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Youth, delegates meet for peace

Date 2/17/2005 12:00 AM | Topic: News

Where can college students, representatives of Palestine and Israel and WWII veterans come together to discuss peace, justice and human rights?

It happens every year at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum.

This past weekend, many Luther students made a pilgrimage to Minneapolis to participate in the 17th Annual Peace Prize Forum, hosted by Augsburg College.They met with students from Augustana College, Concordia College and St. Olaf College, as well as with representatives and diplomats from all over the world.

Bethel Erickson ('07) appreciated the opportunity to be in the company of such a wide variety of people.

"My favorite part of the weekend was being able to dine with such distinguished guests as the former president of Ireland Mary Robinson and Nobel Committee chair of Norway Ole Mjos, as well as commiserating with other Lutheran school students," said Erickson.

The purpose of the Peace Prize Forum is to give recognition to the international peace efforts of Norway and to "offer opportunities for Nobel Peace Prize laureates, diplomats, scholars, students and the general public to share in the dynamics of peace-making," according to the Augsburg Press Release.

"I think it's an incredible opportunity for students," said Norma Hervey, Luther Professor of History. "It's a wonderful program."

The Nobel Peace Prize award began with Alfred Nobel, 1833-1896, who invested his estate in the event of his death so the interest could be annually awarded to someone who, according to Nobel, "shall have conferred the greatest benefit on humankind."

This year, that award went to Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian lawyer and human rights activist. She selected the 2005 Forum Plenary Speakers: women who would speak on a range of human rights issues such as loss of dignity, deprivation of legal rights, starvation, famine, war, illness and humiliation.

The plenary speakers, each speaking for about an hour over the two-day forum, included four women from a variety of backgrounds, addressing a variety of issues.

Davar Ardalan, a National Public Radio reporter and producer of Morning Edition, discussed her involvement in the Iranian feminist movement and the rights of women and children in Iran.

The former president of Ireland, Mary Robinson, was also a plenary speaker. As Ireland's first female president and current leader of the Ethical Globalization Initiative, she presented her program "Human Rights at the Heart of Justice and Peace."

Another speaker, Dr. Sima Simar, was asked by the crowd what her greatest achievement was. As a Hazara, one of the most persecuted Afghani minorities, she replied, "That I am alive."

Simar founded the Afghanistan Human Rights Commission and currently operates 12 clinics and four hospitals in Afghanistan and Pakistan to make health care more accessible to the persecuted women and children.

"The women speakers from Iran and Afghanistan were very interesting and informative on feminist and humanitarian issues in their respective countries," Luther student participant, Steffen Merten ('05) said

Apart from the main speakers, many students and faculty members, from all the colleges, as well as community and international leaders, led a series of open seminars and panel discussions over the course of the two days.

Merten attended the forum to present his paper, "Applications of the Swiss Democratic Model in Developing Democracies" during a Saturday afternoon seminar. Merten had entered his paper into a competition for which he received a Rewoldt Scholarship.

Also presenting works were first-year Luther students Kelly Bridges and Alexandra Burrows. Over January, the students conducted a series of interviews in Milwaukee to learn more about why the city was named the most segregated city in the nation.

Bridges and Burrows put together a presentation for the forum: "City of Segregation." The seminar included a video documentary of the interviews in which the women lead a group of 25 members in a discussion of segregation issues and possible strategies for change.

"It's exciting to get a group of people willing to discuss things that they may not necessarily agree with," said Bridges.

Both women felt that the seminar went well and received positive feedback from their participants. "I loved the fact that our presentation was able to evoke enthusiasm," said Burrows.

"It was empowering for people to challenge segregation in all communities," Burrows said. "I don't think [non-participants] understand the caliber of the forum."

Luther Assistant Professor of Social Work Patricia Stoddard also led a seminar. Stoddard's seminar was titled "Empathy Building: Transcending Differences."

The seminar provided an opportunity for participants to understand the needs of people with impairments and their integration into society.

There were many other speakers and every participant was able to attend the sessions they chose.

"The speakers at the forum were very interesting and relevant to current world issues, but I thought that many of the forums lacked factual foundation and substance," said Merten. "Most also represented a very biased liberal viewpoint."

"Events like this always inspire me to seek justice," said Erickson. "Especially on a world scale,"

Next year's Peace Prize Forum will take place here at Luther. Students, after all, "are the new grove of the trees of life," said Ardalan.

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Kendra Swanson

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