April 27, 2018 - Leymah Gbowee visited Cardozo April 27 and received the International Advocate for Peace Award from the Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution.
Gbowee's activist efforts helped end the Second Liberian Civil War through her organization Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace. She won the 2011 Nobel Prize for Peace and currently serves as Executive Director of the Women, Peace and Security Program at the Earth Institute at Columbia University.
Gbowee explained that her work in promoting peace did not end through her involvement in the Second Liberian Civil War and in earning a Nobel Peace Prize.
“Advocates use truth,” she said. “We must put the truth out there. We are not doing enough. Our world is looking at us, waiting for us, to hear the truth. Your truth and my truth.”
Gbowee shared examples of truth such as the use of the word rape when talking about violence during war time and showing pictures of brutal actions against women to spur honest conversation and direct action.
Professor Lela Porter Love, director of the Kukin Program for Conflict Resolution, said, “Gbowee’s work—both in its boldness and its outcomes—rivals Gandhi and Martin Luther King. How wonderful to bring her into our Cardozo family!”
