In one of the most stirring Nobel Peace Prize lectures in recent memory, Mohamed ElBaradei asked his audience of royalty and dignitaries in Oslo's City Hall repeatedly to "imagine" a long-list of ways the world could be a better place. His words brought to mind those of songwriter John Lennon, 25 years after the writer of the classic song "Imagine" was himself gunned down in New York.
ElBaradei also called upon his own experiences as a Muslim born in Egypt, educated in New York and now living in Vienna, who's witnessed the world "in both the north and south," and whose own children have grown up in a multi-cultural society. With his daugher beaming in the audience and occasionally wiping away tears of pride, ElBaradei said his own children are among his greatest sources of hope in a troubled world where globalization can and should be used to recognize our similarities instead of our differences.
The secretary general of the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA), whose goal is to limit the spread of nucelar weapons while promoting peaceful use of nuclear material, said he was "humble, proud and delighted" to have received the coveted Nobel Peace Prize along with the IAEA. He said it sends "a powerful message," that he and his 2,300 workers from 90 different countries must "endure," or persevere, in their work and their mission.
He said that traditional notions of national security are obsolete in the face of organized crime and terrorism. "Fifteen years ago the Cold War ended, and we hoped for a New World Order," that would bring the world together, he said. "Today we are nowhere near that goal."
He blamed the lack of progess mostly on poverty, and the desperation and feelings of insecurity that drive people to resort to violence. "Poverty continues to breed conflict," he said, noting that while the world spends around "one trillion dollars on armies," it only spends a fraction of that on development.
"If we continue to ignore the insecurities of some, they will be become the insecurities of us all," ElBaradei said, adding later that "wars rarely resolve our differences... they don't heal our wounds, but rather open new ones."
ElBaradei also proposed new ways for controlling nuclear materials, by setting up a "world bank" of sorts that nations could tap into when they need nuclear material for specific projects, and by enhancing product protection and strengthening the verification process. He also called for an acceleration of nuclear disarmament.
ElBaradei received a long ovation for his speech, which he opened by congratulating the Norwegian royal family on last weekend's birth of a new prince and which he closed with the Norwegian words "tusen takk" (thousand thanks).
