February 26, 1997 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks E327 PHILADELPHIA OLDTIMERS SOC- ADDRESS BY FRANCIS SEJERSTED solution to the twenty-year-old conflict in CER ASSOCIATION 50TH ANNI- East Timor. To reach this peaceful VERSARY winterland Norway, you have come about as HON. FRANK R. WOLF far from your home country as it is possible OF VIRGINIA to travel on this earth. Yet the distance be- IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES tween us is much shorter in miles than in op- HON. ROBERT A. BORSKI portunities for peace, justice and reconcili- Wednesday, February 26, 1997 ation. We are grateful and proud that, in the OF PENNSYLVANIA Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, last November, middle of your important and self-sacrificing IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Bishop Carlos Ximenes Belo and Dr. Jose work, you have found time for the journey Ramos-Horta were awarded the Nobel Peace here, thereby giving us this opportunity to Wednesday, February 26, 1997 honour you. Prize for their efforts in bringing peace to East The conflict in East Timor has been called Mr. BORSKI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to Timor. I had the opportunity to attend the ‘‘the forgotten conflict’’. It has not, however, commemorate the 50th anniversary of the ceremony in Oslo with my colleague, the gen- been completely forgotten, having figured on Philadelphia Oldtimers Soccer Association. I tleman from Ohio, TONY HALL, who nominated the international agenda, with varying de- Bishop Belo for the prize in 1994 and 1995. I grees of prominence, throughout those twen- would like to speak in honor of this group be- ty years. But it has so to speak never caught cause of their commitment to the community. then had the opportunity to visit Bishop Belo in East Timor in January. on. There have been so many other interests They have focused their love of a sport into an and regards to attend to, and East Timor is organization that makes a positive contribution As part of our bipartisan effort to recognize so small. Rarely has the cynicism of world to the youth of Philadelphia. the Nobel Prize winners today, I am submitting politics been more clearly demonstrated. for the RECORD the speech made by the chair- The numerous considerations of ‘‘Realpoli- Founded in 1947, the Philadelphia Oldtimers man of the Nobel Committee when he pre- tik’’ have enabled an exceptionally brutal Soccer Association [POSA] was a synthesis of sented the award. form of neocolonialism to take place. Of a managers, benefactors, and players. The ADDRESS BY FRANCIS SEJERSTED, CHAIRMAN population of between six and seven hundred founders original intent to give something back OF THE NORWEGIAN NOBEL COMMITTEE, ON thousand, nearly two hundred thousand have to young people participating in the sport has THE OCCASION OF THE AWARD OF THE NOBEL died as the direct or indirect result of the In- been upheld through POSA programs for 50 PEACE PRIZE FOR 1996 donesian occupation. And the violations are still taking place today. Many are the coun- years. POSA makes this contribution through Your Majesties, Presidents, Excellencies, tries which have given higher priority to ladies and gentlemen: On behalf of the Nor- many different means. their ‘‘Realpolitical’’ cooperation with Indo- wegian Nobel Committee, may I extend to nesia than to regard for East Timor. This is The National Soccer Hall of Fame included everyone a warm welcome to this year’s the apparently hopeless situation in which the Philadelphia Oldtimers Hall of Fame origi- Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. It is one hun- our two Laureates have so untiringly striven nal inductees as founding members in 1953. dred years to the day since Alfred Nobel for a just and peaceful arrangement for their There are now 16 members of POSA in the died. A year earlier, he had drawn up his people. National Hall of Fame. At an annual banquet, will, in which he determined that his consid- The autumn of 1975 was fateful for East POSA honors a male and female coach of the erable wealth should provide for annual Timor. First the old colonial masters, the year, a referee of the year, a manager of the awards of five prizes, three for science, one Portuguese, withdrew. Then an internal year, male and female player of the year, and for literature, and one for peace, to those struggle broke out between the Timorese whose work, as he wrote, ‘‘shall have con- a club of the year. Democratic Union on the one hand and the ferred the greatest benefit on mankind’’. It Fretilin liberation movement on the other. POSA annually selects an all-scholastic was also laid down in the will that the Peace And the autumn ended with the Indonesian team. The Philadelphia Catholic, Philadelphia Prize should be awarded in Norway by a com- invasion. In the twenty-one years that have Public, Inter-Academic, and Suburban One mittee appointed by the Norwegian storting. passed since, this conquest of a country and Leagues individually submit