When addressing this letter I do it fraternally and simultaneously to express concern and indignation to see how the death and destruction sown in several countries, in the name of "freedom and democracy", two words -empty of content and prostituted, ends justifying the murder and is celebrated as if it were a sporting event.
Indignation at the attitude of sections of the population of the U.S., European heads of state and other countries that came to support the killing of Bin Laden, ordered by your government and complacency on behalf of an alleged justice.
Not seek to stop him and try him for crimes allegedly committed, resulting in greater doubt, the objective was to kill him.
The dead do not talk and fear of the executed who could say things not suitable for the U.S., was the murder and ensure that "dead dog rabies is over, regardless of which do nothing other than increase
When I was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, of which we are entrusted, I sent a letter saying: "Barack was very surprised that I have given you the Nobel Peace Prize, but now that I should have put at the service of peace between peoples, have all the opportunity to do so, to end the war and begin to reverse the grave situation in your country and the world. "
But you have increased the hatred and betrayed the principles adopted in the campaign to your people, like ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and close the prisons at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib in Iraq, none of it managed to do, by the Instead, decide to start another war against Libya, supported by NATO and the shameful United Nations resolution to support it, when the highest body, dwarfed and without thought of their own, has lost its way and is subjected to the whims and interests of the powers dominant.
The base or foundation of the UN is the defense and promotion of peace and dignity among the people. Its preamble says "We the peoples of the world ..." currently not that high body.
I remember a mystic and teacher who has greatly influenced my life, the Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, Thomas Merton says "The greatest need of our time is to clear the huge mass of mental and emotional garbage that clogs our minds and makes all political and social life in a mass disease. Without that housekeeping can not begin to see. If not we can not think "-
Barack were very young during the Vietnam War, may not remember the struggle of the American people by opposing war
The dead, wounded and maimed in Vietnam to this day suffer the consequences.
Thomas Merton said, compared with a postmark that had just arrived "The U.S. Army, key to peace "," The U.S. army, the key to peace. " No army is key to peace. No nation has the key to anything but war. The power has nothing to do with peace. When more men increased military power, more peace violate and destroy "
I have shared and accompanied the Vietnam War veterans, including Brian Wilson and his companions who were victims of that war and all wars.
Life has this not, in the unexpected and surprising fragrance and beauty that God gave to mankind and we must protect for future generations to leave a more just and fraternal, restore balance to Mother Earth
If we fail to act to change the current state of suicidal arrogance that is pulling people to deep recesses where hope dies, it will be difficult to get out and see the light of humanity deserves a better fate.
You know that hope is like the lotus that grows in the mud and blossoms in all their glory show their beauty.
Leopoldo Marechal, the great Argentine writer said that "the labyrinth comes from above."
And I think Barack after wrong road to follow your path, you are in a maze can not find the exit and bury yourself deeper and deeper into violence, uncertainty, devoured by the power rule, driven by large corporations, the complex military industrial think you have the power that can do everything and that the world is at the feet of the U.S. because it imposes the force of arms and invade countries with impunity. It is a painful reality, but there is also resistance from people who not give up against the powerful.
Are so long the atrocities committed by your country in the world that would subject for long, is a challenge for historians who must research and know the behaviors, political, greatness and pettiness that has led the U.S. to the monoculture of the minds you can not see other realities.
A Bin Laden, alleged author's ideological attack on the twin towers, identify it as Satan incarnate who terrorized the world and the propaganda of your government marked him as the "axis of evil", and that helps them to declare war desired the military industrial complex needs to place their products of death.
Researchers know that the tragic September 11, indicate that the attack has a lot of "coup" as the plane into the Pentagon and former emptying the offices of the towers attack that gave rise to wage war against Iraq and Afghanistan and now against Libya, saying the lies and the arrogance of power that they do this to save the people in the name of "defending freedom and democracy, and cynicism to say that the death of women and children are" damage side. " That I lived in Iraq, in Baghdad bombing on the city and the pediatric hospital and refuge for children who were victims of such "collateral damage"
The word void of values and content, where the murder, call it death and finally the U.S. has "dead" to Bin Laden. Do not try to justify it under any circumstances, I am against all terrorism, both of these armed groups, including the state terrorism that your country holds in various parts of the world by supporting dictators, imposing military bases and armed intervention, exercising violence to stay by terror in the axis of world power. Is there only one "axis of evil"? What do you call?
