Garry Davis

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Garry Davis (Bar Harbor, Maine, July 27, 1921) is a peace activist who created the first "World Passport." A former Broadway actor, after serving in the US Air Force during WWII as a B-17 bomber pilot, he renounced his American citizenship in Paris in 1948 to become a "citizen of the world." Davis interrupted a session of the United Nations General Assembly on November 22, 1948 calling for "one government for one world." He founded the International Registry of World Citizens in Paris in January, 1949 which registered over 750,000 individuals. On September 4, 1953 Davis declared the World Government of World Citizens from the city hall of Ellsworth, Maine based on fundamental human rights. He then formed the World Service Authority in 1954 as the government's executive and administrative agency, which now issues the passports - along with birth and other certificates - to applicants. Davis first used his "world passport" on a trip to India in 1956, and has been variably admitted into or jailed by countries around the world after using his world passport. Up to 150 countries have purportedly accepted the world passport at one time or another. In France, his support committee was co-founded by writers Albert Camus and André Gide and the Abbé Pierre.

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 has published multiple books in favor of his cause of world citizenship.

[edit] Bibliography

Davis, Garry (1961). The World is My Country: The Adventures of a World Citizen. Putnam.
Davis, Garry (1992). Passport to Freedom, A Guide for World Citizens. Nwo Pubns. ISBN 0929765087
Davis, Garry (2003). World Government, Ready or Not!. BookSurge Publishing. ISBN 159457166X
Davis, Garry (2004). Letters To World Citizens. BookSurge Publishing. ISBN 0970648375
Davis, Garry (2001). A World Citizen in the Holy Land. World Government House. ISBN 0970648340
Davis, Garry (2005). Cher Monde, Une Odyssée a travers la planete. World Government House. ISBN 0970648391
Davis, Garry (2006). DEAR WORLD, A Global Odyssey. BookSurge Publishing. ISBN 0738826243

[edit] Sources

"What's a World Passport?" Daniel Engber, Slate Magazine. http://www.slate.com/id/2138567/?nav=tap3 Accessed March 25, 2006.
Garry Davis's personal web site. http://www.garrydavis.org/index.html Accessed March 25, 2006.
Davis v. District Director, INS, 481 F. Supp. 1178 (D.D.C. 1979) http://members.fortunecity.com/legalstuff/481FSupp1178.htm Accessed Nov. 4, 2006.