Words of Hope in Troubled Times
SynopsisPlot
"The Twenty-first Century offers us a chance, a unique chance, to coalesce around common global interests - to reverse the nefarious consequences of climate change, manage clean water reserves that are becoming a rare commodity, save our polluted rivers, lakes, and seas, replenish the depleted fish stock, eliminate extreme poverty and hunger, and de-escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsula and South China Sea, and between India and Pakistan, India and China. If we were to spend less on armament, we would be able to spend more on education, health, and food security for all." Jose Ramos-Horta
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About this book
Words of Hope in Troubled Times gathers speeches and writings by Jose Ramos-Horta spanning twenty-five years, from 1992 to 2017. Ramos-Horta is a central figure in Timor-Leste's path to independence and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996 for his efforts toward a peaceful resolution of the conflict in East Timor. He later served as the country's president. The collection draws on decades of public addresses and essays shaped by his direct involvement in diplomacy, conflict resolution, and nation-building.
The texts cover a wide range of subjects, including climate change, the management of freshwater resources, ocean pollution, food security, and the reduction of military spending in favor of education and health. Ramos-Horta also addresses specific geopolitical tensions, among them the Korean Peninsula, the South China Sea, and relations between India, Pakistan, and China. Throughout, his argument returns to the idea that global problems require cooperative responses rather than isolated national strategies.
The period covered in this collection runs from the years before East Timor's 1999 independence referendum through the early decades of Timor-Leste as a sovereign state, giving the writings a concrete arc from resistance to governance.
