Marjane Satrapi 2024 Princess of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities

Good evening to you all. First of all, I would like to express my profound gratitude  for this extraordinary award that you have granted me. 

Now, since this is the matter in hand, let us talk about humanity. Among those  biologists call true animals, i.e. mammals, man is the only one who kills his female. We  classify this behaviour as bestial, even though no beast –apart from us– commits such an act. That is humanity.

However, there are also humans who lose their lives at the hands of their torturers to  protect their fellow human beings, to avoid betraying them, and I know all too well what I am  talking about. This is also called humanity. There are members of the orchestra who play a  symphony and bestow us with the purest form of beauty, while there are those who  orchestrate wars and who are decorated with a new medal for every hundred litres of blood  they spill.

And we applaud both with the same fervour.;

By this, I wish to say that I do not have an idealized vision of human beings and that I  experience that very same duality in myself. I accept both my violence and my benevolence,  always in the hope that the latter will prevail over the former.

For a long time I believed that education was the key to any person being able to live  with dignity, without ever suffering brutality or humiliation because of their sex, race or  colour. But didn’t Goebbels have a PhD in philosophy? Hadn’t Dr Mengele taken the  Hippocratic Oath? Are we not mistaken in our definition of education? Perhaps before  educating our children to be socially and economically successful, we should teach them that  true success lies first and foremost in humanism; that what has made man rise above all other  living beings in the world is that he created societies; and that a society only exists because – unlike an animal that is condemned to die when it breaks a leg– we take care of our fellow  men. We hoist them onto our backs and take them to safety.

Man alone cannot survive in nature. He only survives by uniting with others and  creating societies. And the condition sine qua non to achieve this is empathy. Perhaps when  educating our children, instead of teaching them to learn everything by heart and regurgitating it like parrots, we should teach them ethics, manners and, above all, compassion and kindness.

Although I assure you that I am not one to turn the other cheek. I would respond to one slap  with ten, but I strive never to strike the first blow.

Finally, I will read you a poem by Saadi, the great 13th-century Iranian poet:

Human beings are like parts of a body,
created from the same essence.
When one part is hurt and in pain,
The others cannot remain in peace and be quiet.
If the misery of others leaves you indifferent,
and with no feelings of sorrow,
You cannot be called a human being.

Thank you for listening to me, and my thanks to humanity as a whole.