Queen Noor calls poverty greatest threat to peace
Jordanian monarch urges more spending on health, education.
By JEFF ROMIG
Tribune Staff Writer
BENTON HARBOR -- "Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."
These words, spoken by Sen. Robert Kennedy at the University of Capetown in South Africa in June 1966, were the final ones offered Tuesday evening by Queen Noor to a capacity crowd at the Mendel Center at Lake Michigan College during the Economic Club of Southwestern Michigan's final event of the year.
Kennedy's words eloquently captured the message she conveyed during her comments as well as her life's work and the work of her late husband, King Hussein of Jordan.
"He is why I believe peace is possible," said Lisa Najeeb Halaby, who was raised in an Arab-American family before marrying King Hussein in 1978.
Growing up, her family was known for its public service -- her father was the director of President John F. Kennedy's newly created Federal Aviation Administration -- and she tackled urban planning after graduating from Princeton University in 1974 with a bachelor of arts degree in architecture and urban planning.
From the beginning of her reign she has initiated, directed and sponsored projects and activities that have worked to advance the development of her country and peace efforts in the Middle East.
The queen said while she understands the "realities of today's world," she believes addressing poverty before war could provide a key to peace.
"Feeding the poor is no foolproof plan to stop (terrorists)," she said. "But, when people have a sense of control over their own lives, they will fight to hold onto it."
Poverty, she said, is the greatest threat to peace today.
People who feel they have nothing left to lose are apt to commit desperate acts, she said, noting that the areas of the least security are the areas of most deprivation.
"It's time to invest more in education, health care and opportunity and less in tanks and bombs," she said, citing the fact that 17 times more is spent on armies and weapons than to stop poverty.
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