Nobel Peace laureate stresses non-violence
by Xiao Zhang, Outpost Staff
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Jose Ramos-Horta, an international spokesman for
East Timor for more than 20 years, won the 1996
Nobel Peace Prize. |
"When it comes to conflicts among nations or within nations, the use of weapons or force is futile," Jose Ramos-Horta told a crowd of more than 500 people in the Rose Ballroom at John Ascuaga's Nugget on Nov. 18. "No amount of weapons will guarantee peace."
Ramos-Horta, now the special representative of the National Council of Maubere Resistance of East Timor, said force -- like the violence used in East Timor -- cannot control people's minds.
"They could not use the weapons on public opinion," he said, referring to a September public opinion poll that showed overwhelming support for East Timor to become an independent nation.
Ramos-Horta's speech is the second of the Millennium Speaker Series, a free public presentation series started by E.L. Wiegand Foundations last November. The Rev. Frank Murphy, executive director of the foundation, said the group plans to bring in two more speakers before next June. The purpose of the series is to "bring in speakers of international knowledge to celebrate the coming of the millennium." The speech was co-sponsored by the International Resource Center of Northern Nevada and University of Nevada Justice Center.
Ramos-Horta, 50, won the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize together with his fellow countryman, the Catholic Bishop of East Timor, for "sustained efforts to hinder the oppression of a small people."
For more than a decade, Ramos-Horta had been the permanent representative to the United Nations for East Timor, which was invaded by Indonesia in 1975 and had since then lost about 200,000 people, nearly a third of its population.
Ramos-Horta criticized the "excessive supply of weapons" from Western countries to the developing countries.
"If the world would control the flow of weapons, then many lives and many properties would have been saved," he said.
Based on the fact that a major part of the conflict between East Timor and Indonesia is a religious and cultural struggle between the Catholics and Muslims, Ramos-Horta stressed the importance of allowing cultural diversity to exist in one nation.
"Cultural identity, language identity and religious identity do not mean there has to be a separate state," he said. "Tragically, many leaders in developing world view cultural diversity not as a strength but as a threat to national unity."
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On the Web East Timor International Support Center United Nations Mission in East Timor |
"One thing I was always impressed is the enormous cultural diversity in this country," Ramos-Horta said. "Yet there are still problems of racism, exclusion, violence, but the United States have made enormous progress in the last 30 years.
"American see cultural diversity as a social wealth. Some developing countries see it as a threat to national integrity and suppress the diversity so that everybody speaks the same way. The result is there is no culture in those countries."
The audience stood up and applauded for more than a minute when Ramos-Horta concluded his speech by calling on the world to educate people about non-violence and tolerance toward different cultures and religions.
The audience expressed strong interest in his speech.
"I appreciate the opportunity to hear in person the testimony of a Nobel peace laureate of his experience and his encouraging us to educate all ages toward peace using nonviolence," said Debby Dahlstrom, manager of the Verdi Community Library.
University student Bryan Dick said Ramos-Horta enlightened him on a lot of issues he was not exposed to before.
"He brought up a lot of issues that weren't brought up by the media since the invasion of East Timor by Indonesia 24 years ago," the senior in sociology said. "It is very irresponsible of the media not to have brought up the issues."
Before the speech, University of Nevada-Reno President Joe Crowley conferred honorary doctoral degree on Ramos-Horta.
Posted Nov. 21, 1999
Copyright 1999 Nevada Outpost
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