 Sunday, September 24, 2006
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A Nobel Mandate
John Dear
“We will never win a war against terror as long as the
conditions for poverty and injustice remain,” Archbishop Desmond Tutu
said. “Poverty breeds terrorism. So we should stop spending billions on
weapons of destruction and instead feed the hungry people of the world.
Then, we’ll stop terrorism. If we want to live in peace, we have to
realize we are all members of the same family.”
Archbishop Tutu was just one of ten Nobel Peace prize winners speaking
to three thousand youth last weekend in Denver at PeaceJam, an
international program which brings youth from around the world together
with Nobel Peace Laureates --- ten of them in this case --- the largest
gathering ever in North America. Founded by a dynamic young couple,
Dawn Engle and Ivan Suvanjieff, PeaceJam is one of the most exciting,
empowering youth programs in the nation.
My friend Mairead Maguire, the Nobel laureate from Belfast, whose
writings I edited into the collection, “The Vision of Peace,” asked me
to accompany her to the events. I had traveled with her before, along
with our friend Adolfo Perez Esquivel, the Nobel laureate from
Argentina, to Iraq in 1999. And recently, Archbishop Tutu, laureate
from South Africa, wrote a forward for my forthcoming Doubleday book,
“Transfiguration.”
Besides reconnecting with these heroes of mine, I got to meet Jose
Ramos Horta, Prime Minister of East Timor; President Oscar Arias of
Costa Rica; Jody Williams of the Landmines Campaign, Shrini Ebadi of
Iran, Rigoberta Menchu Tum of Guatemala, and Betty Williams of Northern
Ireland. And at one point during the weekend, I received a blessing
from the Dalai Lama. The weekend concluded with a “Global Call to
Action with the Youth of the World,” a plea to fight poverty, racism,
environmental destruction, war and nuclear weapons.
Such wondrously inspiring days. The weekend over, I drove Mairead to
New Mexico, where she spoke in several churches and gave media
interviews and toured Los Alamos.
It was gratifying to meet young people from around the world. At one
point, hundreds lined up at the microphone to say briefly what inspires
them, before they received Tutu’s blessing. One fifteen year old said,
“I’m inspired by all those who stand up against the current and speak
out for peace. After all, only dead fish go with the flow!”
Still, I found myself moved most by the message of the laureates.
“War doesn’t work,” Mairead said over and over to the thousands who
turned out. “Nuclear weapons don’t work. I don’t believe in a just war.
The war on Iraq is totally immoral, totally illegal, and totally
unnecessary. So we need to say no to war, and no to nuclear weapons. We
need to learn the way of nonviolence.”
Said Shrini Ebadi, the brave judge from Iran: “Every nation with
nuclear weapons should dismantle them immediately. I wish, for example,
that after 9/11 the U.S. had built thousands of schools in Afghanistan
in honor of each victim.”
Jose Ramos said, “I’m worried about the consequences of nuclear
proliferation. I’m worried that one day we will wake to find
Washington, D.C. or London destroyed by biological attacks from
non-state terrorists.”
And Jody Williams asked, “What has the war and violence done in Iraq?
It’s only turned Iraq into a training ground for terrorists. You cannot
bring change through the barrel of a gun. If we really want to disarm
the world of nuclear weapons, we should begin first here at home.”
“Work for peace is really hard work,” she continued. “Peacemaking means
getting up every single day and working hard for global peace. It’s not
doves or nice paintings or bad poetry; it’s hard work. And that’s the
only way to make the world better. Peace is economic and social
justice, and we have to work hard for that.”
President Oscar Arias pointed out that “the U.S. spends over half a
trillion a year on militarism, but only a tiny fracture on food,
medicine and education for the world’s poor. Real security means first
of all security against hunger, disease, and poverty.”
And Rigoberta Menchu cut us to the core: “If there were no wars in the
world, the U.S. economy would not prosper. Therefore, there must not be
any more prosperity in the United States, if the world’s poor are to
prosper.”
“World peace begins with our personal inner disarmament,” the Dalai
Lama taught. “We need to take seriously our religious traditions and
inner life, then try to educate young people and future generations
about the life of peace. And we have to recognize that all six billion
of us are one.”
“When I was tortured by the Argentine Junta,” Adolfo Perez Esquivel
told us, “I saw on the ceiling of my cell, written in blood, the words,
‘God does not kill.’ We need to learn that lesson, and resist the
forces of death and destruction, and struggle for life and dignity for
all. If we focus on this task, we can build peace.”
Betty Williams told us flatly: “If you are not trying to change what’s
wrong in the world, you are part of the problem. Every one of us has a
responsibility to look after humanity.”
And again Shrini Ebadi: “When you believe in your cause, you will find
strength to take another step forward, and you will make a difference.
One day, God will ask us what we did with our lives, how we served
humanity, so we better get on with that work.”
“How about exporting your generosity instead of your bombs?” Archbishop
Tutu concluded, as he addressed thousands of young people. “You are the
future of the world. Don’t become cynical like us old folks who made a
mess of the world. The world is hurting. Go and heal it.”
“We need a new nonviolent, non-killing world. Is such a world possible?
Of course it is,” Mairead Maguire said. “But we have to work for it.
Get to work!”
A noble mandate for all of us.
Reposted from
Common Dreams. The author John Dear is a Jesuit priest, peace activist and author of “
You Will Be My Witnesses” (Orbis) and “
Living Peace” (Doubleday). For information on the Nobel Laureates gathering, see:
wwwpeacejam.org. For information on the campaign to stop the war on Iraq, see:
www.declarationofpeace.org. See also:
www.johndear.org.
