BROADCASTING AND AGGRESSION
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.]
SIR,—The present diplomatic lull provides an opportunity to consider ways and means by which the Italo-Abyssinian con- flict could be brought to a speedy conclusion. May I ask the privilege of space to suggest a line of possible action likely to contribute toward that end ?
One of the inevitable results of collective pressure from with- out (however justified) and a censored Press within has been to unite the Italian people as never before. What to us is an act of perfidy is to them a righteous mission to be pursued with all the fervour of a religious crusade. The exigency of the moment is to convince Italy that the League is sincere in its quest for a just peace but tenacious in its resistance to all forms of intimidation.
With the knowledge that Italy is making full use of wireless for propaganda on the Abyssinian war, would it not sugge t
that the moment is propitious for the League to enlist the sup- port of that selfsame agency to broadcast a concerted appeal direct to the Italian people ? One small power transmitter at Geneva—even if its radiations were intended for Italian con- sumption—would be totally inadequate. At the present time over fifty countries are co-operating in the application of sanctions. Surely those same nations would go one step further an I allocate a small portion of their programmes— which are now listened to by Italian people—to the dissemina- tion of scrupulously impartial, but irrefutable facts ? It is axiomatic that people living in a state of high emotion, as the Italians are at the present time, are particularly susceptible to suggestion. Cannot therefore, the Nations of Europe, working in concert, utilise a force which is so palpably effective in other spheres ?-7I am, Sir, yours faithfully, Albury, Abbotswood, Guildford. BRIAN LErnwrow.
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