Jody Williams, who was awarded the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for her work in banning landmines, reflected on her career as an activist yesterday in Dartmouth Hall as part of the not-for-profit career fair.
Speaking to a crowd composed mostly of students considering non-profit work, Williams commented on the career she chose.
"I believe it is a rewarding path -- to say the least," she said.
Williams said the most rewarding and important experience of her career was when 121 nations adopted the treaty to ban landmines on September 18, 1997, an effort she led after being approached by several organizations to become involved.
The event marked the first time that a conventional weapon has been taken out of the arsenals of countries around the world, and it was the result of a campaign that spent just $6 million over five years, Williams said.
"We knew ... we would affect the lives of millions of people around the world," she said, as she described a mood of jubilation among those who had worked to get the treaty passed.
The second most significant day of Williams' career was when she received the Nobel Peace Prize, she said, adding throughout her talk that the prize gave her greater credibility as an activist, something she once needed.
"I toiled in relative obscurity for 20 years," Williams said of the early stages of her career which started during college in opposition to the Vietnam War and led to her work against United States policy in Central America during the Cold War.
Williams was inspired to become involved in this cause after attending a meeting in a basement where a guerilla organizer "made me understand that I had to do something, as a citizen of this country that was using my tax dollars to kill his people," she said.
Williams, an outspoken critic of the Bush administration, continues her resistance to U.S. military policy today. She has even been imprisoned for her protests against the war in Iraq.
Williams urged students to become involved rather than simply empathize with those who are suffering.
"Emotion without action is absolutely, positively irrelevant," she said.
Williams also encouraged those in attendance to find the causes they care about and fight for them.
"We have to be the agents of the change we want to see," she said.
As for what has made her a successful activist, Williams thinks it is lack of concern for the way she is viewed by others, she said.
"I don't modify my behavior -- my beliefs -- to make people like me," she said. "I don't view my life as a popularity contest."
This perspective was evident in some of the political views Williams expressed, which she described as "fairly progressive to radical," as well as in her characterization of the College.
In discussing her decision to continue her education at the School of International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont, she said it was not "an elitist school like you're at."
Williams, a native of Putney, Vermont, also holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Vermont and a master's degree in international relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Williams described her experience at SAIS as "two years of torture," explaining that the institution did not like students who questioned its interpretation of international affairs. To illustrate her point, Williams relayed an anecdote about an instance in which she questioned her professor about data he presented. "How many people is that structural adjustment killing in Brazil?" she asked.
"Good luck making a difference in the world," Williams said in conclusion.