Will be for this reason that the U.S. people live in such fear of reprisals from those who call the "axis of evil"? The simplistic and hypocritical to justify the unjustifiable.
La Paz, is a dynamic of life in relationships between people and peoples, is a challenge to the conscience of mankind, his way is tedious, everyday and hope, where people who build their lives and their own history. Peace is not cheap, it is built and that is what you are missing boy, courage to take the historical responsibility to your people and humanity.
You can not live in the labyrinth of fear and domination of those who govern the United States, ignoring international treaties, pacts and protocols, governments that have signed but not ratified anything and do not meet any of the agreements, but they speak in the name of freedom and law.
How can you talk of peace if you do not want to meet anything but the interests of your country?
How can you talk of freedom when you are in prison innocent prisoners in Guantanamo, the U.S. prisons in Iraq, like Abu Ghraib and Afghanistan?
How can you talk of human rights and dignity of people when the violas permanently and block those who do not share your ideology and must bear your abuse?
How can you send military forces to Haiti after the devastating earthquake and no humanitarian aid to the suffering people?
How can you talk about freedom when they massacred the people of the Middle East and propagate wars and torture, endless conflict that is bleeding the Palestinians and Israelis?
Barack looks up in your maze, you'll find the star to guide you, but you know you can never reach it, as well as Eduardo Galeano says
It seeks to be consistent between what you say and do, is the only way not to lose direction. It is a challenge of life.
The Nobel Peace Prize is a tool to serve people and not for personal vanity
I wish you strength and hope and hope to have the courage to correct the path and find the wisdom of Peace.
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
1980 Peace Nobel
Buenos Aires, May 5, 2011
I AM
ReplyDeleteI am not left or right.
I am not black or white.
I do not belong to any specific religion.
Except this one only:
Peace. We want peace now, mr. president, and we are millions.
We do not have the right to vote for you, mr. president.
We are not citizens of any specific country, except this one:
Peace, we want peace now.
And yes! It is horrible letting thousands of people die,
regardless of what country they might live in.
And yes! It is horrible to torture people.
To kill innocent, unarmed people.
One or millions.
Take one life.
Kill one man.
And you killed humanity.
Save one life.
And you have saved us all.
We want peace now, mr. president, and we are millions.
Belonging to the country of earth.
Belonging to the people of mankind.
Peace. Now. Stop the killing. Stop the torture. Now.
Please, mr. president.
© 2011, May 5th, Nina Villas-Boas
I offer a clearer translation of his letter:
ReplyDeleteFrom one Nobel Laureate to another
Open letter to Barack Obama
President of the United States
Dear Barack
In addressing this letter to you, I do so fraternally; and at the same time, in order to express con-cern and outrage at the death and destruction sown in several countries, in the name of "freedom and democracy", two words prostituted and emptied of meaning. The end result is a justification of assassination and its celebration as though it were a sporting event.
Indignation at the attitude of some of the population of the U.S., of some European heads of state and of other countries which came out in support of the assassination of Bin Laden; indignation at your satisfaction in what was supposed to be justice. There was no effort to hold him and to try him for the crimes he allegedly committed; no wonder doubts are raised. The aim was to assassinate him.
The dead do not talk; and fear of the executed who could say things that are not convenient for the U.S., became murder to ensure that "once the dog is dead, the rabies dies with it”, without realizing that all they accomplish is to propagate the sickness.
When you were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, of which we are entrusted, I sent a letter saying: "Barack I was very surprised that you were given the Nobel Peace Prize, but now that you have it, you should put it at the service of peace between peoples, you have every opportunity to do so, to end the wars and begin to reverse the grave situation in your country and the world. "
But you have increased the hatred and betrayed the principles adopted in the electoral campaign before your people, like ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and closing the prisons at Guan-tanamo and Abu Ghraib in Iraq. On the contrary, you decided to start another war against Libya, supported by NATO and the shameful United Nations resolution to support it, when that high body, diminished in stature and without thought of its own, has lost its way and is subject to the desires and interests of the dominant powers.
The basic foundation of the UN is the defense and promotion of peace and dignity among the peoples. Its preamble says "We the peoples of the world", whose voice is currently absent from that high body.
