Prince of Asturias Awards 1981–2014. Speeches

7 P rince of A sturias A wards 1981-2014. S peeches Speech XXII Many years have now gone by since we began, full of hope, to hold this ceremony, and it is an enormous joy to see how our Awards have become established and are more and more a cultural and social reality of the highest magnitude. What was at the outset little more than a hopeful project and an obstacle-ridden challenge is now a major, well-established, prestigious event with ever-greater international resonance, which augurs it the brightest of futures. Achieving such success, which I am well aware has been by no means easy, validates the philosopher’s conviction that our lives take on a deeper meaning when we strive to fulfil our dreams. For this reason, I would like to reiterate my recognition of our Trustees, of the members of the Juries for the Awards and the people who have given over many hours of their lives to the Foundation with discretion and generosity. I return to Asturias to relive all these sentiments once again, with the emotions of the home comer, of somebody returning to a land where affection and human warmth are never lacking. The people of Asturias have always known how to open themselves to the outside world, to establish dialogue, to lend themselves bravely to the noblest of causes. In the very special circumstances that bring us together today, they unite in their heartfelt, noble hospitality to welcome those arriving from so many parts of Europe and other continents to spend a memorable day with us. Asturias knows how much I appreciate and value this generous attitude toward the Awards that bear their name. The beloved city of Oviedo is once again the forum where we reflect out loud about our deepest concerns, which are often the direct outcomes of the changes that throw the world into turmoil and alter it with uncontrollable force. We aspire to making our Awards the voice of those who so often do not have that voice, the voice of the abandoned, of those who suffer injustice, of those who defend freedom and are persecuted for defending it. Their struggle, which will never fail to be our struggle, strengthens our faith that a fairer, more fraternal world, freed of terror and fanaticisms, is possible. We have no wish to turn our backs on hope; we wish to continue to believe in what the beautiful verse of the unforgettable Borges termed “the dawn that works marvels”. The roll call of this year’s Laureates, like those of previous years, is a truly outstanding one. It vividly expresses the vocation at the heart of our Awards to be the very conscience of our times, a stimulus to creativity and a spur to the highest values. We wish them to serve as an example for society as a whole, but particularly for our younger generation, who are always in our thoughts. The American writer Arthur Miller, recipient of the Award for Literature, embodies in his very essence the ideas and values we strive to extol. Twentieth-century theatre would be inconceivable without the awareness raising that the work of this exceptional playwright propounds. All My Sons , Death of a Salesman , The Crucible , A View from the Bridge and After the Fall are examples of a work unmarked by the passage of time. His work has become classic and is staged time after time throughout the world’s theatres. His drama focuses in themain on the contemporary problems of the average American, the strains and discords between parents and children, social conflict, the strangleholds of persecution and the lack of freedom in environments dominated by narrow-mindedness and prejudice. Thus, his work also deals with universal, age-old issues and “We aspire to making our Awards the voice of those who so often do not have that voice, the voice of the abandoned, of those who suffer injustice, of those who defend freedom and are persecuted for defending it.” Watch video