The jury was chaired by Valery Gergiev, our famous compatriot, a prominent conductor and director of the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theatres. Photo: Mikhail Metzel/TASS
At the Bolshoi Theatre, they talked about peace. About how unstable the planet is and how it is time for humanity to come to its senses. Guests dressed in black suits and evening gowns gathered at the country’s main theatre for the first ceremony of awarding the Leo Tolstoy International Peace Prize.
The tradition of celebrating people and organizations that, by their actions, call for peaceful coexistence and the end of hostility arose immediately after World War II. The Prize “For Strengthening Peace Among Nations” was established in the USSR; at first it was called the Stalin Prize, and since 1956 it was called the Lenin Prize. The prize was awarded until 1990, and its laureates included people of good will from all continents: artist Pablo Picasso, writer Louis Aragón, singer Ernst Busch, politicians Luis Corvalán, Indira Gandhi, Fidel Castro and many other worthy representatives of humanity.
We can say that the Leo Tolstoy Peace Prize is a continuation of this glorious tradition. Its founders were the Russian Historical Society, the Russian Military Historical Society and the Russian Peace Foundation. The winner, chosen by an authoritative international jury, receives a commemorative diploma and a gold medal with the image of the great Russian writer, who called for not resisting evil with violence.
The jury chairman was Valery Gergiev, our famous compatriot, outstanding conductor and director of the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theatres.
“We, musicians and artists, are happy people,” he said. “We can listen to people and we don’t care what nationality they are.” The host called for peaceful cooperation between peoples across the planet.
Pedro de Gaulle. Photo: Mikhail Metzel/TASS
Pierre de Gaulle, a member of the jury for the prize and grandson of the heroic General de Gaulle, President of France, also supported him in his great speech.
“My heart is full of pain,” he said. “People are suffering from the fighting in Ukraine, Palestine… But in my heart there is hope that people around the world will strive for peace and interaction.”
The French public figure also noted that his grandfather always stressed the importance of good relations with Russia and that in the modern world Western politicians put personal interests before the interests of their people.
The jury awarded the first Tolstoy Peace Prize to the African Union. This authoritative organisation has existed for more than twenty years and unites 55 countries on the continent. The AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity, which played an important role in the fight against colonialism.
Chairman of the CA Commission Musa Faki Mahamat, who received the award from Valery Gergiev, said that it was a great honour for his organisation. Photo: Mikhail Metzel/TASS
The chairman of the AC Commission, Musa Faki Mahamat, who received the award from Valery Gergiev, noted that it was a great honour for his organisation. “I studied at the Patrice Lumumba Institute,” he began his speech. “That is what I could have said if there had not been a civil war in my country at that time. And studying in Moscow remained a dream – otherwise I would now be addressing you in Russian.”
Mahamat stressed that Leo Tolstoy’s name is a perfect fit for the Peace Prize, because the great writer was always a humanist and appealed to the best sides of human nature.
Following the award ceremony, the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev performed two patriotic works by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: the 1812 Overture (where persistently breaking fragments of the Marseillaise are drowned out by the powerful sound of the Russian anthem “God Save the Tsar”) and the cantata Moscow, written for the coronation of Alexander III, the Peacemaker.
