Diary 1963 - Murshid Sam's Living Stream

Diaries 1963June 1, 19631088 Fulton St.,San Francisco 17, Calif.Hon. Thomas J. Kuchel,Senate Office Bldg.,Washington, D.C.Dear Senator Kuchel;I am about to leave for Southern California on errands which ultimately may affect Americanrelations with Asia. These today are in utter smog because we will do anything but be simply objective.As you seem to have pointed out, in our desire to battle real or imaginary communism, we haveselected their weapons—dialectics and left-center right humbug. We can’t fight them with Americanweapons; that is passé. The schools demand equal rights for communists and Birchers, but try toread some excerpt from Presidents T. Roosevelt or W. Wilson—just try. The Fourteen Points havebeen buried far underground and as for “Roosevelt” nobody alludes to Teddy any more.a. My most distant point is India. In facing Asian problems I have given up all attempts to doanything direct. Everybody wants social reform and I want soil reform. The social reformer each hashis own dialectical solution, Marxists, quasi-Marxist or anti-Marxist. Such successes as that of ourgood friend Paul Keim in UAR. got me publicity and are not copied elsewhere. People are starvingbecause the earth is starving and for no other reasons. Where the earth is not starving there may bean over-abundance as there seems to be in this country.The last conference here on “Asia” was as all other conferences. There must be at least one Britishor European diplomat and at least one British or European professor. Without these, conferenceson Asia are “unthinkable.” Asians are regarded as exotics. We permit European full scope and willtake an inimical speech from a European long before we listen to a different viewpoint from an Asia.Asia has its cultures, Mortimer Adler and “Great Books” to the contrary. The Asians love our Emerson,our Whitman, our Thoreau, but since “Great Books” we have only Europeans and Hollywood“cultures” to give them.The discussion of the soils of Asia is open to anybody that knows anything about the soils. Thedispassion of village life in Asia is open to any social theorist. Having lived in Asian villages hasnothing to do with it. In any event, despite all the conferences on Asia and all our listing to Europeansprofessors of Asiatica—a very common custom, I am hoping that perhaps the Chambers of Commerceor the Farm Bureau and the Departments of Agriculture will get behind a campaign of “Datesfor Asia.” This is long and complex and most important.The press, the State Department and the USIA, one can do nothing. One minute with a FordFoundation person is worth one year with a member of the Fourth Estate.