The Universal League of Freemasons ( ULF )
the tense relationship between the two masonic obediences in the country .
Present at the Paris congress were 224 delegates and around thirty “ foreign visitors ” ( in other words , non-members of the League ) from eighteen countries . The statutory general assembly debated several questions including this one : Replacing national groups with language groups . The executive committee and the administrative council “ studied this question but unfortunately this change does not seem feasible to them . It is against the idea of the League . Moreover , it would present a serious inconvenience for some countries , like Switzerland , where three groups would have to be formed ( French , German , and Italian ), which could only lead to confusion . It is therefore preferable to keep the current organization by nation and not retain the brother ’ s proposal .” Another brother asked that the League support efforts to give the right to vote to women in countries where this right was still contested ... According to the minutes , “ Brother von Sury asks that this wish be rejected for being purely political . It is so decided unanimously , save two votes against .” 16
Meetings of different groups followed : Doctors and pharmacists ; former soldiers ; Esperantists ; journalists and writers ; bibliophiles and collectors . And , of course , the pacifist working group . Texts were adopted , including one from the group of doctors and pharmacists : A call to pursue propaganda in favor of eubiotics . 17
The group for pedagogical action practically conceived of the Erasmus system , which became a reality a few decades later :
The international unification of academic organization according to the framework of the time of study , levels of education , the curriculum , and the goal of education would provide a basis for a large-scale exchange of students between peoples , indispensable for the reconciliation of nations and it would open the path for mutual cordiality in all areas of life .
The Difficulties Begin
The real world with all its harshness soon imposed itself on the ULF . The seventh congress was first planned for Prague in August 1932 , but the Czech group withdrew for unknown reasons . German brothers stepped forward and the city of Berlin was selected . However , this plan had to be abandoned . A ULF circular of July 2
16 This closed position would later evolve . The March 1932 issue of La Heroldo gives the “ duties specific to members of the league ,” and in particular this one : “ The members must support efforts aiming to obtain the right to vote for women in the countries where this right does not already exist .”
17 In the AMI bulletin 5 ( October 1931 ), it is noted that eubiotics is a “ science that alongside eugenics aims to determine the conditions for improvement of the human race .” This Paris congress “ recommends to its members the popularization of this science in the masonic world , which , by definition , cannot be disinterested in anything that can usefully contribute to perfecting humanity .”
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