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The True Path to Development: Education, Peace, and Freedom

A political address on the relationship between poverty, violence, and development.

"Societies must organize themselves peacefully to create an environment where people can receive education. This is unequivocally the primary tool for development and the main weapon against poverty."

"We must fight for peace. We must fight for freedom. We must fight for education. Let us give freedom, peace, and education a chance."

The speaker argues that poverty cannot justify violence, as true development requires peace, freedom, and education. He posits that the fight against poverty is inherently a struggle for democracy and education, and calls for action against authoritarian regimes and terrorism in specific nations like Iraq, Afghanistan, Cuba, and Venezuela.

Good morning. It is often claimed that much of the world's violence is a consequence of poverty. I wish to address this point. There is no doubt that poverty is one of the major challenges of the modern world. However, it can never be a justification for violence. After all, no country can ever achieve development in an environment of conflict, instability, and war. The relationship is precisely the opposite. Societies must organize themselves peacefully to create an environment where people can receive education. This is unequivocally the primary tool for development and the main weapon against poverty. As education spreads, countries become able to attract quality investment, people can make better choices, and they can generate a long-term stream of wealth to build a better life. This is the truth: it is education. Yet, education alone is not sufficient. We also need peace to reach development. This is another crucial tool, but not just any kind of peace. It must be peace within an environment of freedom and democracy. This is the guiding principle for organizing societies. In this sense, the struggle to defeat poverty is inherently a struggle to achieve democracy, to secure freedom, and to spread education. It has also been a struggle—a fight—against terrorism, against dictatorships, and against any form of authoritarian government established in the world. Ultimately, the goal of any authoritarian regime is always to satisfy the hunger, but it is the hunger for power of the tyrant who wields it. We must, therefore, work to restore peace and give freedom a chance in Iraq and Afghanistan, to strengthen democracy in many European, African, and Latin American countries, and to end oppression in Cuba. We must halt the dangerous process where, in the name of the people, nations are being dismantled, as in the case of Venezuela, which is gradually evolving into a communist state. We must stop this kind of process. We must fight for peace. We must fight for freedom. We must fight for education. Let us give freedom, peace, and education a chance. Thank you.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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