Garry Davis

For those of a similar name, see Gary Davies (disambiguation).
Garry Davis
Photograph of Garry Davis, World Coordinator of the World Service Authority (1921-2013)
Born Sol Gareth Davis
July 27, 1921
Bar Harbor, Maine, U.S.
Died July 24, 2013(2013-07-24) (aged 91)
South Burlington, Vermont, U.S.
Citizenship United States (1921-1948)
None (1948-2013)
Alma mater Carnegie Mellon University
East West University
Occupation Peace and world citizenship activist
Organization International Registry of World Citizens
World Service Authority
Known for World citizenship concept worldwide popularization
World Passport
Children Kristina Starr Davis
Troy Davis
Athena Davis
Kim Davis

Sol Gareth "Garry" Davis (July 27, 1921 – July 24, 2013) was an international peace activist who created the World Passport, a travel document originally based on Article 13(2), Universal Declaration of Human Rights and on the concept of world citizenship. Previously Davis worked as a Broadway stage actor and served as an American bomber pilot in World War II.[1] He was a devoted World Federalist, although a consistent critic of the World Federalist Movement.[2]

Early life

Davis was born in Bar Harbor, Maine (U.S.), to Meyer and Hilda (née Emery) Davis.[3] He graduated from The Episcopal Academy in 1940 and attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University).

Career

A former Broadway actor who served in the U.S. Army during the Second World War as a B-17 bomber pilot in the 8th Air Force , Davis took such a negative view of his own actions in the war that he gave up his American citizenship in Paris in 1948, in order to become a "citizen of the world". He mentioned Henry Martyn Noel, who had renounced a few months earlier, as one of his inspirations.[4]

In France, his "Garry Davis Council of Solidarity" support committee was co-founded by writers Albert Camus and André Gide and Emmaus movement originator Abbé Pierre, as well as Robert Sarrazac, a former leader of the French Résistance who joined Davis in founding the Mundialization World Cities movement.

Davis interrupted a session of the United Nations General Assembly on 22 November 1948, calling for "one government for one world". Along with his support committee, he rallied 20,000 people at the velodrome in Paris to demand that the UN recognize the rights of Humanity. The very next day, on December 10, 1948, the Soviet bloc abstained, allowing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to be passed unanimously.[5]

Eleanor Roosevelt expressed support in her My Day column for Davis' efforts towards forming a world-wide international government.[6]

Davis founded the International Registry of World Citizens in Paris in January 1949, which registered over 750,000 individuals. On 4 September 1953 Davis formed an organisation, the World Government of World Citizens, with the stated aim of furthering fundamental human rights. He additionally formed the World Service Authority in 1954 as the government's executive and administrative agency, which issues its own passports - along with birth and other certificates - to applicants. Davis first used his World Passport on a trip to India in 1956, and was admitted into some countries using it.

Davis ran for mayor in Washington D.C. in 1986 as the candidate of the "World Citizen Party" receiving 585 votes. He also declared himself as the World Citizen Party candidate for the 1988 US presidential election. Davis published multiple books in favor of his cause of world citizenship.

At the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Davis issued and disbursed a world currency based on kilowatt hours of solar power produced, an idea proposed by Buckminster Fuller. These "kilowatt dollars" were the earliest documented emissions reduction currency.

In March 2012 at age 90, Davis agreed to begin broadcasting a weekly radio show, "World Citizen Radio", on the Global Radio Alliance.[7]

Attempts to help Julian Assange and Edward Snowden

In 2012, Davis sent Wikileaks founder and refugee of the Ecuadorean embassy in London, Julian Assange, a World Passport. Only weeks before he died, Davis sent a passport to whistleblower Edward Snowden in Moscow in care of the Russian authorities.[3]

Death

Davis entered hospice care on 18 July 2013, and died six days later in the municipality of South Burlington, Vermont,[8] aged 91. He is survived by a daughter from his first marriage, Kristina Starr Davis; two sons, Troy and Kim; and a daughter, Athena Davis from his third marriage; a sister, Ginia Davis Wexler; a brother, Emery; and a granddaughter Emma Meluta.[3]

Bibliography

References

  1. ↑ Langer, Emily (7 August 2013). "Garry Davis, gadfly and 'first citizen of the world,' dies at 91". The Washington Post.
  2. ↑ Davis, Garry. My Country is The World. p. 13.
  3. 1 2 3 Fox, Margalit (2013-07-29). "Garry Davis, Man of No Nation Who Saw One World of No War, Dies at 91". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-07-29.
  4. ↑ Green, Susan (2001-03-28). "Passport to Fame?". Vermont Seven Days. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
  5. ↑ "Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)". Encyclopedia Britannica.
  6. ↑ "My Day". December 15, 1948.
  7. ↑ "Global radio alliance". globalradioalliance.com.
  8. ↑ "Vt. man who tried to help Edward Snowden dies". WCAX News. 2013-07-25. Retrieved 2013-07-25.

Further reading

External links

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