Misplaced Pages

#467532

108-714: The Russell Tribunal , also known as the International War Crimes Tribunal , Russell–Sartre Tribunal , or Stockholm Tribunal , was a private people's tribunal organised in 1966 by Bertrand Russell , British philosopher and Nobel Prize winner, and hosted by French philosopher and writer Jean-Paul Sartre , along with Lelio Basso , Simone de Beauvoir , Vladimir Dedijer , Ralph Schoenman , Isaac Deutscher , Günther Anders and several others. The tribunal investigated and evaluated American foreign policy and military intervention in Vietnam . Bertrand Russell justified

216-482: A Citizens Commission of Inquiry on U.S. War Crimes in Vietnam continued to mount press conferences in other cities, culminating in a three-day National Veterans Inquiry , held in Washington, D.C. , on December 1, 2 and 3. The testimony offered by veterans at these events provided documentation that American atrocities in Vietnam were not uncommon. This evidence was a counterpoint to the U.S. Army command's assertion that

324-646: A Russell Tribunal on Human Rights in Psychiatry held in Berlin between 30 June and 2 July. The Tribunal brought in the two following verdicts: the majority verdict claimed that there was "serious abuse of human rights in psychiatry" and that psychiatry was "guilty of the combination of force and unaccountability"; the minority verdict, signed by the Israeli Law Professor Alon Harel and Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho , called for "public critical examination of

432-769: A West Point graduate and former infantry captain, and Michael Uhl , a retired 1st lieutenant in military intelligence. The National Committee for a Citizens Commission of Inquiry on U.S. War Crimes in Vietnam's first press conference was in Toronto, Canada, March 4, 1970. Ensign and Rifkin convened three more press conferences in the following two months: Springfield, Massachusetts (April 6, 1970); New York City, New York and Los Angeles, California (April 14); and Boston, Massachusetts (May 7, 1970). Uhl then traveled to Sweden and Australia to brief reporters that American Vietnam war veterans had first-hand evidence of atrocities they had either witnessed or committed themselves. National Committee for

540-518: A book by Cambridge University Press with a foreword by C. D. Broad —in which he gave an authoritative account of Russell's 1916 dismissal from Trinity College, explaining that a reconciliation between the college and Russell had later taken place and gave details about Russell's personal life. Hardy writes that Russell's dismissal had created a scandal since the vast majority of the Fellows of the College opposed

648-664: A collection of articles on the CCNY affair in The Bertrand Russell Case . Russell soon joined the Barnes Foundation , lecturing to a varied audience on the history of philosophy; these lectures formed the basis of A History of Western Philosophy . His relationship with the eccentric Albert C. Barnes soon soured, and he returned to the UK in 1944 to rejoin the faculty of Trinity College. Russell participated in many broadcasts over

756-491: A foreword to Words and Things by Ernest Gellner , which was highly critical of the later thought of Ludwig Wittgenstein and of ordinary language philosophy . Gilbert Ryle refused to have the book reviewed in the philosophical journal Mind , which caused Russell to respond via The Times . The result was a month-long correspondence in The Times between the supporters and detractors of ordinary language philosophy, which

864-832: A historian and one of the leading figures in the Liberal Democrat party. Russell returned in 1937 to the London School of Economics to lecture on the science of power. During the 1930s, Russell became a friend and collaborator of V. K. Krishna Menon , then President of the India League , the foremost lobby in the United Kingdom for Indian independence. Russell chaired the India League from 1932 to 1939. Russell's political views changed over time, mostly about war. He opposed rearmament against Nazi Germany . In 1937, he wrote in

972-547: A house for 20 years with Russell's old friend Lucy Donnelly . Edith remained with him until his death, and, by all accounts, their marriage was a happy, close, and loving one. Russell's eldest son John suffered from mental illness , which was the source of ongoing disputes between Russell and his former wife Dora. In 1962 Russell played a public role in the Cuban Missile Crisis : in an exchange of telegrams with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev , Khrushchev assured him that

1080-571: A long period of depression . Frank and Bertrand were placed in the care of Victorian paternal grandparents, who lived at Pembroke Lodge in Richmond Park . His grandfather, former Prime Minister Earl Russell , died in 1878, and was remembered by Russell as a kind old man in a wheelchair. His grandmother, the Countess Russell (née Lady Frances Elliot), was the central family figure for the rest of Russell's childhood and youth. The Countess

1188-521: A management systems analyst stationed at the Pentagon. In Los Angeles were LT Norman Banks, USAF, LTJG Ted Shallcross, USN, LT James Skelly, USN, and LTJG John Kent, USN, an Annapolis graduate, all-American wrestler and jet fighter pilot. The Winter Soldier Investigation , which ran from January 31, 1971, to February 2, 1971, followed in the paths of both the Citizens Commission of Inquiry and

SECTION 10

#1732856090468

1296-509: A manner that would not do if generally adopted". Russell merely smiled, but afterwards claimed that the reply "That's right, just like your brother " immediately came to mind. In 1950, Russell attended the inaugural conference for the Congress for Cultural Freedom , a CIA -funded anti-communist organisation committed to the deployment of culture as a weapon during the Cold War . Russell was one of

