[WCUSP] war, peace, and peace jam /forward

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Washington Peace Center 	

More options	  Sep 26 (14 hours ago)
A Weekend with Nobel Peace Laureates

by John Dear
Published on Sunday, September 24, 2006 by
CommonDreams.org

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0924-20.htm

"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.

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:
www.peacejam.org.

For information on the campaign to stop the war on Iraq,
see: www.declarationofpeace.org. See also:
www.johndear.org.