December 10, 2011 - PARIS — In a ceremony in Oslo that repeatedly invoked gender equality and the democratic strivings of the Arab Spring, the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize was presented to three female activists and political leaders on Saturday for “their nonviolent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights” as peacemakers.
(See full NY Times article at: http://nyti.ms/nobelpeaceprize2011)
In my Social Justice and Peacemaking course at NYU, I begin by telling students that I will give them an automatic A if they can tell me who the following persons are. I then mention names such as Wangari Maathai, Mairead Maguire, Jodi Williams and Aung San Suu Kyi. All of these women, like the most recent 2011 honorees, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, 73; her compatriot Leymah Gbowee, 39, a social worker and a peace activist; and Tawakkol Karman, a Yemeni journalist and a political activist who, at 32, is the youngest Peace Prize laureate and the first Arab woman to receive the award, were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. I have never been able to give away an A.
These women and so many other Nobel Peace Laureates inspire us to live lives dedicated to peace and justice in our world. We say we want peace, but many of us don't know the stories and struggles of those who invite us to create what Gandhi called a constructive program, a practical way of living and proceeding, that builds, through small deeds done with great love (Mother Teresa), what Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called "the beloved community."
King added, we must choose between community and chaos. In an often chaotic world where the disparity between the "haves" and "have nots" continues to grow and the "99%" cry out for justice; in a world where the "Arab Spring" is threatened by a long, desolate winter of greed and violence, these women challenge us to overcome that which divides us and work together to create a global community rooted in what Thich Nhat Hanh (Vietnamese Buddhist monk nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Dr. King) calls "inter-being." Hanh calls us to replace the verb "to be" with the verb "to inter-be." He adds, we cannot be outside of relationship; we exist in relationship to and with one another and our environment. Furthermore, he adds, harm to another and our environment results in harm to ourselves - we are interconnected. Thus, in order to create a more peaceful and just society, we necessarily need and depend upon one another.
We say we want peace... I hope that we open ourselves to the words and witness of these inspiring women, our most recent Nobel Peace Prize laureates, and allow their inspiring lives to transform our own. Much peace to all during this most sacred holiday season.