1404-501: A multitude to do evil", became his motto. The atmosphere at Pembroke Lodge was one of frequent prayer, emotional repression and formality; Frank reacted to this with open rebellion, but the young Bertrand learned to hide his feelings. Russell's adolescence was lonely and he contemplated suicide. He remarked in his autobiography that his interests in "nature and books and (later) mathematics saved me from complete despondency;" only his wish to know more mathematics kept him from suicide. He

1512-537: A number of Labour Members of Parliament (MPs), including Ramsay MacDonald and Philip Snowden , as well as former Liberal MP and anti-conscription campaigner, Professor Arnold Lupton . After the event, Russell told Lady Ottoline Morrell that, "to my surprise, when I got up to speak, I was given the greatest ovation that was possible to give anybody". His conviction in 1916 resulted in Russell being fined £100 (equivalent to £7,100 in 2023), which he refused to pay in

1620-534: A permanent threat to democracy. In 1943, he adopted a stance toward large-scale warfare called "relative political pacifism": "War was always a great evil, but in some particularly extreme circumstances, it may be the lesser of two evils." Before World War II, Russell taught at the University of Chicago , later moving on to Los Angeles to lecture at the UCLA Department of Philosophy . He was appointed professor at

1728-453: A personal letter: "If the Germans succeed in sending an invading army to England we should do best to treat them as visitors, give them quarters and invite the commander and chief to dine with the prime minister." In 1940, he changed his appeasement view that avoiding a full-scale world war was more important than defeating Hitler. He concluded that Adolf Hitler taking over all of Europe would be

1836-649: A policy‐making board which included Noam Chomsky , Schoenman, Dick Gregory , Melvin L. Wulf, director of the Legal Department, American Civil Liberties Union , Eric Seitz, executive secretary, National Lawyers Guild and Andy Stapp . Schoenman left the National Committee for a Citizens Commission of Inquiry on U.S. War Crimes in Vietnam in the hands of two New Left anti-war activists, Tod Ensign and Jeremy Rifkin . They were joined in early 1970 by several Vietnam War veterans, including Robert Bowie Johnson,

1944-465: A work on the foundations of mathematics. It advanced a thesis of logicism , that mathematics and logic are one and the same. At the age of 29, in February 1901, Russell underwent what he called a "sort of mystic illumination", after witnessing Whitehead 's wife's suffering in an angina attack. "I found myself filled with semi-mystical feelings about beauty and with a desire almost as profound as that of

2052-882: Is an intention of genocide in the war that the American government is fighting against Vietnam. Article 2 of the Convention of 1948 defines genocide on the basis of intention." And that "Recently, Dean Rusk has declared: 'We are defending ourselves ... It is the United States that is in danger in Saigon. This means that their first aim is military: it is to encircle Communist China, the major obstacle to their expansionism. Thus, they will not let south-east Asia escape. America has put men in power in Thailand, it controls part of Laos and threatens to invade Cambodia. But these conquests will be useless if

2160-637: Is distinctive in their culture". In a speech in 1948, Russell said that if the USSR 's aggression continued, it would be morally worse to go to war after the USSR possessed an atomic bomb than before it possessed one, because if the USSR had no bomb the West's victory would come more swiftly and with fewer casualties than if there were atomic bombs on both sides. At that time, only the United States possessed an atomic bomb, and

2268-785: The BBC , particularly The Brains Trust and for the Third Programme , on various topical and philosophical subjects. By this time Russell was known outside academic circles, frequently the subject or author of magazine and newspaper articles, and was called upon to offer opinions on a variety of subjects, even mundane ones. En route to one of his lectures in Trondheim , Russell was one of 24 survivors (out of 43 passengers) of an aeroplane crash in Hommelvik in October 1948. He said he owed his life to smoking since

SECTION 20

#1732856090468

2376-819: The Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation but didn't participate in the Tribunal, wrote 30 years later about the criticism that the Russell Tribunal would not also investigate alleged Communist atrocities. In his memoirs, Horowitz wrote that Jean-Paul Sartre said, "I refuse to place in the same category the actions of an organization of poor peasants ... and those of an immense army backed by a highly organized country ...". Horowitz interpreted Sartre's words to mean "the Communists were, by definition, incapable of committing war crimes ." A detailed historical account of

2484-729: The Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation organised Citizens Commissions of Inquiry (CCI) to hold hearings intended to document testimony of war crimes in Indochina. These hearings were held in several American cities, and would eventually form the foundation of two national investigations: the National Veterans Inquiry sponsored by the CCI, and the Winter Soldier Investigation sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans Against

2592-533: The Buddha to find some philosophy which should make human life endurable", Russell would later recall. "At the end of those five minutes, I had become a completely different person." In 1905, he wrote the essay " On Denoting ", which was published in the philosophical journal Mind . Russell was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1908 . The three-volume Principia Mathematica , written with Whitehead,

2700-460: The Cambridge Apostles . He distinguished himself in mathematics and philosophy, graduating as seventh Wrangler in the former in 1893 and becoming a Fellow in the latter in 1895. Russell began his published work in 1896 with German Social Democracy , a study in politics that was an early indication of his interest in political and social theory. In 1896 he taught German social democracy at

2808-584: The City College of New York (CCNY) in 1940, but after a public outcry the appointment was annulled by a court judgment that pronounced him "morally unfit" to teach at the college because of his opinions, especially those relating to sexual morality , detailed in Marriage and Morals (1929). The matter was taken to the New York Supreme Court by Jean Kay who was afraid that her daughter would be harmed by

