Exploration 11

"The compromises we have reached demand sacrifices on all sides. It was not easy for the supporters of Mr. Mandela or mine to relinquish the ideals the had cherished for many decades. But we did it. And because we did it, there is hope". This quote by Frederik Willem de Klerk shows us that everyone can solve a dispute between two parties, even two fierce political rivals like de Klerk and Mandela. F.W. de Klerk was the final president of South Africa of the apartheid era. Since the all presidents have been of the african national congress and not the national party. De Klerk still travels the world and is a very influential speaker internationally to this day.
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1993/klerk-bio.html

The 14th Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyasto. He was chosen to be the next Dalai Lama because it is said as a small child of 2 years of age, he correctly identified his predecessor's belongings in a pile of toys. In recent years, China has invaded and occupied Tibet forcing the Dalai Lama to exile in India. He still continues to spread the Tibetan language and culture as well as human rights. He also is consistently spreading the word of the oppression faced by the tibetan people under China's rule and advocates for their freedom.

His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyasto

Exploration 11 Tyler Lacks

   My favorite passage from the selection of speeches was out of the Nelson Mandela speech, towards the end where he says, "Let the efforts of us all prove that he was not a mere dreamer when he spoke of the beauty of genuine brotherhood and peace being more precious than diamonds or silver or gold.  Let a new age dawn!" (Mandela 633).  This passage was pretty powerful to me because it was just a sort of shout out to how Dr. King did this before and Mandela almost seems to be insinuating that he too is also willing to die for his cause to strive for the ultimate society climate of equally and peace without having to worry about violence or being attacked by anyone due to race or class and it shows how this is a major mile stone to what is to come in the country of South Africa.
   I found that it pretty interesting to see that if Mandela was not imprisoned for as long as he had been, that he might not have gone on to do the things that he did.  In prison he actually made a fool of most of the prison officials that worked there at Robben Island and became a large leader in the prison for his prison comrades.  This experience actually worked heavily in his favor and he might not have even realized it.  He came out of prison a new man essentially even more driven to achieve his goals from the banned ANC with the help of his now fine tuned leadership skills that he had acquired while imprisoned.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/mandela/prison/

   The Dalai Lama is the spiritual leader of the people of Tibet.  The government of China threatened Tibet as the current Dalai Lama assumed the power of Tibet.  The current Dalai Lama has been in exile in India for the last half century by China due to the struggles between the two.  It was odd reading about the stuff involved with this because of how different of a world it is over there.  Everything is run based on a religion and I grew up basically without religion.  It all seemed so different for me.




The Dalai Lama receiving an honorary award for his work with humanitarianism.

Exploration 11

"The compromises we have reached demanded sacrifices on all sides. It was not easy for the supporters of Mr. Mandela or mine to relinquish the ideals they had cherished for many decades."
          This is my favorite passage from Frederik Willem de Klerk's speech. I thought that it was important because it showed how he truly want to help his country. He did not want to just get elected, like many politicians in the United States want to do. He know that many people would not like him but he know in order to free South Africa from Apartheid, which means literally the status of being apart, he had to compromise on many key issues.
          Not only was de Klerk one of the most important figures in ending Apartheid in South Africa but he also ended South Africa's Nuclear Weapons program. This is important because not only did he want his own country to be nonsegregated but he also wanted to stay a peaceful nation.
          <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._W._de_Klerk>
          <http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1993/klerk-bio.html>

          The Dalai Lama is the head of state for the Central Tibetan Administration, or Tibetan government in exile. The reason that Tibetan government is in exile from China today is because the current Dalai Lama criticized the Chinese government for its harsh governing over the country. In 2011 the Dalai Lama stated that the next Dalai Lama might be found outside of Tibet and might be a female. The Chinese government rejected this statement stating that they alone have the power to pic the next Dalai Lama.

In the picture above the Dalai Lama tells China that he is no Demon. 

Exploration 11

One of the passages I find interesting from the Nobel Speech essays would be one of Nelson Mandela, he says:
"This reward will not be measured in money... It will and must be measured by the happiness and the welfare of the children, at once the most vulnerable citizens in any society and the greatest of our treasures. The children must, at last play in the open veld, no longer tortured by the pangs of hunger or ravaged by disease or threatened with the scourge of ignorance, molestation and abuse, and no longer required to engage in deeds whose gravity exceeds the demands of their tender years".

This quote shows what Mandela really fought for. He did not fight and was imprisoned for nearly three decades only for money, but for the future of his country.
He understand that children are the future and like he described them "the greatest treasure of any society". Further, he describes what was like to be a children in the years of apartheid, tortured by hunger, ravaged by disease, and threatened with ignorance, abuse and death. "Kaffir boy" by Mark Mathabane is a book that talks about Mathabane's life growing up in South Africa during the years of apartheid. By reading this book one can really understand what was going on back then, and see the importance of Mandela's speech.

An interesting article I found about South Africa's current education is the following:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-17315157

The article talks about the reality of public schools in South Africa, where the education and finance ministers are being taken to court over poor standards at state schools.

* 80% of state schools classed as "failing"
* 1,700 schools without water.
* 15,000 schools have no library.

When I read this numbers I was amazed. Certainly South Africa has improved since the days of apartheid, however this article show that they are failing in this aspect, which I consider very important. Investment in education should be a priority for South Africa's government.

