Twentieth Century Week Speakers Praise Nationalism in Asia, Africa

Nationalism is a lovely word in the Arab world, Emile Bustani, a deputy of the Lebanese parliament, declared last night in the fourth Twentieth Century Week panel discussion.

Speaking on the topic "National Aspirations," Dr. Bustani Proclaimed the Middle East's intention to play an "increasingly important part in modern civilization." Protesting that the Arab's aspirations have been hindered by the Western world during "the past 300 years perhaps," the speaker told a Sanders Theater audience that "from now on we're going forward--no one can stop us."

Whether this is accomplished by one particular form of government or another, Dr. Bustani declared, is "relatively immaterial."

A second panelist, the Hon. Jules Kiano, Minister of Government and industry in Kenya, detailed the national aspirations of East Africans.. Disclaiming an over-riding interest in what he called "Plato's 'good life'--that man was a great philosopher, but not much of a democrat," Dr. Kiano told of an important and continuing attempt "to make blackness one of those things of which a man can be proud. "We feel this above all other aspirations--almost like missionaries. In fact, we may have to send some of these missionaries to Louisiana."

Indian Lauds Nationalism

India, too, shares in the nationalistic aspirations of the world, declared a third panelist, N. B. Menon, First Secretary of the Indian Embassy in Washington. "To us, also, nationalism is a liberating, vigorous force--and not something to be ashamed of," he emphasized. A self-declared "peace-loving, neutralist man," Mr. Menon subsequently modified this assertion by posing the question: "What is nationalism but real estate?"

Horacio Godoy, a member of the faculty of law at the University of La Plata, was the only panelist to question seriously the value of nationalism. He admitted that two nationalistic forces are currently at work in Latin America, "National Marxism and the orthodox social Christian aims," but he stressed that neither has much chance of unifying the continent.