Prince of Asturias Awards 1981–2014. Speeches

6 O viedo | C ampoamor T heatre | Each day, millions of people the world over experience the beneficial effect of music, its ability to bring us together, to free our hearts, to move us. These abilities become manifest in these young orchestras. What is more, however, and as their creator, the composer José Antonio Abreu, has stated, the benefits to be reaped from these orchestras, which extend to society as a whole, are most salient in the young people of Venezuela, through the feelings of solidarity and self-esteem that surge inexorably within them. And so the “ Sistema ” (as it is popularly known), which has provided a musical education to hundreds of thousands of children many of whom are victims of poverty, alienation and social isolation, has accomplished the most challenging goals that Maestro Abreu originally set for himself. To recall just one example right now, let us highlight that of Gustavo Dudamel, one of his most outstanding and gifted students, who at the mere age of 27 has already conducted leading orchestras worldwide: a veritable symbol of what music and work undertaken with faith, sacrifice and dedication can achieve. The Award for International Cooperation has been bestowed on four organizations leading the fight against malaria in Africa. These are the Centro de Investigaçao em Saúde de Manhiça, in Mozambique, created and directed by the Spanish doctors Pedro Alonso and his wife Clara Menéndez; the Ifakara Health Research and Development Centre, in Tanzania; the Malaria Research and Training Center, in Mali; and the Kintampo Health Research Centre, in Ghana. The figures regarding this disease are as resounding as they are shocking: malaria threatens forty per cent of the world’s population and is endemic in over one hundred countries; it is the cause of more than a million deaths each year; its main victims are children; and it is considered one of the major reasons why Africa is underdeveloped. Hence the importance of the work these four organizations carry out in the areas of the African continent that constitute what has been called the “Nation of the Poor”; a nation without geographical frontiers, where hunger, conflicts of all kinds, disease and despair have taken root, and where, by living in such tragic conditions, the freedom for each person to choose their own destiny does not exist. Poverty can be found on all continents, in all countries worldwide. But, of all these, Africa suffers the most atrocious and the most absurd of poverties. The starving of Africa are dying on a continent that also nurtures lush crops and is home to most of the planet’s energy and mineral resources. The four meritorious organizations we are distinguishing here today with special admiration work together heroically and humbly, “like a small family”, as Dr Pedro Alonso has stated. But we know that they are much more than just that; that they are moved by a sublime ambition: that of eradicating pain and suffering, of conquering a disease which vents its fury on the most vulnerable to overcome once and for all the terrible combination of poverty and disease that thwarts progress, and even hope, in so many impoverished places in the world. The Award for Technical and Scientific Research has been conferred on five scientists who are experts in Materials Science and Nanotechnology for their extraordinary merits. This discipline works with matter on an atomic scale to study, design and produce novel devices, materials and systems with unique, controlled properties that are also —curiously enough— fundamental for the sustainable development of the planet and in fighting poverty and disease. Their work makes a decisive contribution to human health, energy savings and the use of new sources of clean energy, while enabling fascinating challenges to be addressed and technological breakthroughs to be made. Among the most serious issues mankind faces are environmental conservation and the fight against climate change. In this respect, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, and especially oil, to sustainable levels and putting a brake on the threat of global warming together constitute a major scientific and technological challenge. “The mission of art transcends the horizon of aesthetics and vigorously projects itself onto other fields such as humanistic education, social promotion and ethical commitment.” 24 th O ctober 2008