In 1976 in Northern Ireland
we were in the midst of a violent ethnic political conflict.
It was very bad to be living in the city of Belfast, our hometown,
because there was a great deal of danger,
every day there was violence and killing and war was going on.
My younger sister Anne, who was then married to my husband Jackie,
took her children for a walk and three of her little children
were killed in the troubles in Northern Ireland, in a violent clash between the British army
and armed gunmen, and the children were all killed.
My sister Anne later died because of her injuries during that accident.
When the children died some of us came out and said that we have got to stop all the
violence in Northern Ireland because too many people were getting killed.
And we said there's got be another way that we begin to solve our problems
because violence is only creating so much suffering.
There's got be another alternative to violence.
We called for people to come out onto the streets
and to do something to stop the violence and to begin to work for nonviolence.
And our response was met by thousands and thousands of people
who marched throughout the whole of Ireland and indeed in many countries around the world
people had peace rallies to support us in our campaign to say
“Stop the violence and let’s do nonviolence!”
Now, I tell you the story of my sister Anne and Jack’s first wife, not to make you sad.
I tell you the story because I want you to understand
that in every violent conflict that there are many people like Anne and her
little children who die.
And somehow whenever we talk about conflicts we talk in the thousands of people and we
lose sight of the individual and the little family that
gets destroyed and just their whole lives are all destroyed
So we have got always to remember and think on the level of the individual person and
how their lives are.
When we started our peace movement in 1976, we were facing a deep ethnic political conflict.
And it was only when people begun to realize that you can’t solve problems like this
with militarism or para-militarism
but only by dialogue and people speaking to
each other and having all-inclusive, unconditional dialogue to actually look at
the root causes of the violence that then you begin to move forward and solve the problems.
Violence really is the flower of injustice and inequality.
And when people are not treated right within a community
often because of a lack of civil and human liberties within a community
creates a great deal of anger and violence can erupt.
So, it was very important for us that we begun to deal with inequalities
in our society and,
with the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland
taking its model from Martin Luther King in America,
whenever we begun to actually deal with these
problems in our society then we could begin to move towards peace
and justice and things begun to get better for us.
Nonviolence has worked for us.
And that today in Northern Ireland we have come a very long way and we have a
devolved government, part- sharing executive and many political
reforms in our society.
So, we are very grateful that in our time, we have seen peace come to our country.
I’m not saying that everything is perfect, when a society comes out of a deep conflict
there still is a legacy of division and a legacy of pain.
So, we still have to work very, very hard in order to heal our society
and build a genuine democracy and trust between the people
but we are working on that and that will be a lifetime’s job.
When you start working for peace, you must remember it’s a lifetime commitment
to working for change.
We believe that peace, you must work for it all levels.
Peace really starts in your own heart, and trying everyday to be more peaceful and
kinder and compassionate.
And then in your family, trying to work in the family to build peace.
And then in the wider community.
And then right out into the world because we really are not only local citizens,
we are global citizens and we have a responsibility to be able to reach out and help others.
So, you work for peace on all levels.
I would like to thank the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Japanese people
for giving us the leadership to the world and saying no more nuclear weapons.
You have suffered tremendously 65 years ago when your city lost too many people.
And yet you have called for no weapons, for reconciliation, for peace.
And that has been wonderful leadership to people round the world.
And today more and more people around the world
are recognizing that nuclear weapons are immoral, illegal, criminal and they cannot
be used and that we need to delegitimize these weapons
and rid the world of nuclear weapons.
And it is all due to the hibakushas and the Japanese people
for being faithful to their message of no nuclear wars.
So, arigato to you all for that message.
At the Nobel Summit, the last few days, at the end,
we issued a Hiroshima Declaration and in that declaration it said very clearly that
nuclear weapons are immoral and illegal and that they could never be used.
And it gave steps within that declaration how we can move governments
to begin to seriously take disarmament of nuclear weapons to heart.
So, take the declaration, see how you can distribute that declaration
and implement what is in that.
Because the civil community, particularly young people,
have got to work to build a nuclear-free world.
And coming from Hiroshima,
you have a story to tell to the world
because you’ve lived in this city.
And your story is that we can rid the world of nuclear weapons
and we must rid the world of nuclear weapons.
So, it seems a heavy responsibility to put on young shoulders.
But enjoy the work because you will be the people who will be able to say
we led the world in nuclear disarmament.
I’m very moved by your speech today.
What is the role of women for creating peace?
I think the role of women for creating peace
is to teach kindness in their families and compassion.
You see in the 20th century, for a great deal,
we operated out of the head,
out of the intellect
and we forgot the heart.
So, we were able to create wonderful things in the world.
Technology, science produced many excellent things.
We have all our computers, we know how to use our mobiles,
and the Japanese have surpassed us all for the technology, thank you.
So, we have all the technology and the science and the intellect
but you know unless we bring the heart and the head together,
we will not make wise decisions.
Because alongside the good things that we got
like the internet and the advancements, we have created nuclear weapons,
we have created predator bombs, we have created an economy in the world
where the rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer.
The gap between the rich and the poor is now wider than ever.
We have destroyed a lot of the environment because haven't protected the earth.
We have put us and our egos at the centre of everything,
when really we are only part of everything because
mother earth is what’s really important.
So we need to bring the heart, the compassion, together with the mind
so that we will make wise decisions and ask the right questions.
When we do something, the question to be asked is
- Will this beautify life? Is this making life
more lovely,
more fun,
more enjoyable?
Or is what I do destroying life?
So, then we will make wise decisions.
So, I think women in teaching kindness, which is the greatest virtue,
and teaching compassion and teaching that we are the human family
and we are responsible for each other.
If we bring a new ethic to it, a new sense of value to it,
then a new politics, then we will help men and women working together,
changing the world.
But if women come on board to do the old way of doing things
then we'll just continue making all the mistakes of militarism and war.
So, I hope that women will bring a new value, a new ethic and that together we can,
men and women working together, we can really, really make the 21st century
a real century of non-killing and nonviolence.