Nobel Peace Prize 1907: Ernesto Teodoro Moneta

Rome is intoxicating; it is breathtaking, and that’s the impression after only a few hours strolling along one Via Del Corso in the dreary grey autumnal afternoon fighting a sea of black-cloaked Italians and tourists - with limited funds. (Not only is purchasing the Euro with the weakening US dollars a painful ordeal, but the charge of 19.5% commission on top quickly transformed this member of the "Poverty Jet Set" into a penurious, thoughtful traveler.)

Hotel Villa Glori in the leafy residential neighborhood of Flaminia.

I landed at midnight from Stockholm Arlanda into Fiumicino Airport but it took another hour and a half before the conveyor belt spewed out the luggage. But I was well armed with The Roots of Evil: The Origins of Genocide and Other Group Violence by the awesome Ervin Staub, the retired acclaimed psychology professor and a very dear friend. (This book and Ervin require its own journal entry, as well as the Reconciliation Course and Stockholm.) Moreover, nothing could dampen my mood and the tingling sensation of being in Rome, even if only then at the airport.

Facing Genocide is nominated for Best Documentary at the International Rome Film Festival 2010, the reason for my presence in Rome.

 For more information, visit on Facing Genocide:

http://www.romacinemafest.it/ecm/web/fcr/en/home/film-2010/-/EOC/Facing-Genocide-Khieu-Samphan-and-Pol-Pot.0000.FILMEN4730

My patience of good spirits paid off grandly when greeted by a very handsome Italian chauffeur holding a sign “CINEMA: Theary Seng”. The half hour ride to the cozy, elegant Hotel Villa Glori turned into one-hour as he circled a couple of neighborhoods awhile looking for the hotel, but no offense or irritation taken on my end (!). The glowing Dome of the Vatican piercing the shrouded darkness and shadows took my breath away; sawing my transparent awe and silly smiles, he asked in his limited English whether it was my first time visiting.

The north entrance into Piazza Del Popolo, with obelisk in the middle.

Theary Seng in the middle of Piazza Del Popolo in front of obelisk, 31 Oct. 2010.

Still in the middle of Piazza Del Popolo, about to walk the length of the Via Del Corso (backdrop).

The presence of the International Rome Film Festival is everywhere, here on the Via Del Corso.

On the Via Del Corso.

The Italian Parliament viewed from Via Del Corso.

One of the many ornate Catholic churches in Rome, here on the Via Del Corso.

Piazza Del Popolo is on the north end; here the south end of the Via Del Corso.

As it rained this morning, I decided to save the Vatican City for another day. However, I wanted some fresh air and decided to make a quick trip to the city center, mainly with the goal to exchange money. The outing turned to be a several hour stroll on Via Del Corso from Piazza Del Popolo. Every building captivated and I had to repress the urge to take a photo of every building and sculpture, not to mention my late afternoon lunch. I had the best slice of pizza and wine – ever!

Paris, until now the most beautiful city to me, has been debunked by Rome, despite the pervasive graffiti on the historic buildings and walls and the strewn cigarette buds in the cracks of the cobbled stone pavement and squares. I believe the whole of Rome is a Unesco heritage site; it should be if not so.

A memorial on a building on Via Del Corso.

Reminded me of the Stumbling Stones in Berlin; here a Stumbling Stone on a Via Flamenia pavement in front of a building to commemorate the Jewish residents who used to live there and were deported and killed.

The next Nobel Peace Laureate in this series is fittingly an Italian – Ernesto Teodoro Moneta. The emphasis, again, is mine.

- Theary C. Seng, Rome, 31 Oct. 2010

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Award Ceremony Speech

Presentation Speech by Jørgen Gunnarsson Løvland, Chairman of the Nobel Committee, on December 10, 1907*

Ernesto Teodoro Moneta was born in Milan in 1833. At the age of fifteen he took part in the war of liberation against the Austrians, and in 1859 he fought at Garibaldi's side in both North and South Italy. In 1866 Moneta was an officer in the war with Austria, but after that campaign he retired from the army and has since devoted himself to journalism. In his thirties he became editor-in-chief of the Milan newspaper Il Secolo, one of the most important newspapers in Italy, and since 1898 he has published the periodical La Vita internazionale.

Since 1870 Moneta has belonged to the international peace movement and is its most important Italian representative. He has been a member of the Commission of the International Peace Bureau since 1895. With his prominent position in the Italian press, he has enjoyed excellent opportunities to promote his views. Special emphasis must be placed on his work in the press and in peace meetings, both public and private, for an understanding between France and Italy - work which dates back as far as the beginning of the modern-day enmity between these two countries.

In 1887 Moneta founded the Lombard Peace Union, of which he is now president. He has organized several peace meetings in Italy and in 1906 presided over the fifteenth International Peace Congress in Milan.

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* On December 10, 1907, at the Norwegian Nobel Institute, Mr. Løvland, also at this time Norway's foreign minister, welcomed the audience and paid tribute to the memory of King Oscar II of Sweden (the last king to reign over the union of Sweden and Norway before its dissolution in 1905) who had died two days before. After a speech on «The Second Peace Conference» by Committee member Francis Hagerup, Mr. Løvland announced the joint winners of the Peace Prize for 1907, Mr. Moneta and Mr. Renault. He followed his announcement with a biographical sketch of each. That of Mr. Moneta is given here as the presentation speech. The translation is based on the Norwegian report in the Oslo Aftenposten of December 10, 1907.