Of all the honors that are bestowed around the world, the Nobel Prize stands alone as the single mark of distinction that is not within the gift of politicians, big business or industry moguls. Thus when a group of Nobel laureates meets for two days to consider “A World in Danger,” both its deliberations and it conclusions deserve to be accepted with respect, because it is made up of eminent individuals who have no axes to grind, no reputations to carve out and no favors to win from anybody.
A rare gathering of Nobel Prize winners ended yesterday in Petra, Jordan, with a powerful appeal for a fundamental change of thinking based on the acceptance that the people of the world were a single human family. The participants were men whose power does not lie in the columns they command, but in their ability to reshape perceptions. The conference host King Abdallah II of Jordan was referring to this power when he said, “A process begins here; a process that all of you will shape and by your effort, help share our world.” What unites such apparently very different people as Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama, East Timorese resistance leader Jose Ramos-Horta, former Israeli Premier Shimon Peres and former Ulster Unionist party chief David Trimble is that each in their different way has contributed significantly to the vision of a far more peaceful world.
Abdallah referred to the most fundamental issue of our times when he said of the region where the meeting was taking place and where half the population is under the age of 18: “They have no memory of a time without regional conflict. They see a huge gap between rich and poor. They see diseases that wealthy nations have wiped out, that are still crippling people in the developing world.” This is true not only of the Middle East or the people of Palestine. This is the everyday story in Africa, Asia, Latin America and even in parts of the West. Young men and women live under the shadow of violence. They live in hunger, aware — and resentful — of the gap that separates them from the rich. In a way, the laureates began the process Abdallah spoke of when they pinpointed inequity and injustice as the “root causes of terrorism” and underscored the need to strengthen democratic institutions and foster economic development. They focused on four main areas — peace and security, economic development, health, environment and science, and education, media and culture. The timing of the Petra conference was certainly no accident.
Today, it is the turn of the World Economic Forum to meet in Jordan, this time by the Dead Sea. The theme of its gathering which is focusing on the Arab world is “Seizing the Moment”. Yet, along with the inspiring political rhetoric and alluring business projections, it is essential that WEF delegates remember the heart-felt appeal of the Nobel laureates that it is only through peace and educational opportunity for all, that any fundamental change for the better will be achieved. Petty power politics and purely profit-driven business need no profound vision. However ending violence, injustice and poverty most certainly do.