The Dalai Lama is the head of the Buddhist temple in Tibet, he is also a political leader in this country. The religious name of the current Dalai Lama (the 14th) is Tenzin Gyatzo. He was formally recognized as Dalai Lama when he was only 15. Since then he has made very important contributions like trying to negotiate China out of Tibet, when they invaded after WWII. His continuous efforts gave him many enemies and threatened for his life he flew to India. Today, he travels the world advocating for the welfare of Tibet, teaching Tibetian Buddhism, and talking about compassion as a way of life. A quote I really liked from him is, "Happiness is not something ready made. It come from your own actions".


 "Dalai Lama is on facebook, this is his Cover Photo"

Exploration 11 - Larissa

"We understand their call, that we devote what remains of our lives to the use of our country's unique and painful experience to demonstrate, in practice, that the normal condition for human existence is democracy, justice, peace, non-racism, non-sexism, prosperity for everybody, a healthy environment and equality and solidarity among the peoples." -Nelson Mandela

This passage is important to me because it explains a utopian society that every country and every citizen within that country wishes to be part of.

-Nelson Mandela has a law degree from the College of Fort Hare and the University of Witwatersrand.
-Frederik Willem de Klerk has two sons and a daughter with his wife, Marike.
-Aung San Suy Kyi's country is not known as Burma anymore, it is now called Myanmar.

-http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1993/mandela-bio.html
-http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1993/klerk-bio.html
-http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/myanmar/index.html


The Dalai Lama was the traditional governmental ruler and highest priest of Buddhism in Tibet and Mongolia. The man represents a reincarnation of a series of spiritual leaders. The Dalai Lama that the essay was on was the fourteenth holder of this office. He tried to tell the country that the next Dalai Lama might be found outside of Tibet and might also be a woman. The government officials were upset by his statement and said that only they could truly assign the next Dalai Lama.
I think its silly that the government was mad about this statement. If this character is supposed to be spiritual then the spirits would choose the next Dalai Lama. If it would have happened to be a woman then the citizens should still follow it either way because it would be hypocritical of their religion not to, including the government officials.

Every picture I came upon of the Dalai Lama, he looked very happy and peaceful. I was glad to see that this is his normal composure because I think these are the kind of everyday outlooks and emotions his followers expect and look up to.

Exploration 11

My favorite passage within the Nobel Speech essays is from Nelson Mandela's speech when he says:

"We understand their call, that we devote what remains of our lives to the use of our country's unique and painful experience to demonstrate, in practice, that the normal condition for human existence is democracy, justice, peace, non-racism, non-sexism, prosperity for everybody, a healthy environment and equality and solidarity among the peoples."

This quote truly captures what the ideal circumstances of South Africa are wished to be and what goal they have in mind as the finished product of what their country is all about. He expresses the importance of a world without discrimination and violence. He describes a world that has justice and peace where everyone has an equal opportunity to prosper and grow as a nation. He is not satisfied with small change but wants to make drastic changes and create a world that has something that everyone truly desires in life.

After doing some research on Nelson Mandela i discovered quite a few interesting facts on his life and his influence in both Africa and throughout the world. Nelson is well known for being a global advocate of human rights. He helped fight the white minority's oppresive regime in a racially divided South Africa and risked his own life. He was imprisoned for nearly three decades and made him the face of the antipartheid movement in South Africa. He became the first Black President in South Africa and proved to be a huge political and social figure in South African society.

The Dali Lama has made various claims criticizing the Chinese Government for its repressing rule upon the country. He specifically mentions the backing down on the reform of the Tibetan government and China has refused to Grant Tibet autonomous rule as well. The Dali Lama is known for being a peaceful and spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. The Dali Lama has put an increasing amount of concern and effort within the stirring up of protest against China's current rule in Tibet and has been involved in the protest in convincing China to grant Tibet autonomy.

I believe that the Dali Lama is taking the correct actions in trying to grant Tibet autonomy. I believe his actions are not excessive but correct in his expression for the importance of this matter.

Below the Dalai Lama smiles intently as he expresses his beliefs and thoughts on Tibetan Autonomy. He stares into the eyes of Chinese Government official with his spiritually captivating smile.

Kris' Exploration 11

My favorite passage of the Nobel Peace prize readings comes from "the speech The Revolution of Spirit" by Aung San Suu Kyi (given by one of her sons). She describes the human responsibility as being the realization of spritual opression for democratic change is the type of opression she believes is necessary.

"At the root of that [human] responsibility lies...the concept of perfection, the urge to achieve it, the intelligence to find a path towards it, and the will to follow that path if not to the end, at least the distance needed to rise above indicidual limitation...to live the full life...one must have the courage to bear the responsibility of the needs of others...one must want to bear this responsibility."

This quote signifies what type of leader she was, and proved at least to me that she was fit to succeed as a leader.

Recently, Kyi received an honorary degree from the University of Hong Kong for her efforts to bring democracy and a public education system to Burma.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/26/world/asia/hong-kong-university-delivers-awards-to-aung-san-suu-kyi.html?_r=0>

 

The current Dalai Lama is criticizing the Chinese governmnet that rules over Tibet as repressing the country and backing down on the reform of the Tibetan government. China refuses to grant Tibet autonomous rule as well. The Dalai Lama is the peaceful, spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. He is stirring up controversy with China over the repression and also criticizing future Chinese leaders who will only make matters worse for Tibet. He believes that if nothing is done now, it will only get worse in the future.

 

I believe the Dalai Lama is right; I would fight for autonomy as well. I agree with every action he is taking.

 

 

The 14th Dalai Lama gives a "what the hell?" expression when he is confronted with the current issues concerning the reign of China over Tibet.