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13thANNUAL NOBEL PEACE LAUREATES SUMMITOctober 22, 2013

Warsa

U!hear" #o$ces% I!e&'a($t$es $! soc$a( )'st$ce

Co($! ArcherSecretar*+e!era(

I!ter!at$o!a( Peace B'rea'-Nobe( Peace Pr$.e 1/10

Pres$"e!t Wa(esa, "$st$!'$she" (a'reates, "ear r$e!"s o eace

INTRO4UCTIONIn the summer of 1970 I had just left high school. I wanted to earn somemoney and experience something different. In those days it was quiteeasy in England to get some casual labour for a few wees. I found aposition woring for !uinness" the firm who mae beer. It#s the only jobI#$e e$er had where you got a glass of beer for your morning brea% &ellamong the other worers there were some 'olish students about my age.(hey taught me to say czeand do widzeniaand they said one day youmust come to 'oland. It was the middle of the )old &ar" so the chancesseemed rather low. &ell finally ******here I am" +, years later-..etter late

than ne$er. /nd I am delighted to ha$e made the trip at last. ut thosestudent friends are probably about to retire now. It#s a pity I lost touchwith them.

15 UN6EAR4 7OICES8In the cacophony of the internet and other forms of media saturation weha$e the impression of ha$ing the opportunity to hear e$eryone. ut ofcourse it is untrue. (he mass media are far from being a le$el playing field while the participatory &eb .0 has opened doors for millions" someha$e much greater access to the media than others.

(hose whose $oices are rarely heard fall into many categories. (here areso many who do not or cannot participate to any great extent in public life"and in the debates about the future of our countries" or the world. 2et#sthin about it..

(here are the poor" the oppressed" those whose lands are occupied orcoloni3ed. (he unemployed" $ictims of $iolence" prisoners" the mentally orphysically ill or handicapped" minorities of e$ery ind 4racial" religious"sexual" the $ery old and the $ery young5. In the case of women" it is e$enthe majority. /t the bottom of the social pyramid we ha$e the beggars"child labourers" child soldiers" prostitutes" refugees and undocumentedmigrants. 'eople li$ing with 6I*/I8" squatters and shanty town dwellers"indigenous peoples e$erywhere. 'olitical dissidents" the uneducated" the

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illiterate. hall I go on: (hose who ha$e no trade union to protect them"who li$e in remote places or wor in dangerous trades or in the shadows.&ho cleans our offices" e$en this $ery 'alace" in the dar hours of the $eryearly morning: 2et#s not forget that there are those who suffer what thesociologists call ;multiple disad$antage# by being in more than one of

these categories. &e don#t hear from them so often. the 1? andthe 99?@" as the =ccupy protestors ha$e termed it. 'robably e$eryonehere will ha$e a $iew about what should be done and I don#t propose thatwe debate the different models of society that ha$e led to so much bloodand suffering in Europe o$er the last 100 years.

35 ON SOLI4ARIT:!i$en 'oland#s recent history it was ine$itable that the title of this ummitshould include the word ;solidarity#. (his" and the accompanying term;social justice#" is an extremely broad concept. ut in my $iew neither ofthem are the same as ;charity#. globali3ation of solidarity@ but what does itmean: Each of us must decide where our loyalties lie. )an we really li$eand wor in solidarity with the entire human race: &ith the prisoners inBussia or urma" with the exploited worers of angladesh" with theindigenous of the /ma3on: &e cannot act on all these situations" but wecan include them in the world of peace and human rights that we dreamof. I would go further and say that there is a duty of solidarity also withfuture generations" which implies a responsibility to manage sustainably

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studs_Terkelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studs_Terkel

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the resources of the planet. (here is a duty of solidarity with the animaland plant world" not only because we depend on them for our sustenance"but also since they too ha$e an intrinsic right to life. /s the English poet&illiam lae" saidA >E$erything that li$es is holy@. It#s a superb statement.ut more difficult to assume when we consider that it must also include

the /dolf 6itlers and the Co3ef talins.

I remember writing in a school noteboo after a history classA 6ow doestolerance deal with intolerance: 6ow does non$iolence deal with$iolence : and now I would addA how does solidarity deal with its opposite"which is perhaps indifference : (ough questions.

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