A manifesto signed by 2,169 educators and publicists, summoning their colleagues to join in the defense of democracy against racial and other totalitarian propaganda, was made public today by the New York Committee for Democracy and Intellectual Freedom and a sponsoring committee of 17 educators and journalists. Signatories of the manifesto include 156 college and university presidents, six state commissioners of education, 139 deans and 38 headmasters and principals of private schools, representing a total of 410 institutions in 46 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
The statement warns against the “powerful and unscrupulous” Fascist forces, “attempting to divide our people by propaganda inciting to racial hatred and religious persecution” in order “to destroy our American tradition of tolerance and mutual cooperation.” Condemning Fascist regimentation and suppression of truth, the manifesto declares that “we must recognize the threat to democracy inherent in demands for retrenchment in education, in attacks on the Bill of Rights, in gag laws, in censorship of teachers and journalists, in racial and religious intolerance, in those newspapers which make profit or power their chief goal.”
Support is pledged to a five-point program to help strengthen democracy, including (1) no discrimination in schools, (2) freedom of teachers to inculcate democracy and intellectual freedom in the minds of the young, (3) assistance to children and adults in pursuit of knowledge, (4) preservation of civil liberties, (5) truth in schools, press and radio about history and tradition, race and culture, “without fear or malice.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
