Prince of Asturias Awards 1981–2014. Speeches

10 O viedo | C ampoamor T heatre | left elbow —which determined his style of running— and his heart filled with all the enthusiasm in the world, until he became one of the best long distance runners of all time. As we have recalled on this very stage on previous occasions, sporting success is even greater when, as he does, individuals make the effort to pass on their most ambitious dreams by helping others, above all the underprivileged. Gebrselassie is very sensitive to the deficiencies and difficulties his countrymen suffer each day and so has been the driving force behind The Great Ethiopian Run initiative, the aim of which is to promote the mass participation of Ethiopians in athletics events. He has also built schools for young children and is a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Millennium Development Goals and the United Nations Development Programme. I am therefore sure that Haile Gebrselassie would like to draw the attention of us all to the fact that in his country, Ethiopia, and in Kenya and Djibouti, hundreds of thousands of Somalian refugees are desperately seeking aid. They are starving to death. As I speak these words here, on this evening of culture, of concord, they sound even more dramatic. We cannot return home without reflecting on this unjust, cruel tragedy. We cannot remain unmoved by and indifferent to so much suffering. The people who are starving to death in Somalia and in the surrounding countries do not merit this fate. We must all assume responsibility and help put an end to this humanitarian crisis, as do so many aid workers and volunteers through their generous work at great personal risk, including the two Spanish aid workers who, we hope, will soon return safe and sound. The Award for Concord has been bestowed on the people who have, since last March, been working round the clock at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan in order to contain the radiation leakages and who have so rightfully earned the title of “Heroes of Fukushima”. As the Jury has stated, through this Award, our Foundation also wishes to highlight “the serene, self-sacrificing response of Japanese society as a whole” following the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that razed the country’s north-eastern coast. Through their bravery and generosity, the Heroes of Fukushima represent all the selflessness stirring us to do good, to renounce everything, even one’s own life, for the sake of others, a spirit we would like to see multiplied wherever necessary to bring an end to pain and injustice. Overcoming the loss of their loved ones and their property, the suffering caused by a desperately dramatic situation, they immediately confronted the threat to the damaged power plant with magnanimity, a sense of duty and a civic conscience. This evening, we once more express our support and affection for the people of Japan, whose huge losses in terms of both human lives and physical damage and whose exemplary behaviour in the face of adversity have moved us all. Spain feels one with Japan in its suffering and sympathises with its populace, who have shown how to cope with this disaster with temperance, discipline and serenity. We are touched by the behaviour of the “Heroes of Fukushima”. We are thrilled by their courage and astounded by their fortitude. For all these reasons, we pay tribute today to their immense spirit of sacrifice and the example they have given the world. Ladies and Gentlemen, dear Laureates, This year we commemorate the bicentennial of the death of Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, a key figure in the Spanish Enlightenment. His life’s work is a tribute to the noblest of patriotic sentiments and the struggle against the evils and ignorance blighting his age. He was led always by the guiding lights of knowledge, morals and ethics. On his appointment as Minister for Justice and Mercy, he wrote: “I shall do good; I shall avoid all the evil I am able to.” Those words define this great Spaniard who contributed so much to the progress of Asturias and whose ideas are a yardstick for us all, all the more so in these difficult times, so similar to those he himself endured. We are certainly not living in an easy time, but it is our time, the time we have been given to live. We are today living through a crisis, an already lengthy crisis, that affects us all deeply and has serious “Our Foundation helps to keep alive, in these difficult times, the values and goals for which it was instituted more than thirty years ago.” 21 st O ctober 2011