2916-425: The India League . He went to prison for his pacifism during World War I , and initially supported appeasement against Adolf Hitler 's Nazi Germany , before changing his view in 1943, describing war as a necessary "lesser of two evils". In the wake of World War II , he welcomed American global hegemony in preference to either Soviet hegemony or no (or ineffective) world leadership, even if it were to come at

3024-739: The London School of Economics . He was a member of the Coefficients dining club of social reformers set up in 1902 by the Fabian campaigners Sidney and Beatrice Webb . He now started a study of the foundations of mathematics at Trinity. In 1897, he wrote An Essay on the Foundations of Geometry (submitted at the Fellowship Examination of Trinity College) which discussed the Cayley–Klein metrics used for non-Euclidean geometry . He attended

3132-490: The My Lai massacre was an exception. National Committee for a Citizens Commission of Inquiry on U.S. War Crimes in Vietnam leaders asserted that atrocities committed by American soldiers were a result of military field policies like "search-and-destroy" , "free-fire zones" and "forced urbanization" , the saturation bombing of villages believed to be controlled by enemy forces. Telford Taylor , former chief U.S. prosecutor at

3240-694: The Nuremberg trials stated on the Dick Cavett Show that General William Westmoreland might be convicted as a war criminal if Nuremberg principles from World War II were applied to the Vietnam War. Taylor, himself a retired brigadier general in the Army Reserve, explained that the U.S. Army applied this standard of justice in the trial of Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita . Yamashita was convicted of war crimes and hanged for atrocities committed by his troops in

3348-580: The Paris Exhibition of 1889 and climbed the Eiffel Tower soon after it was completed. Russell won a scholarship to read for the Mathematical Tripos at Trinity College, Cambridge , and began his studies there in 1890, taking as coach Robert Rumsey Webb . He became acquainted with the younger George Edward Moore and came under the influence of Alfred North Whitehead , who recommended him to

Russell Tribunal - Misplaced Pages Continue

3456-520: The Volga on a steamship. His experiences destroyed his previous tentative support for the revolution. He subsequently wrote a book, The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism , about his experiences on this trip, taken with a group of 24 others from the UK, all of whom came home thinking well of the Soviet regime, despite Russell's attempts to change their minds. For example, he told them that he had heard shots fired in

3564-489: The "responsibility for war crimes of key military figures", including Generals William Westmoreland and Creighton Abrams , and Admiral Elmo Zumwalt . The Washington, D.C., COM members involved were CAPT Robert Master, USA and CAPT Grier Merwin, USA, both doctors; Capt. Edward G. Fox, a zoologist in the Army Medical Service Corps; First Lieutenant Louis Font, a West Point graduate; and LTJG Peter Dunkelberger, USN,

3672-558: The 1840s and 1860s. A member of Parliament since the early 1810s, he met with Napoleon Bonaparte in Elba . The Russells had been prominent in England for several centuries before this, coming to power and the peerage with the rise of the Tudor dynasty (see: Duke of Bedford ). They established themselves as one of the leading Whig families and participated in political events from the dissolution of

3780-523: The 3rd Earl Russell . Russell's marriage to Dora grew tenuous, and it reached a breaking point over her having two children with an American journalist, Griffin Barry. They separated in 1932 and finally divorced. On 18 January 1936, Russell married his third wife, an Oxford undergraduate named Patricia ("Peter") Spence , who had been his children's governess since 1930. Russell and Peter had one son, Conrad Sebastian Robert Russell , 5th Earl Russell, who became

3888-476: The British "revolt against idealism ". Together with his former teacher A. N. Whitehead , Russell wrote Principia Mathematica , a milestone in the development of classical logic and a major attempt to reduce the whole of mathematics to logic (see logicism ). Russell's article " On Denoting " has been considered a "paradigm of philosophy". Russell was a pacifist who championed anti-imperialism and chaired

3996-657: The Cape Town Session of the Russell Tribunal on Palestine as "It's theatre: the actors know their parts and the result is known before they start. Israel is to be dragged into the mud." After the Cape Town session, Israeli MK Otniel Schneller filed a complaint with the Knesset's Ethics Committee against MK Hanin Zoabi , who testified at the Tribunal that "Israel is an apartheid state". A group of Jewish South Africans protested against

4104-915: The First Tribunal Session in Stockholm, testimony and evidence was produced by the following witnesses (incomplete list): During the Second Tribunal Session in Roskilde, testimony and evidence was produced by the following witnesses (incomplete list): The Tribunal stated that its conclusions were: We find the government and armed forces of the United States are guilty of the deliberate, systematic and large-scale bombardment of civilian targets, including civilian populations, dwellings, villages, dams, dikes, medical establishments, leper colonies, schools, churches, pagodas, historical and cultural monuments. We also find unanimously, with one abstention, that

4212-773: The Kemalist republic. More than three decades later, the Russell Tribunal model was followed by the World Tribunal on Iraq , which was held to make a similar analysis of the Project for the New American Century , the 2003 Invasion of Iraq and subsequent occupation of Iraq , and the links between these. After Russell's death in 1970, Senator Lelio Basso began organizing a second tribunal in 1973 initially focused on human rights violations in Brazil, which then expanded to include Chile in

4320-467: The Nazis." The Russell Tribunal was included by historian Guenter Lewy as part of a "veritable industry publicizing alleged war crimes", as increasing numbers of American servicemen were stepping forward with published accounts of their experiences with atrocities, and scholars and peace organisations were holding tribunals dealing with war crimes. Staughton Lynd , chairman of the 1965 "March on Washington",

