Prince of Asturias Awards 1981–2014. Speeches

7 P rince of A sturias A wards 1981-2014. S peeches Speech XII “May they know that I have lived fighting for life and peace.” I employ this verse by Blas de Otero in order to pay homage to the work of President de Klerk and Nelson Mandela. We can always find just the right words to express the most beautiful tasks in poetry. Ladies and Gentlemen, The road to peace has united them in a dialogue that, in spite of being full of obstacles, has been repeatedly pushed forward by their courage, thereby highlighting one of the most splendid examples of how good faith and generosity transform solitude into company and violence into peace. The progress of their esteemed task reminds us that in order for freedom and justice to reign in society, as they said in Ancient Greece, politics must be subordinated to morality. Victory over the great tragedy of AIDS, an illness that not only destabilises the immunological defences of the body. But also society itself when it discriminates, marginalises or stigmatises those who suffer from it, is one of the great challenges facing mankind in modern times. It is admirable to see a woman, Elizabeth Taylor, at the pinnacle of success, transform her life into sacrifice and, with persistent dedication, head the most important international non-governmental organization, the American Foundation for AIDS Research, in order to convey its noble ideals far and wide across the Earth. It is our desire that this Award should bring hope to those that suffer from the illness, promote confidence in those who may be afraid of it and serve as a homage to all those who struggle to conquer it on so many different fronts. I feel an identical admiration for the rest of the Laureates, withwhomI share the spiritual homeland of language. InEmilioGarcíaGómez, FedericoGarcíaMoliner, RobertoMatta, JuanVelarde Fuertes, Francisco Nieva and Miguel Induráin, I find the common bond of tremendous heart and a life sustained by an ethical spirit. In a year as meaningful for Spain as this, in which so many milestones in our history are being celebrated, the Foundation could not have found —and for this I congratulate its Juries— a better representation of the spirit and aspirations of these Awards. As I express my gratitude to the Juries, who have fulfilled their mission so discerningly, I would like to dedicate a very special mention, full of affection at the same time that it is full of profound sorrow, to Antonio Pedrol Ríus, who presided over one of these Juries and who we have recently had the terrible misfortune of losing. I have recently come back from Chile, a country that I visited for the first time and where I encountered the memory of Spain. Also for the first time, a Chilean is receiving this Award, and I want to take advantage of this moment to send my deep gratitude to President Aylwin and the people of Chile for their hospitality and the warm welcome with which they received me. Matta, creator of signs and spaces, is a peerless artist who honours Chile and Spanish America. His fantasy and imagination will be recognized in art history as well as in his influence on generations of artists in Europe and on the other shore of the Atlantic. It is difficult to summarise the vast, fruitful and matchless work of Emilio García Gómez, whose admirable vitality is as vast as his modesty. A first-rate humanist and learned Spaniard, he has made it possible through his work for one of the cultural roots of Spain, that which links us to the Arab world, to remain alive and fecund. “In order for freedom and justice to reign in society, as they said in Ancient Greece, politics must be subordinated to morality.” Watch video