Jody Williams speaks at Caltech
By Andrew Hafer

Jody Williams, who was named co-recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for her work as coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, began her talk on Friday with the claim that the Nobel was awarded to her solely for political reasons. The Nobel Committee, she said, gave it to her, an American, solely to chastise Clinton for his failure to join 137 other countries in signing the 1997 treaty banning anti-personnel landmines.

In a highly autobiographical talk, Jody Williams discussed her development as an activist and the means by which the coalition she led was able to bring about an international treaty less than five years after its founding.

Jody Williams began her career as an activist when after being leafleted in 1982 regarding the atrocities in El Salvador. Within six months, she had left her job as a teacher and was working for Medical Aid for El Salvador, a Los Angeles based non-profit organization that provided humanitarian relief. As if working in this war zone was not enough, during her time with Medical Aid Ms. Williams was even chased by Salvadoran death squads.

Starting with just six carefully-selected non-governmental organizations, Ms. Williams realized early on that the key to keeping the momentum going in a coalition of independent organizations was communication. To accomplish this, she turned to what was at the time the cutting edge of technology: the fax machine. While at first she only needed to spend a few minutes to notify her whole coalition of new developments, as more organizations signed on, Ms. Williams found herself sending faxes for hours at a time and spending $500 a month for her phone bill.

Although her own contribution cannot be dismissed, Jody Williams credits the Canadian foreign minister with bringing about the incredibly rapid progress the campaign experienced. He did this by publicly challenging the rest of the world to meet in Canada to negotiate the treaty. This was particularly significant because it took the negotiations out of the hands of the U.N., where the U.S., whose generals were fearful of setting a precedent for the elimination of conventional weapons, could veto any treaty in the Security Council.

On whether or not the U.S. will join the treaty in the near future, Jody Williams was of the opinion that both Bush and Gore are more hawkish than Clinton and thus less likely to sign the treaty. She hopes, though, that after the November elections are over Clinton may sign the treaty as a part of the peace legacy he seems to be attempting to leave.

Jody Williams was the third of three speakers brought to Caltech this year by the Caltech Y Social Activism Speaker Series.