4428-545: The Palestinian people in breach of the prohibition on apartheid under international law?" Pierre Galand pointed out that the Cape Town session of the tribunal had a budget of €190,000; €100,000 was donated by Editions Indigene, the publisher of the book Time for an outrage . More than €15,000 was raised at a 24 September 2011 fundraising event by the Belgian support committee of the Russell Tribunal. The Caipirinha Foundation lists

Russell Tribunal - Misplaced Pages Continue

4536-616: The Philippines. Taylor attributed his opinion to the evidence of atrocities and war crimes offered by veterans and active-duty soldiers, who were testifying under the auspices of the Citizens Commission of Inquiry. The Concerned Officers Movement (COM) held two press conferences under the auspices of the Citizens Commission of Inquiry on January 12, 1971 in Washington, D.C., and January 20, 1971, in Los Angeles calling for an investigation into

4644-432: The RToP as a grant receiver, but does not disclose the amount or the year of its grant. A fourth international session of the RToP took place in New York on 6–7 October 2012. A fifth session met in Brussels on 16–17 March 2013. An extraordinary session was held in Brussels on 24 September 2014 in response to Israel's Operation Protective Edge launched in the Gaza Strip on 8 July 2014. The Russell Tribunal on Kashmir

4752-417: The Russell Tribunal on Palestine that "It is not a 'tribunal.' The 'evidence' is going to be one-sided and the members of the 'jury' are critics whose harsh views of Israel are well known. In Israel, there is no apartheid. Nothing there comes close to the definition of apartheid under the 1998 Rome Statute ." South African journalist and human rights activist Benjamin Pogrund , now living in Israel, described

4860-457: The Soviet government would not be reckless. Russell sent this telegram to President Kennedy : YOUR ACTION DESPERATE. THREAT TO HUMAN SURVIVAL. NO CONCEIVABLE JUSTIFICATION. CIVILIZED MAN CONDEMNS IT. WE WILL NOT HAVE MASS MURDER. ULTIMATUM MEANS WAR... END THIS MADNESS. Citizens Commission of Inquiry Schoenman had previously worked on the International War Crimes Tribunal founded by Bertrand Russell . The Commission of Inquiry had

4968-439: The Tribunal. After all, I argued, a "crime" is an action that is wrong no matter who does it. Pressing my case, I asked, "What if it were shown that the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam tortures unarmed prisoners?" The answer, as I understood it, was, "Anything is justified that drives the imperialist aggressor into the sea." I declined the invitation to be a member of the Tribunal." David Horowitz , who did some work for

5076-410: The US has to face a free Vietnam with thirty-one million united people." Furthermore that "At this point in our discussion, three facts emerge: (1) the US government wants a base and an example; (2) this can be achieved, without any greater obstacle than the resistance of the Vietnamese people themselves, by liquidating an entire people and establishing a Pax Americana on a Vietnamese desert; (3) to attain

5184-400: The USSR was pursuing an aggressive policy towards the countries in Eastern Europe which were being absorbed into the Soviet Union's sphere of influence . Many understood Russell's comments to mean that Russell approved of a first strike in a war with the USSR, including Nigel Lawson , who was present when Russell spoke of such matters. Others, including Griffin , who obtained a transcript of

5292-462: The United States possessed them and before the USSR did. In September 1949, one week after the USSR tested its first A-bomb, but before this became known, Russell wrote that the USSR would be unable to develop nuclear weapons because following Stalin's purges only science based on Marxist principles would be practised in the Soviet Union. After it became known that the USSR had carried out its nuclear bomb tests , Russell declared his position advocating

5400-582: The United States was directly represented by any individual on the 25-member panel, although a couple of members were American citizens. More than 30 people, including military personnel from the United States, and both of the warring factions in Vietnam, gave evidence to the tribunal. Financing for the Tribunal included a large contribution from the North Vietnamese government after a request made by Russell to Ho Chi Minh . Other intellectuals were invited but eventually rejected this invitation for various reasons: The Tribunal aims were stated as follows: During

5508-722: The War . John Gerassi was an investigator for the Tribunal and documented that the United States was bombing hospitals, schools and other civilian targets in Vietnam. He offers first hand and documentary evidence about US war crimes. His book provides many details of US atrocities and shows the larger motivation for the Tribunal on the accusation of genocide rests from the clear need to expose documented atrocities against civilians rather than an actual ongoing genocide. Jean-Paul Sartre bases his argument for genocide on several reasons, but part of it rests on statements and declarations from US leaders and intention rather than conduct. [1] "In particular, we must try to understand whether there

SECTION 50

#1732856090468

5616-439: The appointment, though her daughter was not a student at CCNY. Many intellectuals, led by John Dewey , protested at his treatment. Albert Einstein 's oft-quoted aphorism that "great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds" originated in his open letter, dated 19 March 1940, to Morris Raphael Cohen , a professor emeritus at CCNY, supporting Russell's appointment. Dewey and Horace M. Kallen edited

5724-456: The armed confrontations underway in Vietnam, War Crimes in Vietnam , was published in January 1967. His postscript called for establishing this investigative body. The findings of the tribunal were largely ignored in the United States. Further tribunals were also held on various other issues, including psychiatry , human rights , and the Israel-Palestine conflict and, most recently, on the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The idea for

