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Rigoberta
Menchu's Open Letter to G. W. Bush
Rigoberta Menchu's Open
Letter to G. W. Bush
by Rigoberta Menchu Tum
Nobel Peace Prize, Goodwill Ambassador for the Culture of Peace
To Mr. George W. Bush
President of the United States of America
Washington DC, USA.
Your Excellency, Mr. President:
In the first place, I want to reiterate to
you the solidarity and condolences I expressed to all your people on Tues.
Sept. 11 when I became aware of the painful occurrences that had taken place
in your country, as well as to share my indignation and condemnation of the
threats these acts of terrorism constitute.
In recent days I have been following the
evolution of events, using my best efforts so that the response to them
would be reflection, not obsession; prudence, not rage; and the pursuit of
justice, not revenge. I invoked the consciousness of the world's peoples,
the communications media, the eminent personalities with whom I share an
ethical commitment to peace, the heads of state and leaders of international
bodies, in order that prudence illuminate our acts.
Nevertheless, Mr. President, upon listening
to the message you gave to the Congress of your country, I have been unable
to overcome a sensation of fear for what may come of your words. You call
upon your people to prepare for "a lengthy campaign, unlike any other
we have ever seen" and for your soldiers to save their honour by
marching to a war in which you intend to involve all of us, the peoples of
the world.
In the name of progress, pluralism, tolerance
and liberty, you leave no choice for those of us who are not fortunate
enough to share this sensation of liberty and the benefits of the
civilization you wish to defend for your people, we who never had sympathy
for terrorism since we were its victims. We, who are proud expressions of
other civilizations; who live day to day with the hope of turning
discrimination and plunder into recognition and respect; who carry in our
souls the pain of the genocide perpetrated against our peoples; finally, we
who are fed up with providing the dead for wars that are not ours: we cannot
share the arrogance of your infallibility nor the single road onto which you
want to push us when you declare that "Every nation in every region now
has a decision to make: Either you are with us or you are with the
terrorists."
At the beginning of this year, I invited the
men and women of the planet to adopt a Code of Ethics for a Millennium of
Peace sustaining that:
There will be no Peace if there is no Justice
There will be no Justice if there is no
Equity
There will be no Equity if there is no
Progress
There will be no Progress if there is no
Democracy
There will be no Democracy if there is no
respect for the Identity and Dignity of the Peoples and Cultures
In today's world, all these values and
practices are scarce; nevertheless, the unequal manner in which they are
distributed does nothing but generate impotence, hopelessness and hatred.
The role of your country in the present world order is far from being
neutral. Last night, we hoped for a sensible, reflective and self-critical
message but what we heard was an unacceptable threat. I agree with you that
" the course of this conflict is not known", but when you declare
that "its outcome is certain", the only certainty that comes to me
is that of a new and gigantic useless sacrifice, of a new and colossal lie.
Before you cry "fire", I would like
to invite you to consider a different kind of world leadership, one in which
it is necessary to convince rather than to defeat; in which humanity is able
to demonstrate that in the last thousand years we have surpassed the meaning
of "an eye for an eye" which justice had for the barbarians who
sank humanity into medieval obscurantism; and that there is no need for new
crusades in order to learn to respect those who have a different conception
of God and the work of His creation; in which we would share in solidarity
the fruits of progress, taking better care of the resources still remaining
in the planet and that no child lack bread and a school.
With hope hanging by a thread, I greet you
attentively,
Rigoberta Menchu Tum
September 23, 2001
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