c. 1998 Religion News Service

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. _ One could almost hear the murmuring words of John Lennon’s 1960s anti-war song,”Give Peace A Chance”wafting over the pastoral campus of the University of Virginia as nine Nobel peace laureates called for nations to end war and political oppression.

The nine laureates _ heroes of struggles to end violence in places from Guatemala to East Timor and from Tibet to South Africa _ met for two days in a conference that attracted some 3,000 people to listen to them talk about the causes that led to their winning the prize.

But not only did they talk about their causes; each wrestled with ways to bring human rights, peace and prosperity to a world divided between poverty and wealth and torn by revenge-driven wars and genocide.

And each agreed that solutions to the world’s problems begin with each person acting not only politically but also spiritually.”We urge the international community to seek new ways of promoting justice, reconciliation and peace in societies making the transition from repression to democracy and from conflict to civil societies under the rule of law,”the laureates said in a statement at the end of the conference.

Participants included laureates Jose Ramos-Horta of East Timor; Betty Williams of Northern Ireland; Rigoberta Menchu Tum of Guatemala; Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa; Oscar Arias Sanchez of Costa Rica; Harn Yawnghwe, representing Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma; the Dalai Lama of Tibet; and Americans Bobby Muller and Jody Williams, cofounders of the International Campaign to Ban Land Mines.

The statement addressed specific conflicts over Tibet, Burma and East Timor as well as the proliferation of land mines, arms sales, the rights of indigenous people and children’s rights.

The Dalai Lama, who has been exiled from his homeland since 1959 when Chinese forces invaded Tibet, said world peace begins with each person finding”inner peace”with his own concerns.”From that inner peace, outer peace grows and you reach out to others,”he said.

The Dalai Lama also told a gathering of students taking classes in Tibetan Buddhism that despite the Chinese government’s cancellation of his planned trip to Tibet and Beijing, the Tibetan cause for a special self-governing autonomy is gaining popularity among Chinese people.

That was underlined by the reaction of a Chinese-American student from Portsmouth, Va., whom the Dalai Lama stopped as he was leaving the session. He hugged her, adding,”I need your help.” The student, Meime Ng, said later the meeting was”emotional.”She said most Chinese-Americans and many in China agree with the Dalai Lama’s call for self rule for Tibet under the umbrella of the nation of China.

Tutu, who played a major role in the defeat of apartheid, South Africa’s system of racial separation, said his nation may have hit on a tool for peace through its Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which he led.

Amnesty was offered to black and white South Africans who came forward, acknowledged their guilt of crimes, then sought forgiveness. Invariably, he said, victims forgave their tormentors.

Jody Williams, who played a prominent role in the campaign to ban land mines and was also active in Central American human rights causes, said stories of the savagery of people being skinned alive, raped and murdered by death squads once embittered her.

But, she told the conference, she came to believe that she will not let her anger drag her into the same evil. Perpetrators will one day be accountable, she said.

Yet, Jose Ramos-Horta of East Timor said efforts are already under way there to establish a system to address the anger brought on by the Indonesian invasion of his land and the subsequent deaths of a third of East Timor’s population. He said an estimated 230,000 East Timorese were killed after the Indonesian invasion that was backed by U.S. military aid to Indonesia.

Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi would not leave her nation to attend the conference out of fear military leaders there would not allow her to re-enter her country. But, Yawnghwe, speaking for her, said that, as in South Africa and East Timor, efforts are already underway in Burma to defuse any anger toward the military after democracy is restored.

All laureates agreed that part of bringing peace to the globe should be a commitment by the United States to end its military support of dictatorships.

Arias warned against a future conflict between the haves and have-nots in the world as long as the industrialized nations continue to horde the world’s wealth. Arias, the former president of Costa Rica who brokered disarmament deals with neighboring Panama and with Haiti, said global peace will be blocked unless the world’s nations disarm.

He said that a starting point is with land mines, followed by nuclear weapons, and he took a swipe at what he suggested was President Clinton’s hypocrisy on the issue.”President Clinton speaks to the benefits of disarmament while U.S. missiles fly over Sudan, and while the U.S. government assures the Pentagon billions of dollars more than it asks for.”he said.

Northern Ireland’s Betty Williams told the audience what they did counted.”Don’t be afraid and don’t think your voice doesn’t make a difference,”said the 1976 laureate who won her prize for efforts to overcome Protestant-Catholic hostilities.”Your voice makes a huge difference.”

DEA END RNS