5832-549: The basis for one of Russell's best-received books according to Hardy: The Analysis of Matter , published in 1927. In the preface to the Trinity pamphlet, Hardy wrote: I wish to make it plain that Russell himself is not responsible, directly or indirectly, for the writing of the pamphlet.... I wrote it without his knowledge and, when I sent him the typescript and asked for his permission to print it, I suggested that, unless it contained misstatement of fact, he should make no comment on it. He agreed to this... no word has been changed as

5940-457: The biologist Douglas Spalding . Both were early advocates of birth control at a time when this was considered scandalous. Lord Amberley was a deist , and even asked the philosopher John Stuart Mill to act as Russell's secular godfather. Mill died the year after Russell's birth, but his writings later influenced Russell's life. His paternal grandfather, Lord John Russell, later 1st Earl Russell (1792–1878), had twice been prime minister in

6048-435: The case of Eric Chappelow , a poet jailed and abused as a conscientious objector. Russell played a part in the Leeds Convention in June 1917, a historic event which saw well over a thousand "anti-war socialists" gather; many being delegates from the Independent Labour Party and the Socialist Party, united in their pacifist beliefs and advocating a peace settlement. The international press reported that Russell appeared with

6156-399: The closing session of the Russell Tribunal the creation of three new institutions was announced: the International Foundation for the Rights and Liberations of Peoples, and the International League for the Rights and Liberations of Peoples, and the Permanent Peoples' Tribunal . The Permanents People's Tribunal was established in Bologna on 23 June 1979. Between its founding and April 1984,

6264-413: The cost of using their nuclear weapons . He would later criticise Stalinist totalitarianism , condemn the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War , and become an outspoken proponent of nuclear disarmament . In 1950, Russell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of his varied and significant writings in which he champions humanitarian ideals and freedom of thought ". He

6372-445: The couple visited Japan on their return journey, Dora took on the role of spurning the local press by handing out notices reading "Mr. Bertrand Russell, having died according to the Japanese press, is unable to give interviews to Japanese journalists". Apparently they found this harsh and reacted resentfully. Russell supported his family during this time by writing popular books explaining matters of physics , ethics, and education to

6480-416: The court, and the organiser of the protest called it a " Kangaroo Court ." Daniele Archibugi and Alice Pease have argued that it is a rather common practice that those accused of international crimes challenge the impartiality of their accusers. And it may be the case that the organisers of opinion tribunals, as of any other tribunal, might be biased or produce insufficient evidence. But to further develop

6588-508: The decision. The ensuing pressure from the Fellows induced the Council to reinstate Russell. In January 1920, it was announced that Russell had accepted the reinstatement offer from Trinity and would begin lecturing in October. In July 1920, Russell applied for a one-year leave of absence; this was approved. He spent the year giving lectures in China and Japan. In January 1921, it was announced by Trinity that Russell had resigned and his resignation had been accepted. This resignation, Hardy explains,

SECTION 60

#1732856090468

6696-427: The disputed territory of Indian-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir were marked at an inaugural tribunal in Sarajevo that sought to draw global attention to the atrocities committed in the Muslim-majority region. The tribunal did not investigate alleged war crimes by the Viet Cong ; Ralph Schoenman commented: "Lord Russell would think no more of doing that than of trying the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto for their uprising against

6804-441: The end of the conflict. During World War I , Russell was one of the few people to engage in active pacifist activities . In 1916, because of his lack of a fellowship, he was dismissed from Trinity College following his conviction under the Defence of the Realm Act 1914 . He later described this, in Free Thought and Official Propaganda , as an illegitimate means the state used to violate freedom of expression. Russell championed

6912-479: The establishment of this body as follows: If certain acts and violations of treaties are crimes, they are crimes whether the United States does them or whether Germany does them. We are not prepared to lay down a rule of criminal conduct against others which we would not be willing to have invoked against us. The tribunal was constituted in November 1966, and was conducted in two sessions in 1967, in Stockholm , Sweden and Roskilde , Denmark. Bertrand Russell's book on

7020-491: The first International Congress of Philosophy in Paris in 1900 where he met Giuseppe Peano and Alessandro Padoa . The Italians had responded to Georg Cantor , making a science of set theory ; they gave Russell their literature including the Formulario mathematico . Russell was impressed by the precision of Peano's arguments at the Congress, read the literature upon returning to England, and came upon Russell's paradox . In 1903 he published The Principles of Mathematics ,

7128-513: The government of the United States of America is guilty of repeated violations of the sovereignty, neutrality and territorial integrity of Cambodia, that it is guilty of attacks against the civilian population of a certain number of Cambodian towns and villages. The question also arises as to whether or not the governments of Thailand and other countries have become accomplices to acts of aggression or other crimes against Vietnam and its populations. We have not been able to study this question during

7236-475: The hope that he would be sent to prison, but his books were sold at auction to raise the money. The books were bought by friends; he later treasured his copy of the King James Bible that was stamped "Confiscated by Cambridge Police". A later conviction for publicly lecturing against inviting the United States to enter the war on the United Kingdom's side resulted in six months' imprisonment in Brixton Prison (see Bertrand Russell's political views ) in 1918 (he

