Nobel Peace Prize 1984: Desmond Tutu

Theary Seng (Photo: Roland Neveu)

Recently, I decided that I want to know more about the Nobel Peace Laureates through the Award Ceremony Speeches. And it’s good to have company in the learning process, so I am taking you along. Here’s one to a man I have read a lot about, but it’s never enough, as his life imparts endless inspirations. Moreover, he comes from a country I love from readings (especially, Cry, the Beloved Country, a novel I have read at least three times and every time, it’s impossible to keep dry eyes) and my magical 6-month stay in Pietmaritzburg during my last year of law school in 1999 as well as the recent visit for a workshop in Stellenbosch this December 2009. In reading this, my thoughts continue to turn to our Cambodian sisters and daughters who are trafficked in modern sexual slavery. Here, the emphasis is mine.

– Theary C. Seng, Phnom Penh, 3 Oct. 2010

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Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Photo: Veterans Today)

Award Ceremony Speech (Presentation Speech by Egil Aarvik, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee)

Your Majesty, Your Royal Highnesses, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen:

The Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes, through the presentation of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, to direct attention to a unifying leader figure in the campaign to solve South Africa's apartheid problem by peaceful means. The situation as it is today is such that a peaceful solution is by no means inevitable - the repression is so brutal that a violent rebellion would be an understandable reaction. The South African has more reason now than ever before to exclaim "Cry, the beloved country".

Given this situation it is all the more remarkable that human beings are able to choose a peaceful way to freedom.