“The Woman's Voice” Questions Dr. Charles Malik

Q: You have come to know the men of the world press. What, in your view, is the difference between the journalists of the West and the journalists of the East?

A: On the whole — while granting that in both worlds there exists something that somewhat contradicts my judgment — I believe that the journalists of the West have a keener sense of responsibility and a broader horizon of inquiry and care than our journalists. Also on the whole, the respectable journalists of the West specialized in the art of journalism and its problems before entering its ranks, whereas among us journalism is almost the only profession for which the man who puts himself forward feels no necessity of any prior special training.

Q: How is the charter of human rights to be applied in practice — or rather, how are those points applied that concern the right of every human being to work that places him beyond the need of stretching out his hand to the houses of charity?

A: We are now attempting to draw up an official international covenant on this subject, descending from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. When we have finished drafting it and it has been ratified by the member states of the United Nations, its provisions will then become applicable like the provisions of any other international agreement, be it political, economic, cultural, or military. Until that time, the application of the human rights set forth in the Universal Declaration remains subject to the free will of the states. Yet the Declaration has of itself given rise to a moral pressure upon governments in all countries, so much so that certain new constitutions — the constitution of Indonesia, for example — have borrowed some of its articles. And in many of the liberation movements in the world, in the East and in the West, this Declaration has been raised before the human conscience like a lofty banner that whets resolve and stirs the will. This indirect application of the declared rights has an effectiveness perhaps no less strong than any direct legal application.

Q: The work on behalf of the refugees, and for restoring human dignity to the displaced, who are becoming the victims of charity, is still confined to the men of the Arab world and the men of the Western world. What is your opinion of a wide-ranging campaign of publicity among Israeli women's circles, which are ignorant of the depth of the gulf between the Arab peoples and Israel by reason of the injustices of this dispersion? Injustice breeds injustice, and the works of rancor breed hatred, and these two will one day explode against the sons of the rising generation in Israel. Do you not think the Arab governments are remiss on this side? The Lebanese woman has done something of the kind, but she found help from no one. How can the women's associations — in Lebanon and the Arab countries — make their voices heard by the women of the West, and by the women of Israel in the West?

A: Every possible work for the awakening of conscience, whether in the East or in the West, whether among the women of Israel or among other women, is a sacred work. Yet I do not know how effective such work would be among Israeli women, for they are, so far as I know, seized by their Zionist creed with a hold that almost rivals religion in its effect. In the face of this faith, which aims at creating a new nation and a new culture whatever that creation may cost in self-sacrifice and even in the infliction of injustice upon others, I do not think an appeal by the Arab woman to the Israeli woman would avail anything. Before we even think of such an appeal, the Arab woman must roll up her sleeve, sacrifice some of her ease and comfort, sell some of her jewels, and turn some of her grumblings and lamentations and wailings into silent, earnest, self-sacrificing work — all of it for the succor of her wretched, stricken sister. The world only smiles in mockery at us when we appeal to it for help while it knows that the measure of our readiness to sacrifice is next to nothing beside the measure of its own readiness in like cases. Only he who leads the way in true sacrifice has his word listened to when he appeals. And therefore, with a little responsible thinking, far removed from all chatter and empty impetuousness, the Arab woman can trace out for herself effective practical plans: for closing her own ranks, for rousing her man to work, for breathing a voice into the Arab conscience lest it sleep and forget, and for proving to the whole world that she has at last awakened from her immemorial, deep slumber.