.
The course ought to give accounts of existing organizations, and a cooperation may be started through members of the Summer school. [page 4]
3/ Central Committees ought to be established in different countries. They ought to give full freedom to the cooperating organizations, but would be able to enlighten the work for instance by their wider outlook and possibility to divide the work-district or by creating a common economic basis, an economic unit to which people could give their money, for which they could have their [bazaars] and so on.
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