Williams won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her work as founder and chief strategist of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). Since receiving the award, she has traveled throughout the world advocating both the cause of the ICBL and peaceful U.S. foreign relations.
Although she discussed the mission and achievements of the ICBL, the focus of her address centered on U.S. foreign policy.
Williams made no attempt to conceal her strong feelings regarding the war in Iraq. "I am totally opposed to unilateral intervention of the U.S. in Iraq," she said.
Williams explained that she thinks the U.S. has broken international law. She argued that the principle of pre-emption violates moral boundaries that must be respected by all citizens of the earth.
"Shouldn't North Korea act preemptively [against the U.S.] after they've seen what we've done to Iraq?" said Williams. "Shouldn't India and Pakistan use pre-emption following the model of the U.S.?"
During the question-and-answer session that followed the lecture, Ben Falby '03 told Williams that he has difficulty reconciling his opposition to the war with images of Iraqi civilians celebrating the arrival of American soldiers, and asked if she had similar feelings.
Williams responded to Falby's concern. "There is no doubt that Saddam [Hussein] gassed his own people," she said. But she said that if we are going to assume the role of liberators of oppressed people, we are obligated to help all oppressed people. She says that Pakistani President Pervez Musharaf, a major U.S. ally in the war on terrorism, seized power in his country and rewrote the constitution so that he could remain in office. "Supporting dictators when we want and killing them when we want is not good policy," she said.
Williams also voiced her concern that American media portrays a highly biased view of U.S. involvement in Iraq.
She said that for her, watching CNN is like a game in which "journalists are cheerleaders cheering on the soldiers." While she admitted that Arab news media distorts facts in its own way, she said that Americans should have access to information that portrays values other than those of the U.S.
She also made reference to her arrest in March of this year for civil disobedience near the White House. Police arrested Williams after she, along with 60 other protesters, refused to vacate the premises at the request of the authorities. Corrigan Maguire, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976, and Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times in 1971, were arrested along with Williams.
"I promised my mother that I wouldn't get arrested again unless it was with the Dali Lama and the pope," Williams joked.
She also discussed her involvement with the ICBL and the circumstances surrounding her reception of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Williams explained that the ICBL began as a small group committed to making governments around the world promise to discontinue using landmines in times of war because of the severe impact they have on civilians, especially after conflicts had ended. According to the ICBL Web site, as of April 2003, 146 nations have signed the Mine Ban Treaty, agreeing to ban the use, production, stockpiling and sale of land mines.
"We took away a weapon used for over 100 years by every fighting country in the world," said Williams.
According to Williams, the Nobel Committee said that they awarded her campaign the Peace Prize for "creating a new model of diplomacy," one based on the initiative of citizens.
Williams says she is dismayed that the U.S. has still not signed the treaty. She believes that the U.S. "wishes to stand outside international law."
She discussed the U.S. military's opposition to the treaty. She said military officials feared that land mines would be the first step and that the use of other weapons might come into question subsequently.
Williams said she thinks it is almost humorous that the U.S. and its "good friend" Cuba remain the only nations in the Western Hemisphere that have not yet signed the treaty.
Throughout her lecture, Williams voiced a great dissatisfaction with the Bush administration. She says that the National Security Strategy released in September 2002 is nothing short of evidence of a U.S. "master plan" to dominate the world.
"The U.S. national security strategy will be based on a distinctly American internationalism that reflects the union of our values and our national interests," states part of the 35-page document. Williams said she fears that the price of such a strategy may ultimately be paid by the citizens of the world.