7344-412: The intention of the systematic extermination of the Armenian people, intent as specified in article II of the 1948 convention, and that it was undoubtedly a genocide, the manifestation of a policy that had emerged in the Ottoman Empire in the 1890s. The tribunal criticised as unacceptable the denial ( il diniego abusive "the abusive refusal") of the genocide by Turkish governments since the establishment of

7452-537: The known patrons of the Congress until he resigned in 1956. In 1952, Russell was divorced by Spence, with whom he had been very unhappy. Conrad, Russell's son by Spence, did not see his father between the time of the divorce and 1968 (at which time his decision to meet his father caused a permanent breach with his mother). Russell married his fourth wife, Edith Finch , soon after the divorce, on 15 December 1952. They had known each other since 1925, and Edith had taught English at Bryn Mawr College near Philadelphia, sharing

7560-506: The layman. From 1922 to 1927 the Russells divided their time between London and Cornwall , spending summers in Porthcurno . In the 1922 and 1923 general elections Russell stood as a Labour Party candidate in the Chelsea constituency , but only on the basis that he knew he was unlikely to be elected in such a safe Conservative seat, and he was unsuccessful on both occasions. After the birth of his two children, he became interested in education, especially early childhood education . He

7668-458: The metaphysics of both Hegel and Marx plain nonsense—Marx's claim to be 'science' is no more justified than Mary Baker Eddy 's. This does not mean that I am opposed to socialism." In 1943, Russell expressed support for Zionism : "I have come gradually to see that, in a dangerous and largely hostile world, it is essential to Jews to have some country which is theirs, some region where they are not suspected aliens, some state which embodies what

7776-496: The middle of the night and was sure that these were clandestine executions, but the others maintained that it was only cars backfiring. Russell's lover Dora Black , a British author, feminist and socialist campaigner, visited Soviet Russia independently at the same time; in contrast to his reaction, she was enthusiastic about the Bolshevik revolution . The following year, Russell, accompanied by Dora, visited Peking (as Beijing

7884-666: The monasteries in 1536–1540 to the Glorious Revolution in 1688–1689 and the Great Reform Act in 1832. Lady Amberley was the daughter of Lord and Lady Stanley of Alderley . Russell often feared the ridicule of his maternal grandmother, one of the campaigners for education of women . Russell had two siblings: brother Frank (seven years older), and sister Rachel (four years older). In June 1874, Russell's mother died of diphtheria , followed shortly by Rachel's death. In January 1876, his father died of bronchitis after

7992-526: The people who drowned were in the non-smoking part of the plane. A History of Western Philosophy (1945) became a best-seller and provided Russell with a steady income for the remainder of his life. In 1942, Russell argued in favour of a moderate socialism , capable of overcoming its metaphysical principles. In an inquiry on dialectical materialism , launched by the Austrian artist and philosopher Wolfgang Paalen in his journal DYN , Russell said: "I think

8100-691: The potential to snowball into another controversy. Although Russell did the right thing, in Hardy's opinion, the reputation of the College suffered with Russell's resignation since the 'world of learning' knew about Russell's altercation with Trinity but not that the rift had healed. In 1925, Russell was asked by the Council of Trinity College to give the Tarner Lectures on the Philosophy of the Sciences; these would later be

8208-573: The present session. We intend to examine at the next session legal aspects of the problem and to seek proofs of any incriminating facts. The three Tribunal members who voted against agree that the Japanese Government gives considerable aid to the Government of the United States, but do not agree on its complicity in the crime of aggression. Prompted in part by the My Lai Massacre , in 1969

8316-417: The rest of the population, though they were on the whole slightly below the usual level of intelligence as was shown by their having been caught. While he was reading Strachey 's Eminent Victorians chapter about Gordon he laughed out loud in his cell prompting the warder to intervene and reminding him that "prison was a place of punishment". Russell was reinstated to Trinity in 1919, resigned in 1920,

8424-616: The result of any suggestion from him. In August 1920, Russell travelled to Soviet Russia as part of an official delegation sent by the British government to investigate the effects of the Russian Revolution . He wrote a four-part series of articles, titled "Soviet Russia—1920", for the magazine The Nation . He met Vladimir Lenin and had an hour-long conversation with him. In his autobiography, he mentions that he found Lenin disappointing, sensing an "impish cruelty" in him and comparing him to "an opinionated professor". He cruised down

8532-458: The role of psychiatry." In 2004 the " BRussells Tribunal " took place in Brussels as a continuation of the tradition of the Russell Tribunal as part of the World Tribunal on Iraq . Philosopher Jacques Derrida praised this event, stating that "to resuscitate the tradition of a Russell Tribunal is symbolically an important and necessary thing to do today." The Russell Tribunal on Palestine (RToP)

8640-414: The rule of law, those which are unsatisfied about the outcomes of these tribunals should be able to produce further evidence and legal arguments rather than unsubstantiated criticism. Legal discourse, they argue, is necessarily based on the opposition of contrasting views. Bertrand Russell Bertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell , OM , FRS (18 May 1872 – 2 February 1970)

8748-503: The school in 1932, Dora continued it until 1943. In 1927 Russell met Barry Fox (later Barry Stevens) , who became a known Gestalt therapist and writer in later years. They developed an intense relationship, and in Fox's words: "...   for three years we were very close." Fox sent her daughter Judith to Beacon Hill School. From 1927 to 1932 Russell wrote 34 letters to Fox. Upon the death of his elder brother Frank, in 1931, Russell became

