Nobel Peace Prize
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Source: “Rigoberta Menchú, Premio Nobel de la Paz Guatemala"
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Presentation speech by Francis Sejersted, Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee; Source: Nobelprize.org
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"The Nobel Peace Prize calls upon us to act in accordance with what it represents, and the great significance it has worldwide...It is an instrument with which to fight for peace, for justice, for the rights of those who suffer the abysmal economic, social, cultural and political inequalities, typical of the order of the world in which we live, and where the transformation into a new world based on the values of the human being, is the expectation of the majority of those who live on this planet. "
-Rigoberta Menchú; Nobel Women's Initiative
Out of 113 nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992, Menchú received the award "in recognition of her work for social justice and ethno-cultural reconciliation based on respect for the rights of indigenous peoples" ("The Nobel Peace Prize 1992", NobelPrize.org).
The Prize greatly substantiated Menchú's legacy, as she was the first indigenous person and youngest laureate of her time to receive this honor.
"Menchú Tum's award changed the configuration of Guatemalan politics. If repressive elements of the state apparatus had the upper hand up until the Nobel Peace Prize announcement, from that point on momentum began to build in favor of the liberal sector...The turning point was without question Menchú Tum's Nobel Prize victory. It was read as such by the majority of Guatemalans, who then recognized her as a national leader and the Maya peoples' most charismatic figure, and by the international community that had lobbied for the Nobel Peace Prize as a means of triggering peace negotiations in Guatemala...'For the first time, indigenous Guatemalans had an internationally respected leader who could use her prominence to fight for political recognition for the indigenous majority.'"
-Mary Louise Pratt, The Rigoberta Menchú Controversy