candidates for the Our thoughts today go also to Stockholm, a people has never been internationally where the other awards are being made, and recognised. Ramos-Horta was a Fretilin lead- POSA team. The final 22 players and 4 alter- where the centenary is being marked of the nates are selected through a tryout process er, one of the moderates whose ideal was so- death of Alfred Nobel. cial democracy. During the so-called civil from a pool of about 90 players. This final Nobel was, of course, an unusually success- war, he was out of the country, and on his re- team goes on to play teams from Lehigh Val- ful businessman. But that was not where his turn in September he tried to reconcile the ley, western suburban Philadelphia, Staten Is- heart lay. His happiest times were spent in parties. Since the invasion he has lived land, Cape May, and other prominent local the laboratory. Inventions, it has been said, abroad, unceasingly and with great personal clubs. became for him a way of life. He was also sacrifice collecting and communicating in- very widely read. He was in other words formation on the repression, torture and Helping the players receive college scholar- greatly interested, indeed a believer, in killing in his home country, and acting as ship funding is one of the oldtimers fundamen- science and literature. What was remarkable East Timor’s principal international spokes- tal goals, and the all-scholastic team provides was his moral approach to those activities, man. At the same time he has successfully a medium through which college coaches can which he saw as opportunities for promoting kept up his efforts to unite the various East assess and recruit POSA players. Many mem- a better world. This perspective emerges Timorese groups in a single national front, bers of the team have received scholarships, most clearly in his decision concerning a while constantly seeking opportunities for a peace prize. It can be argued that the inven- with some continuing on to play professional peaceful solution to the conflict with Indo- tion of dynamite, and concern at the more nesia, based on respect for the integrity of soccer. powerful weapons which it made possible, the East Timorese people. ‘‘We used to joke POSA has recently added a new focus to its contributed to his increasing commitment to that he was more an informal member of the effortsÐthe development of a girls program. peace. But there were other impulses, too, Democratic Union than a Fretilin leader,’’ They are committed to offering the same op- impulses which appealed to his deeply rooted says Union leader Joa˜ o Carrascala˜ o. The re- moral instincts, first and foremost his con- mark illustrates the part played by Ramos- portunity to girls that the boys all-scholastic tact with the future Peace Prize Laureate Horta as a mediator and conciliator. No seri- team has provided to its players in the past. Bertha von Suttner and with the contem- ous negotiations aimed at resolving the con- POSA's move to provide female soccer play- porary peace movement. flict are conceivable today without the par- ers with the same springboard to college soc- Nobel left an important inheritance, con- ticipation of Ramos-Horta or one of his cer is a step in a positive direction for female sisting of a vision of a better world, and an aides, as Bishop Belo has also emphasized. athletes in the Philadelphia area. award institution which was to contribute to As a relatively unknown priest, Bishop the realization of that vision. We who have Belo was appointed Apostolic Administrator When the POSA teams put their best foot been entrusted with managing that inherit- for the Roman Catholic church in East forward, they are also representing the best of ance do so in humility and with deep respect Timor in 1983, since when he has served on Philadelphia. Not only are they building a rep- for the man Alfred Nobel, whose memory we his home ground. Again and again, in the utation of great soccer and teamwork for honour today. midst of everyday terror and suffering, he themselves, they are contributing to the rep- It is with great pleasure, and in the convic- has intervened, trying to reconcile and medi- utation and success of Philadelphia's student tion that with this year’s choice we have ate and lessen confrontation, and in doing so managed Nobel’s inheritance in the best pos- he has saved many lives. Intervening in a athletes. On their 50th anniversary I would like sible way, that we welcome our Peace Prize violent conflict entails a risk of being to congratulate the Philadelphia Oldtimers Laureates today. Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo crushed between the antagonists. ‘‘Pray for Soccer Association and its players on their and Jose´ Ramos-Horta have been awarded me, please,’’ he said in one such situation, achievements, and wish them future success the Nobel Peace Prize for 1996 for their long- ‘‘because now I have to defend myself on in the sport of soccer and beyond. lasting efforts to achieve a just and peaceful both sides’’. But Bishop Belo has become E328 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks February 26, 1997 much more than a mediator: this man of LECTURE BY JOSE´ RAMOS-HORTA er and alone. Some of our good friends have peace has also become a rallying point for passed away from this Earth. Denis Freney, his sorely tried people, a representative of Michelle Turner, Michel Robert, Carlos their hope for a better future. The love his HON. PATRICK J. KENNEDY Vilares, the little and beautiful Sarah Taylor people feel for this mediator springs from OF RHODE ISLAND whom God took away at age 15. We will re- certain fundamental principles he has ad- IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES member them for ever. hered to. Show the people respect. Give them Wednesday, February 26, 1997 ANGOLA, CAPE VERDE, GUINEA-BISSAU, MOZAMBIQUE, SA˜ O TOME´ AND PRINCIPE freedom to develop their humanity to the Mr. KENNEDY of Rhode Island. Mr. Speak- full. Then ask them whether they want to be My special greetings of friendship and eter- er, in honor of Mr. Jose Ramos-Horta's visit to nal gratitude to my good friend, President Indonesians, Portuguese, or independent. Washington, DC, the week of February 24, Joaquim Chissano of Mozambique, for having Bishop Belo shares with his people the in- taken the trouble to fly to Oslo to be with sight of the oppressed, an insight deeper 1997, I ask permission to include in the RECORD the Nobel Lecture of Jose Ramos- us. than that of generals or oppressors. Why all You have been with us in our most lonely this brutality? It does not even serve its pur- Horta before the Norwegian Nobel Committee years when the rest of the world pretended pose. You do not gain respect if you do not on December 10, 1996. we did not exist or offered us advice on how show respect. THE NOBEL LECTURE GIVEN BY THE NOBEL best to surrender. From this noble rostrum I PEACE PRIZE LAUREATE 1996 JOSE´ RAMOS- bow to your late predecessor, Samora Moise´s This year has seen the commemoration, HORTA Machel, one of the greatest men Africa has forty years on, of the Soviet Union’s brutal My deepest appreciation goes to the Nobel known. crushing of the popular rising in Hungary in Committee for having chosen us for the 1996 My special greetings and deepest gratitude 1956. The West did not intervene. Since Hun- Nobel Peace Prize. Your generosity in think- to Presidents Jose´ Eduardo dos Santos of gary lay within the Soviet sphere of interest, ing of the wretched of the earth, and your Angola, Mascarenhas Monteiro of Cape it was necessary ‘‘Realpolitik’’ to accept the courage in standing up to the might of Verde, Nino Vieira of Guinea-Bissau, and invasion. We would do well to recall that at States, the cynicism and indifference of too Miguel Trovoada of Sa˜ o Tome´ and Principe that time, a marking of the event forty many, betrayal by some, tells also a lot for their friendship and generosity. years later in a free Hungary lay beyond the about the soul and history of courage of this Your peoples and countries have been with us through our lonely years and I believe bounds of what most people thought pos- great country of yours that fought bravely that you will be with us still in the years to sible. It has been said that Indonesia’s an- during World War II. come. nexation of East Timor is a historic fact. But In recent years Norway has played a central role in fostering dialogue and peace To the people of Angola who have suffered history has never established anything as a among historical enemies. In the Middle beyond imagination and are still in a painful fact forever. History always moves on. If we East and Central America, your discreet na- process of national reconciliation, I extend have learned anything in the past decade, it ture, determination and creativity have our solidarity and friendship. must be that the most repressive regimes are proven that some of the world’s seemingly Angola paid a heavy price for the libera- the most fragile. There are forces in history intractable conflicts can be resolved when tion of Namibia and South Africa. Yet there more powerful than the strongest military there is an honest mediator and when the has not been enough recognition of the enor- force. Violence and terror do not lead to parties in the conflict are willing to end the mous contribution that the two lusophone peace. Not until one builds up the courage to war. countries. Angola and Mozambique, gave to the liberation of Southern Africa. break out of the vicious circle of violence do Small countries like Norway, Costa Rica opportunities arise for an enduring peace. and Portugal, and others, can succeed in me- PORTUGAL diating conflicts when mighty powers failed. I wish to state from this august rostrum The right to live, the right to full develop- Diplomacy and mediation are not preroga- the eternal gratitude of the people of East ment as human beings, the right to respect, tives of the major powers. The small and me- Timor and my own to the people of Portugal, are at the heart of the