8856-581: The second, the US must achieve, at least partially, this extermination." Additional tribunals using the same model and the denomination Russell Tribunal have been held. The Second Russell Tribunal on Latin America was held over three sessions that spanned three years and focused on human rights violations during the military dictatorships in Argentina and Brazil (Rome, 1974), on Chile's military coup d'état (Rome, 1974–76),

8964-423: The speech, have argued that he was explaining the usefulness of America's atomic arsenal in deterring the USSR from continuing its domination of Eastern Europe. Just after the atomic bombs exploded over Hiroshima and Nagasaki , Russell wrote letters, and published articles in newspapers from 1945 to 1948, stating clearly that it was morally justified and better to go to war against the USSR using atomic bombs while

9072-672: The third tribunal focused on the situation of Human Rights in Germany (1978), the fourth tribunal focused on the rights of the Indians of the Americas (Rotterdam 1980), subsequent tribunals forcused on the Threat of Indigenous Peoples of America (1982), on Human Rights in Psychiatry (Berlin, 2001), on Iraq (Brussels, 2004), and on Palestine (Barcelona, 2009–12). The tribunal was criticised by some historians and activists who argue against its lack of standing. At

9180-572: The total abolition of atomic weapons. In 1948, Russell was invited by the BBC to deliver the inaugural Reith Lectures —what was to become an annual series of lectures, still broadcast by the BBC. His series of six broadcasts, titled Authority and the Individual , explored themes such as the role of individual initiative in the development of a community and the role of state control in a progressive society. Russell continued to write about philosophy. He wrote

9288-505: The tribunal carried out by historian Cody J. Foster, on the contrary, has argued that the evidence produced in the tribunal was reliable and well balanced, and that the initiative was very important to re-balance the American public opinion views about the Vietnam war. Furthermore, it inspired several subsequent films and documentaries on the Vietnam war. Judge Richard Goldstone , writing in The New York Times in October 2011, said of

9396-807: The tribunal pronounced two advisory opinions on Western Sahara and Eritrea and held eight sessions ( Argentina , Philippines , El Salvador , Afghanistan I and II, East Timor , Zaire and Guatemala ). The latter was concluded in January 1983 in Madrid . A special hearing was conducted in Paris on 13–16 April 1984 to investigate the Armenian genocide . The Tribunal's 35-member panel included three Nobel Prize winners— Seán MacBride , Adolfo Pérez Esquivel and Professor George Wald — and ten eminent jurist, theologians, academics and political figures. The tribunal concluded that genocide

9504-579: The tribunal was first proposed to Russell in 1965 by M.S. Arnoni . Representatives of 18 countries participated in the tribunal's two sessions. The tribunal committee, which called itself the International War Crimes Tribunal, consisted of 25 notable individuals, predominantly from leftist peace organisations, including winners of the Nobel Prize, Medals of Valor, and awards of recognition in humanitarian and social fields. Neither Vietnam nor

9612-459: The validity of Christian religious dogma , which he found unconvincing. At this age, he came to the conclusion that there is no free will and, two years later, that there is no life after death. Finally, at the age of 18, after reading Mill's Autobiography , he abandoned the " First Cause " argument and became an atheist . He travelled to the continent in 1890 with an American friend, Edward FitzGerald , and with FitzGerald's family he visited

9720-670: The wake of the military coup in that country , and then to all of Latin America. The official name chosen by the constituents was "Russel Tribunal II on the Repression in Brazil, Chile and in Latin America" and was held in three sessions from 1974 to 1976 in Rome and Brussels. Basso presided over the tribunal and writer Gabriel García Márquez , historians Vladimir Dedijer and Albert Soboul , and professor of law François Rigaux served as vice-presidents. In 2001, Thomas Szasz and others took part in

9828-498: Was Tarner Lecturer in 1926 and became a Fellow again in 1944 until 1949. In 1924, Russell again gained press attention when attending a "banquet" in the House of Commons with well-known campaigners, including Arnold Lupton , who had been an MP and had also endured imprisonment for "passive resistance to military or naval service". In 1941, G. H. Hardy wrote a 61-page pamphlet titled Bertrand Russell and Trinity – published later as

9936-443: Was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, and public intellectual . He had influence on mathematics , logic , set theory , and various areas of analytic philosophy . He was one of the early 20th century's prominent logicians and a founder of analytic philosophy , along with his predecessor Gottlob Frege , his friend and colleague G. E. Moore , and his student and protégé Ludwig Wittgenstein . Russell with Moore led

10044-523: Was a drain on Russell's energy, but Russell continued to be fascinated by him and encouraged his academic development, including the publication of Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus in 1922. Russell delivered his lectures on logical atomism , his version of these ideas, in 1918, before the end of World War I . Wittgenstein was, at that time, serving in the Austrian Army and subsequently spent nine months in an Italian prisoner of war camp at

10152-560: Was already prohibited by law at the time the Armenian Genocide took place - that though not explicitly banned by written rules it was not legally tolerated - thus the 1948 International Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide was formally expressing an already existing prohibition. The tribunal concluded that the massacres of Armenians between 1915 and 1917 revealed

10260-618: Was also the recipient of the De Morgan Medal (1932), Sylvester Medal (1934), Kalinga Prize (1957), and Jerusalem Prize (1963). Bertrand Arthur William Russell was born at Ravenscroft , a country house in Trellech , Monmouthshire , on 18 May 1872, into an influential and liberal family of the British aristocracy . His parents were Viscount and Viscountess Amberley . Lord Amberley consented to his wife's affair with their children's tutor,

