Half-Castes and World Peace

Abstract

A NOVEL view of the problem of the half-caste and of the role which might be played by communities of mixed origin in the promotion of world peace is taken by Mr. Cedric Dover in a memorandum which he presented to the International Peace Congress held on September 3-6. In a cursory survey of the figures, he points out that not only are half-castes more numerous than is realized generally, but that they form an appreciable proportion of the populations of the modern world. Mr. Dover, however, does not rely on the mere weight of number. He goes on to argue that half-caste communities, consisting of ‘marginal’ men, who represent two cultures. and exist under conditions of ‘imperialism’, owing to the presence of a dominant white population, present parallelisms, due to a common ethnic element derived from their white blood, a common language (English), a common religious belief, and common social and economic conditions. It is suggested, therefore, that the continued growth of ethnic relations and mixed populations should be accepted as part of the machinery of human evolution, of which advantage should be taken to promote the greater ethnic unity and cultural uniformity, which would afford an efficient counter to an aggressive spirit of nationalism, while the creation of a united front of marginal communities would lead inevitably to better international understanding.