The Greatest Enemies to Liberty. (Ethics - October 1958).

In 1947 while the U. N. Commission on Human Rights was working out an international bill of rights, UNESCO carried out a broad enquiry into the philosophic bases of the rights which could be included in such a declaration. It consulted leading philosophers and writers of many countries and obtained their personal views on the question. This symposium served as the basis for the final conclusions which UNESCO drew and which were forwarded to the U. N. Human Rights Commission to help to clarify its discussions and to help explore the ground for constructive agreement. Later the most significant texts of this symposium were edited by UNESCO and published under the title Human Rights Comments and Interpretations (Publisher, Allan Wingate, London, 1949). On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, THE UNESCO COURIER reproduces below Aldous Huxley's contribution. Though it was written ten years ago it is just as timely and provocative today as it was then.

THE increasing pressure of population upon resources and the waging, threat of, and unremitting preparation for total war--these are, at the present time, the most formidable enemies to liberty.

About three-quarters of the 2.2 billion inhabitants of our planet do not have enough to eat. By the end of the present century world population will have increased (if we manage to avoid catastrophe in the interval) to about 3.3 thousand millions (1). Meanwhile, over vast areas of the earth's surface, soil erosion is rapidly diminishing the fertility of mankind's four billion acres of productive land. Moreover, in those countries where industrialism is most highly developed, mineral resources are running low, or have been completely exhausted--and this at a time when a rising population demands an ever increasing quantity of consumer goods and when improved …