World Summit Of Nobel Peace Laureates Begins Today
By Chuck Sudo in News on Apr 23, 2012 3:10PM
The 12th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates begins today at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The three-day event will be co-chaired by former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev the Hon. Walter Veltroni, former Mayor of Rome.
Most of the events for the summit will be centered at the UIC Forum, with events scheduled at the Art Institute, Field Museum, J.W. Marriott Hotel and Symphony Center. The theme of the summit, "Speak Up, Speak Out for Freedom and Rights," will focus on engaging and empowering youth to action through a series of plenary sessions and breakout discussions. Summit organizers are also partnering with Chicago Public Schools and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights to connect Nobel Laureates in sharing their powerful stories directly with Chicago students in the classroom, with Nobel Laureates visiting Chicago Public Schools locations this morning.
An opening luncheon featuring a keynote address by former President Jimmy Carter will begin at 11:30 a.m. Other Nobel Peace Prize laureates attending the summit include former Polish President Lech Walesa, former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, The Dalai Lama, and former South African President Frederik Willem de Klerk.
It's the first time the summit will be held in North America. Mayor Rahm Emanuel said when the summit was announced in November.
“The decision to host this event in Chicago reflects the profile of our city as an international leader in civic dialogue and community involvement. While the summit is a global event, it will have a local impact and leave a lasting legacy on our city.”
The summit comes weeks before the May NATO summit. Anti-NATO and LGBTQ protesters plan a protest outside the UIC Forum at noon to protest the Obama administration's prosecution of alleged wikileaker, Army Private Bradley Manning. Manning is accused providing to Wikileaks the U.S. State Department cables which exposed the Bush and Obama administration's dealings with a host of dictators and human rights abusers around the world, and evidence of U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan. (Obama is a 2009 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.)
Anti-NATO protest leader Andy Thayer said in a statement:
"The Obama and Emanuel administrations organized the Nobel summit to give a pro-peace, pro-human rights gloss to NATO, using the Nobel laureates as window-dressing to rehabilitate the largest military alliance in world history. Nothing could be further from the ideals espoused by Arthur Nobel when he set up the Prize and it's a travesty that President Obama would use the Peace Prize to promote his pro-war policies."
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mairead Maguire canceled a scheduled appearance at the summit, citing a statement by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the State Department is an “active partner” in the event.