Angelika Beer
MdEP

Begr¸þungsrede von Angelika Beer f¸r Bianca Jagger in Br¸ssel

11.12.2004

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Most honourable guests,
Excellencies

It is a pleasure to welcome all of you on this cold Saturday night for a heart warming event.

There are three types of people:

ï Those who see things happen,

ï Those who wonder how things happen

ï And finally those who make things happen!


One of these very special persons is with us tonight.
I welcome Bianca Jagger!

Ladies and gentleman,
In front of you there are two different people, seemingly women out of very different worlds. The artist and fighter for human rights and social justice, Bianca Jagger and the politician Angelika Beer. In public opinion the fighter succeeds very often and finds positive results and solutions, the politician talks and has rarely visible and immediate results.

Dear guests this is a typical black and white picture and is far from reality. The work and the efforts behind successes are seldom visible.
It was my personal wish and pleasure to have Bianca Jagger here with us tonight, as my personal biggest contribution to a humane world was the fight against landmines. In the years when I was not a member of a parliament I organised for Medico International the first campaign against landmines, their production, distribution and use wherever in the world. This aim was running around the world and only some years later, this international campaign against landmines was honoured with the Peace Nobel Price. Not for me as a person but for the institutions involved. This fight is far from over today, millions of mines still exist and although anti-personal-mines are almost banned, the anti-vehicle-mines still are a big threat and not to forget: Everyday hundreds of children, women and men get killed or crippled by these horrible weapons that can not differentiate between combatants, farmers and school kids. This fight will go on, inside and outside the parliaments all over the world, with all support available, until this danger to humanity is finally banned and all mines destroyed.

This is the link to GOs, NGOs and privately organized campaigns like the ones successfully conducted by Bianca Jagger. We unite in the fight against social and economical injustice, the fight for environmental protection, the fight against landmines and in other fields. These efforts are not restricted to VIPs or so called VIPs only, these campaigns can and should be supported and joined by all citizens, people like all of you in this room.

I was elected in June this year to the European Parliament, where I work in the field of Foreign Affairs, Security, Defence, Human Rights and: in the Delegation for the relations with the Republic of Iran as the President.

When I heard than you will receive the Alternative Nobel Prize - my first reaction was, you have to be invited to Brussels, to the EU to promote your work and to support it better in the future.
For me and in my fields of politics it was clear, that in the work for the people of Iran we should easily find common fields of activities.

Why not joining hands to positively influence the reality in Iran:
Human rights, gender and death penalty.
This is my offer to you and my wish is that we can find actions where the politicians and the active citizens like you unite and strive together for success.

Dear Bianca Jagger,

The alternative nobel-price was initiatet by Jakob von Uexk¸ll ñ twenty years ago. A prize who honours those who contribute Civil Society. T those who contribute to Sustainable Development. Let me name only a few of them:

• Uri Avneri for his fight for peace in Middle East
• Petra Kelly for bringing forward a new vision
• JosÈ Luxemburger for protecting the natural environment of Brazil
• Vandana Shiva for fighting for a world without biotech
• the Association of the "Soldiers Mothers" for their fight against violence in the Russian army
• Mordechai Vanunu for revealing Israeli's nuclaer programme
• And last but not least in 1984 Wangari Maathai from Kenia got the Alternative Nobel Prize and yesterday she received the official Nobel Prize for Peace in Oslo.

And actually,two days ago, you were in the Swedish Parliament, getting one of the four Alternative Nobel Prizes of this year.

The Jury put down the reasons in one sentance - better than I could do it.

I quote: "Bianca Jagger has shown how celebrity can be put forward at the service of the exploited and disadvantaged, her longstanding commitment and dedicated campaigning over a wide range of issues of human rights, social justice and environmental protection, including the abolition of the death penalty, the prevention of child abuse, the rights of the indigenous peoples and the prevention and healing of armed conflicts."

Let me end: it s a pleasure for me and all your guests, to have you with us!

 

 

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