The Online Reflector

2011 Nobel Peace Prize winner Leymah Gbowee spoke in Ransburg Auditorium on Feb. 15 at 2:30 p.m.

Gbowee is a peace activist and women’s rights advocate. She helped lead a coalition of Christian and Muslim women, the Liberian Mass Action for Peace, which staged public protests to help put an end to the Liberian Civil War that endured for 14 years. Gbowee accepted the award along with Yemeni activist Tawakkul Karman and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the woman who replaced Liberian president Charles Taylor after he was forced to resign and also the first female elected head of state in modern Africa.

The speech was jointly presented by the  UIndy International Relations program and the Sagamore Institute.

Gbowee told her story about why she wanted to make a difference. She described the conditions that Liberia faced as having gone from bad, to worse, to ridiculous and she knew that change was needed.

“We wanted the world to see that there was another side of that story,” Gbowee said. “Whatever we did, we were going to see [the] light of peace in our nation.”

Gbowee said that her actions were guided by her desire to rebuild sisters one woman at a time. That led to keeping the community together and rebuilding and reconciling a divided nation.

“Make the best of what you have, because all you can do for yourself is make your community better one person at a time,” Gbowee said.

After the speech and a standing ovation from the packed audience, Gbowee opened the floor to any questions.

Associate Professor of International Relations Jyotika Saksena played a crucial role in setting up the lecture. She said that getting Gbowee to speak on campus was made possible by the international relations program’s strong partnership with the Sagamore Institute.

“They wanted to know if we would partner with them, and the result was this collaborative event,” Saksena said.

Gbowee’s speech was part of a series of events. “Pray the Devil Back to Hell,” a documentary featuring Gbowee, was shown Feb. 12 at 8 p.m. in Room 010 of the Schwitzer Student Center, and another documentary was shown Feb. 20 at the same location and time.

Saksena believes that Gbowee shared an important message with the campus community.

“This is about how an ordinary person can make a big change,” Saksena said. “I think she used non-cooperation as opposed to violence to achieve her goal–like Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi and Rosa Parks,” Saksena said. “She wasn’t some big person in politics, or a social leader, but she got a lot of people together and had an idea of ending violence. In a world where there is so much war going on, for someone to end a conflict purely by peaceful means, civil disobedience–it’s a big lesson for us.”

Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion Michael Cartwright also played an important role in setting up this event.

“This really is a wonderful opportunity for the campus community,” Cartwright said. “Leymah Gbowee is in some ways Liberia’s Martin Luther King Jr. She is this incredible leader who has managed to use non-violence and her own ingenuity to bring warring factions together. And when you are dealing with Charles Taylor and the war lords in Liberia, that’s no small accomplishment.”

Gbowee has continued her work by serving as the executive director of the Women Peace and Security Network Africa, which aims to strengthen women’s capacities to sustain their engagement in conflict prevention, peace building and peace support, among other things.

“There are people at Manchester [College] who remember [Martin Luther] King [Jr.] speaking,” Cartwright said. “This is not the same time and not the same situation, but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if in 40 years people are saying, ‘I was there when Leymah Gbowee spoke.’ She’s just really that kind of important moral figure.”

Cartwright also said that Gbowee provides students who have a deep longing to make a difference in the world with a great example of how she was able to make a difference with other people.

During the question-and-answer portion of the event, Gbowee spoke about how small actions can make large differences.

“You see the little changes in communities, and it’s difficult to ignore,” Gbowee said. “Even the seemingly powerless are very powerful and can bring about changes.”