The 1980 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership

RESPONSE of Fazle Hazan Abed

I am most honored to receive the 1980 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership. Achievements of those who have previously received this award have been so much more significant than mine that I am somewhat overawed by my presence here this evening. I am even more overawed by the reputation of the great man in whose memory this Award was established. I am certain his spirit will continue to inspire all men who believe in liberty and human dignity.

Civilization is not the product of a few great men. It is the cumulative actions of all men, great and small. And yet, today, the majority of mankind are not able to act on their own behalf. They cannot seek food when they are hungry, nor can they seek shelter from sun and rain. Man is no longer a free agent—he is held in bondage by a poverty created by some who want to have more. This poverty is not the absence of resources. It is the unequal sharing of them. Yet, when mankind started out it was the need to share which brought men together into communities.

But where are the communities of today? They are, today, divided between those who have and control, and those who do not have and are powerless. A community of greed has replaced the community of need. No genuine progress is possible without the resolution of this conflict which principally arises out of inequity. It destroys the creative urge in man and dehumanizes him. The time has come for him to reassert himself. It is imperative, not only for governments, but for each and every individual, to ensure that the future struggle to which all give highest priority is the struggle of the powerless to regain their lost humanity.

Therefore, on behalf of those who have less in my country, and to whose cause I have pledged my efforts, I dedicate the great honor bestowed on me this evening.