Then, looking to the future, the frail-looking 71-year-old bearded monarch told delegates from 111 nations that "Here, in this Assembly, reposes the best -- perhaps the last -- hope for the survival of mankind."
-- Associated Press, October 5 (full story: @)
-- Photo from Corbis Images, January 1963
* Text of speech (from United Nations): @
(Note: If link does not work, go to www.un.org/en/documents/ods and search for Haile Selassie 1963. The first result is the speech.)
* Audio of speech: @
* "Haile Selassie Looks Back Without Anger at U.N." (St. Petersburg Times, October 5, 1963): @
* Selassie's 1936 speech (from www.mtholyoke.edu): @
* Audio of speech: @
* "Haile Selassie Looks Back Without Anger at U.N." (St. Petersburg Times, October 5, 1963): @
* Selassie's 1936 speech (from www.mtholyoke.edu): @
* "Haile Selassie vs. Mussolini" (from OneWorld Magazine): @
Note: Bob Marley & the Wailers' 1976 song "War" takes most of its lyrics from this passage in Selassie's 1963 speech:
On the question of racial discrimination, the Addis Ababa conference taught, to those who will learn, this further lesson: that until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, until there are no longer any first-class and second-class citizens of any nation, until the color of a man's skin is of no more signficance than the color of his eyes, until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all, without regard to race -- until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained. And also, that until the ignoble and unhappy regimes that hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique and in South Africa in subhuman bondage have been toppled and destroyed, until bigotry and prejudice and malicious and inhuman self-interest have been replaced by understanding, tolerance and goodwill, until all Africans stand and speak as free beings, equal in the eyes of all men as they are in Heaven -- until that day, the African continent will not know peace. We Africans will fight, if necessary, and know that we shall win, as we are confident in the victory of good over evil.
* Listen to "War": @
* bobmarley.com: @
On the question of racial discrimination, the Addis Ababa conference taught, to those who will learn, this further lesson: that until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, until there are no longer any first-class and second-class citizens of any nation, until the color of a man's skin is of no more signficance than the color of his eyes, until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all, without regard to race -- until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained. And also, that until the ignoble and unhappy regimes that hold our brothers in Angola, in Mozambique and in South Africa in subhuman bondage have been toppled and destroyed, until bigotry and prejudice and malicious and inhuman self-interest have been replaced by understanding, tolerance and goodwill, until all Africans stand and speak as free beings, equal in the eyes of all men as they are in Heaven -- until that day, the African continent will not know peace. We Africans will fight, if necessary, and know that we shall win, as we are confident in the victory of good over evil.
* Listen to "War": @
* bobmarley.com: @
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