I remember a mystic and teacher who has greatly influenced my life, the Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky, Thomas Merton, who said "The greatest need of our time is to clear the huge mass of mental and emotional garbage that clogs our minds and makes all polit-ical and social life a disease of the masses. Without that housecleaning we cannot begin to see. If we cannot see, we cannot think "-
Barack you were very young during the Vietnam War, and perhaps may not remember the strug-gle of American people who opposed the war. I have shared with and accompanied the Vietnam War veterans, including Brian Wilson and his companions who were victims of that war and all wars.
Thomas Merton, gazing on a postmark of mail that said "The U.S. army, the key to peace", rep-lied: "No army is a key to peace. No nation has the key to anything other than the power of war”. When men increase their military power, they actually violate and destroy peace all the more. "
We must protect LIFE to leave future generations a more just and fraternal society, restoring bal-ance to Mother Earth. If we fail to act to change the current state of suicidal arrogance that is tearing the nations apart, it will be difficult to get out and see the light. Humanity deserves a bet-ter fate.
Consider this: hope is like the lotus that grows in the mud and blossoms in all its glory, revealing its beauty. Leopoldo Marechal, an Argentine writer, stated that: "one leaves the labyrinth by going up."
(continue on next post)
continuation of last post of clearer translation (Part 2):
ReplyDeleteAnd I think, Barack, that after making your way on mistaken roads, you find yourself in a laby-rinthine maze and cannot find the exit. You bury yourself deeper and deeper in violence, con-sumed by the power of domination; you believe you have the power to do everything, and that the world is at the feet of the U.S. Long is the count of the atrocities committed by different U.S. governments in the world. It is a painful reality, but there is also resistance from people who do not give up against the powerful.
You name Bin Laden, alleged ideological author of the attack on the twin towers, as Satan incar-nate who terrorized the world, identifying him as the "axis of evil". This was very useful to be able to declare those wars that the military industrial complex needs to emplace their deadly products.
You must not ignore that researchers of the tragic September 11, suggest that the attack seems a lot like a "self-coup"; e.g., the plane into the Pentagon, and emptying the offices of the towers ahead of the attack, which unleashed the war against Iraq and Afghanistan, and now against Libya. You justifying it all with the lie that you do this to save the people in the name of "de-fending freedom and democracy." And cynically they say that the deaths of women and children are "collateral damage."
The word is emptied of values and content. Murder, you call “death”, so finally the U.S. has giv-en Bin Laden his “death”. I do not try to justify it under any circumstances: I am against all ter-rorism, both of these kinds of armed groups, and of the state terrorism that your country engages in by supporting dictators, imposing military bases and armed interventions, using violence to secure its position by terror as the axis of world power. Is there only one "axis of evil"?
Peace is a life-giving dynamism in the relationships between persons and peoples, it is a challenge to the conscience of humanity. The road to peace is tedious, daily and hopeful, where people build up their lives and their own history. Peace is not a gift, it is constructed and that is what you are missing young man, courage to take on the historical responsibility with your people and with the rest of humanity.
You cannot live in the labyrinth of fear and domination, ignoring international treaties, pacts and protocols that bear your country's signature, while simultaneously breaking them over and over again. How can you talk of peace if you are not interested in anything but the interests of your own country?
( continues in next post part 3)
continuation of last post of clearer translation (Part 3):
ReplyDeleteHow can you talk of freedom when you hold in prison innocent prisoners in Guantanamo, in the U.S., in Iraq and Afghanistan?
How can you talk of human rights and dignity of people when you perpetually violate them and block those who do not share your ideology and who must bear with your abuse?
How can you send military forces to Haiti after the devastating earthquake and not humanitarian aid to the suffering people?
How can you talk about freedom if you slaughter the people in the Middle East conflicts, and propagate endless conflicts that drain the blood of Palestinians and Israelis?
Barack, look upward out of your labyrinthine maze, you'll find the star to guide you, even when you know that you can never reach it, as Eduardo Galeano well said. Seek to be consistent be-tween what you say and do, it is the only way not to lose the way. It is a challenge of life. The Nobel Peace Prize is a tool to serve people and never for personal vanity.
I wish you much strength and hope; and we hope that you will have the courage to correct the path and discover the wisdom of Peace.
Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
Buenos Aires, May 5, 2011
It was a day like today that 34 years ago I came back to life, I was on a death-flight during Ar-gentina's military dictatorship backed by the U.S.. Thank God I survived and I had to leave the maze, above the despair and find in the stars the way to say with the prophet, "the darkest hour is just before the dawn."