by GREG GUMA
Gary Davis
In September 1948, when delegates to the young United Nations met at the grand Palais de Chailot in Paris, a twenty-something American wearing the flak jacket of a bomber pilot pitched a tent on the Palais steps. Guards descended and angrily ordered him to leave, but he politely declined. I’m no longer in France, the man explained, eyes twinkling. I’m standing on “international territory.”
As a crowd gathered, so did the world press. Within days the name of this pilot-turned-peacenik, Garry Davis, was known around the world. Newsreels captured a mounting drama that featured curious crowds, inspired celebrities and perplexed authorities.
When a reporter asked Davis what he was about, he replied, “I’m a world citizen.” With that simple assertion a global movement was born.
Garry Davis, who died on July 24, 2013 just shy of 92 years old, was part rebel, part performer and completely original, a world-class Don Quixote who for more than half a century jousted at the biggest windmill of all – nationalism. It was a wild ride that took him around the world, in and out of 34 jails, and across countless frontiers.
After renouncing his US citizenship as an anti-war protest, camping out in Paris, and crashing a UN session to deliver a speech, Davis launched his first major organizing project, a registry for world citizens. More than a million people responded to the call. Forced out of France, he next went on tour, stateless and without documents. This time thousands of people turned out to meet him and local governments passed supportive resolutions. Yet, over the next few years he was also repeatedly thrown in jail and deported.
In 1953, for example, while he was appearing as an actor in a London stage production of Stalag 17, the show closed unexpectedly when the Queen died, and Davis found himself without a visa. A kindly magistrate gave him an idea: build a home on public property. But he was arrested anyway and taken to Brixton prison.
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