Hello Hawk and all!
Just wanted to bring this to the fore again, and add a few comments.
I went over this article word for word and it appears that the UN/DPI made no changes. We should all appreciate what Hawk has done here and many have expressed gratitude. What Hawk obtained effectively dispells the myth that what was presented to the UN for their approval prior to the printing of the November 22nd Awake! was propaganda for the WT.
Please note that ONLY the first article on pages 3-5 of that Awake! were submitted to the UN, entitled A"LONG JOB FINISHED".
The following articles, "A View from the 29th Floor","Human Rights and Wrongs Today", and finally, "Human Rights for All A Worldwide Reality!, evidently were not submitted to the UN. These could rightly be considered as propaganda for the WT.
When this issue was released, I was service overseer in my congregation. It was my custom to rise early on Saturday morning to review the WT and Awake magazines in order to bring out the field service points therein. I was probably no different from any other over-worked elder or publisher who was swamped with WT supplied reading material. And I admit that the Watchtower was the magazine that I perused. But I do remember thinking that this particular Awake article (A Long Job Finished)was strange in that it was not your typical UN jeremiad. But the following articles pointing to Jehovah's kingdom allayed those feelings of unease.
Fast forward to 2001 and their duplicity is evident.
Now before some point to the three questions under the last subheading in the article handed to the UN, "High Expectations", as proof that they were turning to WT propaganda in THAT article, consider this.
Reread carefully the last paragraph on page four. Note the question, "Are the UN member states measuring up to this yardstick?
Is this criticism of the UN? No indeed. It is a criticism of its members. The UN has the same view.
Note what the October 22nd 1985 Awake! had to say on this.
In the article "The UN-God's Way to Peace?, former Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim was quoted as saying: "One should realize that the United Nations is, after all, the world in microcosm. Its weaknesses must consequently be ascribed primarily to the contradictions that characterize the world community itself." He adds: "I should point out that it (the UN)(parentheses theirs) is no more than a mirror of the world it serves. That world is a conglomerate of extremely varied, often intractable, passionate, and antagonistic nations."
Copyright 1998 Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. All rights reserved.
That is also the UN's current view of its activities. Anything that underlines those frustrations (of dealing with varied member states)is welcomed.
In my opinion, the WT did live up to its obligations as a UN associated NGO, all the while walking the highwire of not unduly upsetting the rank and file.
That is what makes these documents from Geneva so important!
Did I mention THANKS HAWK!!!!
We appreciate your selfless labor in our behalf!
Dino