Jody Williams
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
Winner of a Nobel Peace Prize, Jody Williams continues to provide moral clarity and deft diplomacy to the lingering effects of armed conflicts around the world. "It's pretty obvious why a little round thing that can blow people up should not be used—but if you can get people to understand that, you can also use it as a powerful symbol for all of the aftermath of war." Book Speaker
For her work with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, Jody Williams became only the tenth woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, in 1997. (She won the Prize one week after a historic treaty banning landmines was signed by 122 nations; her work as chief spokesperson for ICBL was instrumental in the treaty's creation and approval.) Williams has also been named one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in the World by Forbes. Her memoir, My Name Is Jody Williams: A Vermont Girl's Winding Path to the Nobel Peace Prize, tells the story of how Williams, a self proclaimed "average woman", went from humble Vermont beginnings to a Nobel Peace Prize-winner.
Williams discusses "security" in today's globalized world, arguing that if the security needs of individuals and communities are disregarded, and all emphasis is put on "national security," sustainable global peace and security will not be achievable. Williams highlights the largely unrecognized efforts of women around the world in conflict situations to hold family and community together while struggling for peace during armed conflict. It is fundamental to involve women in all aspects of conflict prevention, peace negotiations, and peace-building, she says, if sustainable peace is to be achieved in conflict-ridden states. Faced with the prospect of nuclear proliferation, nuclear weapons falling into the hands of non-state actors, and NATO's continued position of preserving the right of "first use of tactical nuclear weapons," Williams discusses the urgent need of citizen involvement in creating a new global movement to ban nukes. As Eve Ensler says in her inspired foreword to this book, "Jody Williams is many things--a simple girl from Vermont, a sister of a disabled brother, a loving wife, an intense character full of fury and mischief, a great strategist, an excellent organizer, a brave and relentless advocate, and a Nobel Peace Prize winner. But to me Jody Williams is, first and foremost, an activist."
My Name Is Jody Williams: A Vermont Girl's Winding Path to the Nobel Peace Prize
From her modest beginnings to becoming the tenth woman—and third American woman—to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, Jody Williams takes the reader through the ups and downs of her tumultuous and remarkable life. In a voice that is at once candid, straightforward, and intimate, Williams describes her Catholic roots, her first step on a long road to standing up to bullies with the defense of her deaf brother Stephen, her transformation from good girl to college hippie at the University of Vermont, and her protest of the war in Vietnam. She relates how, in 1981, she began her lifelong dedication to global activism as she battled to stop the U.S.-backed war in El Salvador.
Throughout the memoir, Williams underlines her belief that an "average woman"—through perseverance, courage and imagination—can make something extraordinary happen. She tells how, when asked if she'd start a campaign to ban and clear anti-personnel mines, she took up the challenge, and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) was born. Her engrossing account of the genesis and evolution of the campaign, culminating in 1997 with the Nobel Peace Prize, vividly demonstrates how one woman's commitment to freedom, self-determination, and human rights can have a profound impact on people all over the globe.
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