10368-417: Was asked by Russell to participate in the tribunal and rejected the invitation. Lynd's objections and criticism of the Tribunal were based on the fact that Russell planned to investigate only non-North Vietnamese and National Liberation Front conduct. Lynd wrote that "in conversation with the emissary who proffered the invitation, I urged that the alleged war crimes of any party to the conflict should come before

10476-492: Was considered for a fellowship, which would give him a vote in the college government and protect him from being fired for his opinions, but was passed over because he was "anti-clerical", because he was agnostic. He was approached by the Austrian engineering student Ludwig Wittgenstein , who became his PhD student. Russell viewed Wittgenstein as a successor who would continue his work on logic. He spent hours dealing with Wittgenstein's various phobias and his bouts of despair. This

10584-554: Was created in March 2009. In April 2011, the association converted to a non-profit organisation, with legal status in Brussels, by Pierre Galand  [ fr ] , Jacques Michiels , Jacques Debatty , Nadia Farkh , Henri Eisendrath and Roseline Sonet . The former non-elected PS senator, Galand, was appointed president of the association. The first session of the Tribunal took place in Barcelona in March 2010 This session's objective

10692-734: Was educated at home by a series of tutors. When Russell was eleven years old, his brother Frank introduced him to the work of Euclid , which he described in his autobiography as "one of the great events of my life, as dazzling as first love". During these formative years, he also discovered the works of Percy Bysshe Shelley . Russell wrote: "I spent all my spare time reading him, and learning him by heart, knowing no one to whom I could speak of what I thought or felt, I used to reflect how wonderful it would have been to know Shelley, and to wonder whether I should meet any live human being with whom I should feel so much sympathy." Russell claimed that beginning at age 15, he spent considerable time thinking about

10800-701: Was ended when the paper published an editorial critical of both sides but agreeing with the opponents of ordinary language philosophy. In the King's Birthday Honours of 9 June 1949, Russell was awarded the Order of Merit , and the following year he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature . When he was given the Order of Merit, George VI was affable but embarrassed at decorating a former jailbird, saying, "You have sometimes behaved in

10908-595: Was from a Scottish Presbyterian family and petitioned the Court of Chancery to set aside a provision in Amberley's will requiring the children to be raised as agnostics. Despite her religious conservatism, she held progressive views in other areas (accepting Darwinism and supporting Irish Home Rule ), and her influence on Bertrand Russell's outlook on social justice and standing up for principle remained with him throughout his life. Her favourite Bible verse, "Thou shalt not follow

11016-786: Was launched in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Hercegovina, and took place on December 17–19, 2021. It was organized by Canadian NGO Kashmir Civitas whose Secretary-General is Canadian academic Farhan Mujahid Chak, and attended by Richard Falk , Sami al-Arian , Jonathan A.C. Brown , David Hearst, and Omar Suleiman The event had support/partnerships with the World Kashmir Awareness Forum, Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation, Permanent Peoples' Tribunal, Aljazeera Balkans, Nahla, Center for Advanced Studies in Sarajevo, and International University of Sarajevo . Decolonization, settler-colonialism, crimes against humanity, genocide and nuclear threats emerging from

11124-644: Was not satisfied with the old traditional education and thought that progressive education also had some flaws; as a result, together with Dora, Russell founded the experimental Beacon Hill School in 1927. The school was run from a succession of different locations, including its original premises at the Russells' residence, Telegraph House, near Harting , West Sussex. During this time, he published On Education, Especially in Early Childhood . On 8 July 1930, Dora gave birth to her third child Harriet Ruth. After he left

11232-562: Was prosecuted under the Defence of the Realm Act ) He later said of his imprisonment: I found prison in many ways quite agreeable. I had no engagements, no difficult decisions to make, no fear of callers, no interruptions to my work. I read enormously; I wrote a book, "Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy"... and began the work for "The Analysis of Mind". I was rather interested in my fellow-prisoners, who seemed to me in no way morally inferior to

11340-528: Was published between 1910 and 1913. This, along with the earlier The Principles of Mathematics , soon made Russell world-famous in his field. Russell's first political activity was as the Independent Liberal candidate in the 1907 by-election for the Wimbledon constituency , where he was not elected. In 1910, he became a lecturer at the University of Cambridge , Trinity College, where he had studied. He

11448-585: Was then known outside of China) to lecture on philosophy for a year. He went with optimism and hope, seeing China as then being on a new path. Other scholars present in China at the time included John Dewey and Rabindranath Tagore , the Indian Nobel-laureate poet. Before leaving China, Russell became gravely ill with pneumonia , and incorrect reports of his death were published in the Japanese press. When

11556-795: Was to consider the complicities and omissions of the European Union and its member states in the Palestinian-Israel conflict. The second international session of the RToP took place in London in November 2010. It examined international corporate issues in Israel and human rights law. The third international session of the RToP took place in Cape Town in November 2011. It asked the question: "Are Israeli practices against

11664-401: Was voluntary and was not the result of another altercation. The reason for the resignation, according to Hardy, was that Russell was going through a tumultuous time in his personal life with a divorce and subsequent remarriage. Russell contemplated asking Trinity for another one-year leave of absence but decided against it since this would have been an "unusual application" and the situation had

#467532