3
P
rince
of
A
sturias
A
wards
1981-2014. S
peeches
Laureates. Excerpts
Since its beginnings, the Association for Peace has assumed as its own Ghandi’s well-known
phrase: “There are no ways for peace, peace is the way”, converting it into an authentic pillar of
its message and practice. In fact, the men and women who, in one way or another, have made the
message and the practice of the Association for Peace their own, are people with very different
ideologies and political options, but with one conviction in common: that our ideas and projects
will only have meaning if we develop them and defend them through peaceful means. These are
the only means which will allow us to build a future in peace for everyone and for ever.
The peace which we are claiming is a peace for everyone, because it does not reject any idea or
project defended by peaceful, democratic means. We have rejected violence and we have opted for
words, reason and dialogue.
This is very important. In Euskal Herria, there are no perverse ideas only perverse means.
Nobody must be asked to give up their ideas; only that they make them prosper by resorting to
the only really human means, which are the means of free discussion and conviction. So let us not
place more limitations on ideas than those which are derived from the social adhesion which they
achieve. All political ideas can be defended by peaceful, democratic means. This statement means,
first and foremost, that it is completely illegitimate to resort to violence. But it must also be possible
for any idea to be put forward and developed within the democratic context.
In this way, the peace that we desire will be a peace for all of us, because it will be built by all of
us. All society has an important, active role to play in the construction of a future in peace and in
overcoming the deep, social fissure which violence has created.
But the peace which we are demanding is also a peace for ever. Partial or short-term solutions
are no good to us. We must close this page of our history, avoiding the temptation to go back. A
peace and coexistence for ever must be based on human rights, democratic principles and the
tolerance of political options.
A peace for ever, supported on these pillars, implies a serious option for reconciliation.
We sometimes tend to think that this will be established in a ceremony, a moment, a photo or an
agreement. But reconciliation cannot nor will be fruit of a moment, but of a process in which it will
be necessary for all society to take part to heal the wounds resulting from so many years of violence.
The peace for ever which we long for can only be fruit of the recovery for society of those who
tolerate or use violence. It would be a question of guiding this group back to an open, plural and
only then reconciled society.
María Guijarro, on behalf
of the Association for
Peace in the Basque
Country
—
Prince of Asturias Award
for Concord
1993
The Association for Peace in
the Basque Country ceased its
activities in June 2013, following
the announcement by ETA of the
cessation of its armed activity.
—
Excerpt from the speech given on
the occasion of receiving the Prince
of Asturias Award for Concord on
27/11/1993.
