The Justice

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Betty Williams speaks about her peace work at a conference event Saturday. Craig Johnson/the Justice.

Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Betty Williams spoke about her life as a "peace worker" in Northern Ireland and the need for social reform in the United States in front of about 150 attendees of the Student Peace Alliance National Conference in the Hassenfeld Conference Center last Saturday.

Williams, who is from Belfast, Ireland, won the Nobel Prize in 1977 for her work organizing marches to protest violence in Northern Ireland after witnessing the death of three children as a result of the conflict between Protestants and Catholics in the region.

Williams was introduced by Conference Coordinator Julia Simon-Mishel '09, who played the music video "If Everyone Cared" by Nickelback, which pays homage to peace workers, including Williams, and their work in helping resolve the ongoing conflict in Northern Ireland.

"No child in the world should be born to be killed in war," said Williams, whose two cousins were also killed as a result of the conflict. "The time had come for our movement to start."

After her initial march to the children's graves in 1976, Williams planned a series of 12 rallies, the last of which gathered half a million people in Trafalgar Square, London.

"If you don't believe in miracles, you're a fool," she said. "Miracles happen every day of the week."

Williams currently calls herself a peace worker and serves on the Council of Honor for the United Nations University for Peace in Costa Rica. She is also president of World Centers of Compassion for Children and Chair of The Institute for Asian Democracy in Washington, DC.

"The nitty-gritty 24/7 working for peace is exhausting," Williams said. As co-founder of the Community of Peace People, Williams said, "we've really rebuilt Northern Ireland from the bottom-up….When I walk through the city of Belfast now, my heart soars."

Williams also spoke about the need for change and reform in the United States. "America needs to be reborn," Williams said, citing the desperate need for socialized medicine.

Williams said that the recent initiative to start building the first city of peace for children in the Basilicata Region in Italy would provide a safe place for children to be protected from the repercussions of war.

Continued...

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