FROM HEAVEN TO EARTH
I WROTE ON 10TH DECEMBER 2009:
I HAVE RECEIVED THIS LETTER FROM MY FRIEND GUIDO BARBERA, WHO IS PRESIDENT OF CIPSI.
I AGREE ON EVERYTHING.
PLEASE READ, MEDITATE AND DEDUCE.
GIORGIO BONGIOVANNI
SANT?ELPIDIO A MARE, (ITALY)
10TH DECEMBER 2009
Rome, 03 december 2009
PROT: PRES/CORR/001/2009/216
To the President
of United States of America
Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President,
Yes, we can. We believed it. We still believe it. Do not disappoint us! You have reignited the dream of a new road to justice, toward genuine peace. Do not betray this dream. Do not betray the men and women who have believed in it. Above all, do not betray our younger generation and its future.
The management of an electoral campaign is much easier than the management of power. It is much easier to promise than to maintain the promises made. But civilizations are not built with promises. Nor are they built with power. They are built guaranteeing equal dignity and respect for all human beings, as you yourself have emphasized on August 29, 2008 during your acceptance speech to the candidacy for President of the United States. You did so by underlining all those individual rights and values that are necessary for the building of a better society and for the world?s well being.
In October, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee ? for your extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples -has decided to award you the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009. Your name will follow in history those of peacemakers such as Martin Luther King Jr. in 1964; Mother Teresa of Calcutta in 1979; Desmond Tutu in 1984; Nelson Mandela in1993. "I am surprised and deeply humbled but do not feel I deserve this Prize", was your first comment upon learning of the Prize whose monetary value you have donated to charity. "I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many transformative figures that have been honored by this prize, men and women who?ve inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace."-You went on to say," But I also know that this prize reflects the kind of world that those men and women and all Americans want to build, a world that gives life to the promise of our founding documents. And I know that throughout history the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievements; it?s also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes. And that is why I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations to confront the common challenges of the 21st century".
The real peacemakers Mr. President have always been consistent in shielding their work against every power and interest. They have often paid a personal price for their choices. Because of this we feel betrayed, not only for the broken promises, but mostly for the rights that were denied. Those rights that have been sold out to higher interests whoever they may be.
In our dream of justice and peace, we recall some of your electoral promises, those whose intentions were also rewarded by the Nobel?s Peace Prize:
? The withdrawal of all troops from Iraq within 16 months, without maintaining permanent bases in the country.
? The closing of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.
? Reopen diplomatic relations with countries like Iran and Syria, in order to pursue a pacific resolution to present tensions.
After almost a year of your administration in office, the situation in Iraq still remains to be defined; the closing of Guantanamo has been pushed back to an undetermined date; in Afghanistan the military contingencies are increasing further, including Italian ones; and lately the refusal to sign the anti-landmine treaty already endorsed by 156 countries...regarding them as necessary to meet your national security as well as that of your allies.
So many treaties, too many, have been written signed and never maintained. Too many political promises have killed politics itself. We no longer believe in the endorsements of the so-called world leaders, which are almost always nothing but formal shows of intentions that result in simple mockery. How much aid has been promised to those who die of hunger, for lack of water, of sickness?but never rendered. At times they are even betrayed, when their basic rights such as to water is not recognized.
Your signature however is not the simple trace of a pen. It is part of a dream that you have relit in so many of us. We had regained with you the strength to believe in a world more just, capable of living in peace. We thought that the politics of rights, dignity and respect had found a new outlet, a light. Hope for all of us. We believed in it. We still believe. Do not let us down! Dear President, what are your true intentions for peace?
It is not enough Mr. President to doubt if one deserves a Nobel Prize for peace, awarded for the intentions and promises, which have not been kept! At the present time, even betrayed! If the dream: ?yes, we can? was not a charade, we are asking you not to betray it, not to betray us. On December 10, in Oslo, do not accept the Nobel Prize. Before the entire world, vow to return and accept it once Guantanamo will be closed. When from Iraq, all troops will have returned home and when they will have returned from Afghanistan. Vow to return and accept it when the United States will have banned every death instrument, such as the anti-personnel land mines, which end lives and mutilate the bodies of so many men, women and children.
Then and only then, the name of Barack Obama will really be written in the story of peacemaking. It shall be written alongside the names of Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Nelson Mandela and so many others, with its lasting mark on history that no one will or could ever erase. Surely more important than a Nobel Prize for promises and good intentions, will be your commitment to the world of this return. This way, you will keep the dream alive. Yes, together we can.
Guido Barbera
President CIPSI
