Give Peace a Chance
This morning, Seattle time, Dr. Mohamed ElBardei gave his lecture in Oslo as part of his acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize. Dr. ElBaradei is the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency who withstood powerful attacks by the Bush Administration in the lead up to the Iraq invasion, pointing out there was no evidence in support of the Bush allegations regarding Iraq nuclear weapons.
In his lecture, Dr. ElBardei set out his vision for a more peaceful world, with secure international regulation of nuclear technology to prevent increasing the nuclear arsenals in the world, with safeguards to prevent such weapons coming into the hands of terrorists, with reductions in current nuclear arsenals and with the alleviation of world poverty by the application of a small portion of the money being spent on military and war.
The 26 minute lecture, which was delivered in excellent English, can be viewed with Real Player at the Nobel Prize site, and the text can also be read in English at that site. Watching the video, which includes many views of the audience of dignitaries, to get an idea of the overall tone and presentation, and then reading the text of the lecture to better see the points made takes about one hour. Please consider doing your part to give peace a chance by spending an hour on this, either now or at some more convenient time this week. It is encouraging to hear such thoughtful and hopeful words from this man who has dedicated his life to the peaceful betterment of mankind. Perhaps in 2009 America will have a President who will be wise enough to work with the IAEA, rather than undermine the work it does for peace.
posted by Tom Blake | 12:43 PM
2 Comments:
I just read the text and was quite moved. It is a beautiful speech. I especially liked the line that said no religon was founded on intolerance. But, in my experience, at least two of them are corrupted by intolerance in the extreme: Christian and Muslim. His words made me want to focus on the foundations of our religions and not on the corruptions.
John from Phoenix
For Sense readers who have not read the Nobel speech, here is the portion in context that John mentioned, which should whet your appetite to read the entire speech:
"Ladies and Gentlemen.
Whether one believes in evolution, intelligent design, or Divine Creation, one thing is certain. Since the beginning of history, human beings have been at war with each other, under the pretext of religion, ideology, ethnicity and other reasons. And no civilization has ever willingly given up its most powerful weapons. We seem to agree today that we can share modern technology, but we still refuse to acknowledge that our values – at their very core – are shared values.
I am an Egyptian Muslim, educated in Cairo and New York, and now living in Vienna. My wife and I have spent half our lives in the North, half in the South. And we have experienced first hand the unique nature of the human family and the common values we all share.
Shakespeare speaks of every single member of that family in The Merchant of Venice, when he asks: "If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge?"
And lest we forget:
There is no religion that was founded on intolerance – and no religion that does not value the sanctity of human life.
Judaism asks that we value the beauty and joy of human existence.
Christianity says we should treat our neighbours as we would be treated.
Islam declares that killing one person unjustly is the same as killing all of humanity.
Hinduism recognizes the entire universe as one family.
Buddhism calls on us to cherish the oneness of all creation.
Some would say that it is too idealistic to believe in a society based on tolerance and the sanctity of human life, where borders, nationalities and ideologies are of marginal importance. To those I say, this is not idealism, but rather realism, because history has taught us that war rarely resolves our differences. Force does not heal old wounds; it opens new ones."
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