concept of human dium-size countries without ambitions to a the President, our good friend Dr. Jorge rights. Since the award of the Nobel Peace neo-imperial role and whose strength is Sampaio and his predecessor, Dr. Ma´ rio Prize for 1960 to Albert Luthuli, work for there moral integrity are best placed to open Soares, a man of principles and compassion. human rights has been one of the principal dialogue among the parties in a conflict. Through Your Excellency, Mr. President, I humbly ask you to convey to your wonderful criteria for the award. We have constantly THE EAST TIMORESE CHURCH received confirmation that this was the right and generous people, members of Parliament The real winner of the 1996 Nobel Peace and government, past and present, our most path to take, although the choice of this cri- Prize is our spiritual leader, Dom Carlos terion has also been criticized because it al- heartfelt appreciation for your gallant ef- Filipe Ximenes Belo. He is the embodiment forts in support of our struggle. legedly has nothing to do with peace. But it of the East Timorese people’s resilience, For many years you fought a lonely battle is precisely in forging a close link between moral rectitude, dignity and identity, and its in the European Union against the indiffer- the human rights criterion and peace that long quest for peace and freedom. In Dom ence and even hostility of some of your part- we believe we are realizing that criterion’s Carlos the people of East Timor have found ners. You have shown not only to us the East most universal and most fundamental as- spiritual comfort and some sense of security Timorese but to other smaller nations in the pects. Peace, stability and harmony must be from the daily threats to their very exist- world that principles and morality have not based on mutual respect. That, so simple and ence. been taken over completely by mercantile so universal, is the message. Once it has been The people of East Timor owe almost ev- interests. erything to their Church. Hence, the 1996 heard, the next step is to institutionalise the BRAZIL Nobel Peace Prize is a tribute to the whole respect, in various ways according to cul- church, the courageous priests, nuns and lay I recently visited Brazil and was warmly tural traditions. Violence, on the other hand, workers and the people of East Timor. welcomed by everyone. I humbly ask Presi- ´ systematic violence on the part of those in My share of the Nobel Peace Prize will go dent Jose Sarney to convey to President Fer- power, can never be justified within the entirely to a foundation to be called Peace nando Henrique Cardoso and through him to framework of a universal concept of human and Democracy Dom Martinho da Costa all the people of Brazil our admiration and rights. That is a fact to which the victims of Lopes. I know this is too small a tribute to affection for your great country and people. violence could testify. Never forget to listen this great man who gave his life to his My warmest greetings to Betinho, Dom ´ ˆ to the voice of the victims, the voice of the church and people. Paulo Evaristo and Dom Helder Camara, the conscience of the poor of Brazil and the nearly two hundred thousand whose lives THE SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT world. were lost in massacres or from the hunger I would like also to express my gratitude Your Majesties: This speech belongs to and want which resulted from the Indonesian to three organizations that in the past someone else who should be here today. He is invasion of East Timor. honoured my people with less well-known an outstanding man of courage, tolerance This year’s two Peace Prize Laureates, awards but with equal importance for our and statesmanship. Yet, this man is in pris- Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo and Jose´ Ramos- people. To Professor Thorof Rafto Human on for no crime other than his ideas and vi- Horta, have labored tirelessly, and with Rights Foundation from Bergen, Gleitsman sion of peace, freedom and dignity of his peo- Foundation, from California, and the Un- great personal sacrifice, for their oppressed ple. Represented Nations and Peoples Xanana Gusma˜ o, leader of the people of people. Under extremely difficult conditions, Organisation (UNPO) based in The Hague, East Timor, remains incommunicado in a they have preserved their humanity and goes my profound gratitude. prison thousands of miles away from his faith in the future. It is in admiration of With the men, women and children in country. His trial in 1993 was universally their work and in the hope for a better fu- many parts of the world who have given us condemned as a charade and was no more ture for East Timor that the Norwegian so many years of their lives I wish to share valid than the Dutch imprisonment and trial Nobel Committee today honors them with this moment of joy. Without the generous of the late President Sukarno, founding fa- the Nobel Peace Prize for 1996. solidarity movement we would be even poor- ther of the Indonesian Republic.