LETTER FROM NOBEL LAUREATE RIGOBERTA MENCHU TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH (unofficial translation)

[Paola Lucchesi <paola.lucchesi@mail.inet.it>]

DWD: commentary - peace and justice, Rigoberta Menchu

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From: "Peace Through Justice" <lgreen8@ix.netcom.com>


LETTER FROM NOBEL LAUREATE RIGOBERTA MENCHU TO PRESIDENT  GEORGE W.
BUSH  (unofficial translation)

Honorable Mr. President:

I wish, firstly,  to reiterate to you the solidarity and condolences
which I expressed to your people last Tuesday the 11, after hearing
of the painful events in your country, as well as to share my
indignation and to condemn these acts of terrorism.

These last days, I have been monitoring the evolution of events,
convinced that  the best reaction to these is reflection, not
rigidity;  measured wisdom, not anger; the search for justice, not
revenge. I have asked that the conscience of the peoples of the
world, the media, the eminent personalities with whom I share the
ethical mission for peace, the Chiefs of State and the leaders of
international organizations, that serenity enlighten our acts.

Nevertheless, Mr. President, hearing the speech which you gave to
your Congress last night, I have not been able to repress my fear for
what your words may bring.  You call on your people to prepare for "a
large campaign as we have never before seen". And to your military to
be proud, marching into a war in which you intend to involve all of
the peoples of the world.

In the name of progress, of pluralism, of tolerance and liberty, you
leave no option for those of us who do not share the benefit of the
liberty and the fruits of the civilization which you wish to defend
for your people and those of us who never sympathized with terrorism,
as we have been its victims. Those of us who are proud expressions of
other civilizations; who live day by day with the hope of turning
discrimination and discard        into recognition and respect; those
of us who carry in our souls the pain of genocide perpetrated against
our peoples; those of us who are fed up with placing the dead in
foreign wars, we cannot share the arrogance of your infallibility nor
the sole road which you wish to push us toward when you affirm that
'all nations in all regions of the world must now make a decision: or
you are with us or you are with the terrorists".

At the beginning of this year, I invited men and women of the planet
to share a Code of Ethics for a Millennium of Peace, declaring that:

There will not be Peace without Justice
There will not be Justice without Equity
There will not be Equity without Development
There will not be Development without Democracy
There will not be Democracy without respect for identity and Dignity
of Peoples and Cultures

In today's world, all of these are very scarce values and practices;
nevertheless, the unequal manner in which they are distributed does
little more than to fuel the impotence, the desperation and the hate.
The role of your country in the actual world order is far from being
neutral. Last night, we expected a sensitive speech, with reflection
and self-criticism, but what we heard was an unacceptable threat.

I share with you that the "course of this conflict is not known," but
when you declare that "its result is known," the only certainty which
invades me is that of an enormous useless sacrifice, that of another
colossal lie.

Before you give the cry for war, I would like to invite you to think
about a different type of world leadership, one which must convince
rather than conquer, in which the human species can show that in the
last 1000 years we have overcome the idea of "an eye for an eye"
which represented justice for the barbarians who took over humanity
during the dark middle ages; in which we don't need new crusades to
learn to respect those who have a different idea of a God and his
work of creation; in which we share with solidarity the fruits of
progress, we protect better the resources which remain on the planet
and that no child lack bread or schooling.

With hope on a thread, I remain sincerely,

Rigoberta Mencho Tum
Nobel Peace Laureate
Ambassador of Goodwill and the Culture of Peace

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