Rigoberta Menchu Tum was born

Into poverty in Guatemala, Indian.

From having to work in the fields as a child,

She moved to Mexico when the governing classes tried

And confiscated Indian lands. “Massacres

Were normal.” The Indians fled to fight. Rancour

Ruled, her family murdered intentionally –

The “blind brutalization of the whole society.”*

From Mexico to Europe she carried her human rights work,

Spreading truth and calls for the rights of indigenous peoples.

She published her life story, and refused to shirk

Her mission: to reconcile Guatemala with human rights principles.

She called the Prize a sign of hope, a tribute – to impact

Their stability, future and democracy, with mutual respect.**

Suu Kyi’s international life and beliefs attest

To her Buddhist values – truth and loving kindness,*

Denouncing Burma’s – Myanmar’s – military leads

Who profited on drugs, corruption and greed.

The people saw those lies but were powerless,

Thousands driven in massacres – to death, no less.

Her father, advocating democracy, was assassinated.

She grew up in India and the UK. Years later, buoyed

By skill and strength, she founded the NLD,

Burma’s National League for Democracy.

She won . . . then lost the Presidency –

When the junta captured and literally silenced her voice.

Years later, she led the nation – briefly,

Rank with despotism and belligerent militarism, chiefly.

Free from fear, she spoke and stood

Up to Burma’s military junta,

But failed in her efforts for democracy and peace,

Thwarted by corruption and military hatred.

If Peace could be brought there, one would

Have to compromise and also release

This woman – whose crimes were, well, to bate

Greedy fascists, sit silent, watching

Destruction, death and decay embrace

A once democratic, proud east Asian nation:

Her trumped-up ‘case’ and ‘house arrest’

A badge of honour, and her crest.

She accepted the Prize for her countrymen, battered,

Driven from their lands, imprisoned and tortured.

Gorbachev’s fortunes were always in a state of thaw.

His background in agriculture had pleased Communist pollsters,

But his acceptance of widening freedoms he saw

Flowing in the Baltic States and across their borders

Resulted in his losing his grip on the Soviet Union, itself.

From ‘Man of the Year’ and the Committee’s choice, to end

The ‘Cold War’ with the West, reducing armies and ‘shelf’

Wars, he fell from power in Russia (but stayed all the same).

Despite being sidelined, his old roof leaking in rain,

He walked the same walk year after year to his office.

His family had moved to Germany;  he lived alone.

He led the Green Cross, and urged chemical weapons use

And manufacture end. “Crucify me right here,” he moaned.

His greatest weakness? His democratic soul: “It lives inside me,” he said.*

Gorbachev studied law in Moscow and became

Politically active early in life.  His reward

Was progressively gaining power and influence.  His fame

Grew as he travelled for the Communist party – toward

A restless Eastern Europe.  As the USSR collapsed,

He had risen to power at a moment he’d not let lapse:

He saw the economies of the West, vibrant and open,

And moved to bridge gaps in trade and security politics.

He welcomed meetings with the U.S. and European nations,

Pursued talks for a nuclear-free world – with an emphasis

On ‘perestroika’ – restructuring, and ‘glasnost’ – openness.*

His firm liberal hand let freedom grow in Europe’s stifled East

While awakening slumbering economies across the globe.

Did he attend the Peace Prize ceremony?  No, he thought.  Too bold.

The 14^th Daila Lama, Buddhist, a farmer’s son,

Won for resisting the use of violence in Tibet’s struggle

To regain its liberty from China after their defeat: his humble,

Non-militant stance in attempted negotiations proved

Unsuccessful, leading to, well, both disapproval

And derision, awards and questions:  Can a strategy

Of non-violence succeed when purposeful moral courage

Underpins the plan, with compromise a possibility?

Yes, he said:  use of force must always be discouraged.*

“We are all human beings” who struggle to find happiness and dignity,

He said. Our brotherhood means caring for each other seriously.

Our mutual interdependence means bridging the chasms –

Of all political, economic and ecological problems, **

His long life spent teaching compassion – with enthusiasm.

Since 1956, U.N. peace operations were stationed

At precise conflict points. This award was made

Honoring a half-million in 53 nations. Negotiation

And persuasion quieted conflicts where ceasefires were laid

But formal peace treaties were not yet concluded.

The role of this work was to ‘actively protect’ – to subdue

The tensions of those with past grievances – intervene –

With normalizing behaviors and actions, stop a feud

Between peoples, with their permission, and to be seen

As objective observers, some armed, a deterrent

To inflating tensions, and hatred’s undercurrents.

Many had died while serving in these peaceful missions.

Yet, ‘soldiers of peace as servants of non-violent transition’*

Proved hopeful for interdependent conflict resolution.

Oscar Arias Sanchez, then President of Costa Rica

Received this award for his work in generating a treaty

Designed to build Peace between five Central American nations.

Lack of freedom, poverty, insecurity and repression

Were part of the lives of over 25 million in this area.

Conflict gave way to a more open and trusting society.*

This peace engaged the nations in working together

For economic trade, and human rights protection goals.

It forbade the interference of outsiders, to deter

Neighboring nations fomenting more support for wars.

A determination to end civil strife, and take control

From meddlers, for their peoples’ and democracy’s sake, made whole.

He stood against tyrants, corruption and division. He said,

“Peace consists in … desiring it with all of one’s soul.”**

Elie Wiesel was sent with his family to die

By the Germans, in the Holocaust of Hitler’s intolerance.

From Wiesel’s liberation onward, his clarion cry

Was always to prevent ‘contributory negligence:’*

He became a writer and wrote of the camp’s atrocities,

Not simply to witness man’s barbarous treatment of man,

But to awake in all a sense of responsibility

To prevent hatred’s preconditions from arising again.

Wiesel spoke of the “mystical power of memory,”** the wide

Spectrum that dreams and hope have, not on future whims,

But using the past to prevent ambivalence towards hatred,

No matter its source. He said, “We must always take sides;

Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim.

Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”***

As nations developed nuclear weapons while saying

This ‘helped’ their security, others who knew were laying

A scientific and medical foundation to speak the truth

To power, destroy the ‘false hope’ messaging and ruse:

Few can scientifically fathom the scope of destruction,

Either by human limits or obfuscation.*

This organization began jointly between American and Russian

Doctors – devoted to fighting the indifference to statements

By politicians and others, “imbibing hatred to war” on,**

Irresponsibly egging Earth’s peoples toward self-destruction.

A million united to study and urge arms abatement,

Following their oath, to warn of what threatens life.***

Their research helped close a door on weapons production,

And their work continues – to reduce the risk of Armageddon.