In
1997, Jody Williams became the 10th
woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. She
received the award for her work to ban antipersonnel
landmines. The founding coordinator of the
International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL),
she oversaw its growth from a coalition of
two to more than 1,300 organizations from
95 countries. Since 1998, Williams has served
as a Campaign Ambassador for the ICBL, and
in 2004, she was named one of the 100 most
powerful pomen in the world by Forbes Magazine.
Organizer and activist, teacher and writer,
she speaks on the power of individuals to
bring about dramatic change in the world. www.nobelwomensinitiative.org
Shared
anatomy does not necessarily mean shared
values. Just because you are elected to a
position in the dominant structure and you
are a woman, does not mean that you will
run as a woman. And that can make people
angry, but that’s reality.
I
think we can begin to hold elected female
politicians accountable the day they run
honestly and openly as women.
It’s
not just enough to have women in corporate,
structured power – it isn’t enough – unless
they are willing to say, “I am here
as the CEO of X,Y,and Z and as CEO, I’m
not going to prove I’m more of a man
than the other guys, I am going to bring
women in this company with me. That I’m
here to make it different.
Don’t
be afraid to say, “I am a woman. I
am running as a woman. I am running on these
issues. Yes, I believe in security but I
believe in human security. I believe in the
security of the individual, not the security
of the state.”
…And
I’m sorry but Condoleeza Rice is a
man in a woman’s suit.
Make
women who are running for office talk about
their values. If they talk about national
security they have to be all macho, what
the hell does that mean?
I
think we need total reform of the political
process of the United States.
Maybe
using a different word. I have problems with
the word “power”….I didn’t
do what I did for power. I don’t think
of it in terms of power. I think of when
I started as an activist I did it because
I thought it was the right thing to do.
Suddenly
I’m this Nobel “thing” and
maybe I just want to zoom under the radar… a
stealth activist.
It
doesn’t matter if you are a full-time
activist, if you are able to construct that
kind of life – it’s not an easy
life. It doesn’t matter if you decide
on activism in which you donate whatever
a week – to something you really care
about. Or, if one hour a week is too overwhelming
to your schedule, one hour a month. Imagine
if everybody of good will gave one hour a
month to some issue they really cared about,
the world would begin to be really transformed.
I’ll
have inner peace when I die. My anger is
not going away. I’m pissed off at George
Bush, I’m pissed at the American military,
I am pissed off at the oppression of women – and
that rage is what will make me an activist
until I die. And then I might find peace.
If
there is something you really care about
there is no longer an excuse, “I don’t
know who does it.” Google it. …but
get off your ass and do it….I honestly
don’t care that you care. I only care
what you do to make a difference.
If
we are going to make this radically changing
planet secure, we have to think of the fundamental
security of all.
Inner
peace is not global security. I think we
really need to start to think about what
we’re talking about when we say, ‘peace.'
If I meditate and I’m serene, I’m
serene. Peace is a big thing in the planet
and it is not just the absence of armed conflict.
Peace is socio-economic justice, gender equality,
a world where people live with freedom from
fear, and freedom from want. Peace is not
for wimps – peace is the Nelson Mandelas,
it’s the Aung Sun Suu Kyis, it’s
all of us who work every day to make the
world just. So let’s reclaim peace.
I am sick of being called a wimp, because
I believe in peace.
We
say, “we” – I think in “we” – I
don’t think in “I”. Except
occasionally, when it’s all about me.
[laughs] We, we, we.
