Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told an audience Thursday night at the University of Denver’s Korbel Dinner that education is key to advancing peace and human rights across the globe.
“International education is a platform where all can stand, from which we can see the outline of a better world,” she said from a podium in a ballroom at the Marriott City Center.
The dinner – named after Albright’s father, Czech diplomat Josef Korbel – is an annual fundraiser for DU’s Graduate School of International Studies, or GSIS, which Korbel founded.
But this year’s event was marked by what took place outside the ballroom.
Dozens of protesters, holding aloft signs and effigies and shouting through bullhorns, gathered in front of the hotel to decry the presentation of one of the dinner’s humanitarian awards to Colorado mining company executive Wayne Murdy.
They yelled at dinner attendees who drove luxury sedans into the hotel’s circular drive, and they demanded that Denver- based Newmont Mining Corp., of which Murdy is chairman and former CEO, do a better job of protecting human rights and the environment in the far-flung spots where the company operates.
“We have a responsibility to confront Newmont where it does business, especially when DU and GSIS want to give Murdy a human-rights award,” said Glenn Morris, a University of Colorado at Denver professor and American Indian Movement member. “We want to show the hypocrisy of that.”
The protesters accused Newmont, one of the world’s largest gold-mining operations, of polluting the air and water, releasing toxic chemicals, intimidating critics and destroying indigenous economies in the communities surrounding its mines.
Awon Atuire, a representative of a group in his native Ghana that opposes Newmont, said one Newmont mine has displaced 10,000 people from their homes and another mine dumped fecal waste into a river.
“People have seen what Newmont has done, and they do not want a mine in their community,” he said.
But Newmont spokesman Omar Jabara, who spoke with a throng of protesters outside the hotel, defended his company, saying many people across the globe benefit from Newmont’s impact on local economies.
“Newmont is a company that is doing its best to be environmentally and socially responsible,” he told one protester. “We’re not perfect. But we’re doing our best.”
Inside the ballroom, Gov. Bill Ritter called Newmont “a good corporate citizen,” and a video that DU made for the event lauded Newmont for its education and employment programs overseas. Murdy said he accepted the award, officially called the International Bridge Builder Award, on behalf of all of Newmont’s 15,000 employees.
“I’m sorry this award has caused some controversy in some circles,” Murdy said. “… In our little corners of the world where we have operations, I think we have a tremendously positive impact.”
Albright steered clear of the controversy. Instead, she used much of her speech to encourage Americans to question their opinions, to learn from those with differing ideas and to share with people of different cultures.
“America,” she said, “draws its strength from virtually every culture on Earth and is enriched by its immigrants.”
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or jingold@denverpost.com.
