Professor Amitabh Mattoo delivered the convocation address to the graduating class of 2014 at the University of Melbourne. Presented below is the text of his speech.
The Deputy Chancellor of the
University of Melbourne, Mr Robert Johanson, Vice Chancellor Professor
Glyn Davis, Deputy Vice Chancellor and Deputy Provost Prof Susan Elliott, the
graduating class of 2014, Ladies and Gentlemen.
There can be no greater honour for
anyone connected to Academia than to be asked to deliver an address at a Graduation
Ceremony. I came to Melbourne from India a little more than three years ago,
and in all these months I have begun to value, a little more every day, the
enormous strengths of this great University and realize how fortunate are
those, like you young men and women, who get the opportunity to study
here.
Today, the University of Melbourne is
truly, to paraphrase Prof Glyn Davis, a Republic of Learning and comes
with the promise of training you to be a citizen of the world. And
as you go through this most sacrosanct of academic rites of passage, it is
important also to never forget how privileged you all are and how this
knowledge will be a continuous source of power to you, to your families and to
all those around you,
Many of you
will move into what some describe as the real world of action in contrast
to what may be viewed as the sheltered world of ideas in a university.
And some may stay like I did and be students for quite a
while. But, no matter where you go, you will be more secure and
independent and empowered than most people across the world because of
this great education.
But do remember that this knowledge,
this power, this passport to the world of ideas and action comes with one
obligation. The responsibility, no less than the challenge of working, nay
striving, towards a better world.
After all,
events of the last few days are just a stark reminder of the need for all of us
to work together to build sustainable peace and harmony
The tragedy
at Sydney and the cataclysmic events at the Army school in Peshawar in Pakistan
are a painful reminder that no one, young or old, rich or poor, can be
insulated from violence and rage and conflict in this deeply interconnected
world. And there are no quick fixes either. There are those who believe that
unless we address the roots causes for this violence we cannot build peace. And
there are others who argue that nothing but nothing can ever justify
violence. But far beyond issues of individual and collective grievances
and punitive action is the fundamental question:
How do we
build, in today’s world, tolerant, inclusive societies that are at peace
with themselves and the outside world?
Melbourne is
rightly considered the most livable city in the world, and the last 40 odd
months that I have spent here have been some of the most pleasant in my
life. But I grew up in Srinagar, a city nestled in the beautiful valley
of Kashmir in the mountains of the Himalayas. When I went to school there, it
was idyllic. But all that was idyllic then has now been shattered by nature and
men. So peace can be fragile, and needs nurturing and injection of new ideas
and, above all good people, with passion and commitment willing to work
selflessly. Because, as the great Irish poet Wiliam Butler Yeats
reminded us in 1919, during the Great War in The Second Coming ,
for things to “fall apart” you only need the best to “lack conviction”
and for the worst to be driven by “passionate intensity”.
When I
did my Humanities degree, it was not a favoured option for the really
clever. To be honest, I don’t even know how much Political Science learnt
during my years in College. But a Humanities Degree taught
me then, as it will have taught you -through much greater rigour
and the richness of the Melbourne model - at least four things:
First, that I
while may not know have the answers, I learnt what were the important
questions to ask.
Second, it
taught me not just the value of money, but that there were, to
paraphrase the Harvard philosopher, Michael Sandel, things that money
cannot buy, such as peace and justice!
Third, that
often in the world of problems. Much like in the Japanese auteur Akiri
Kurosowa’s Rashoman, there is no one truth, just many interpretations.
And finally,
that new ideas to solve old problems can often come when you do not let
your schooling come in the way of your education (as Mark Twain is thought
to have said). In other words, innovation, creativity and imagination often
flourish when you use the powers of the critical thinking and
problem solving (that were honed in the class rooms)to move beyond the
orthodoxies of the past and the belief systems of the present.
In many ways,
therefore a Humanities degree (a degree in the Arts and Social
Sciences), equips you, much much better, to not just face the
world, but to help change it for the better.
I want to, in
conclusion, share parts from my one of my favourite poems by
the great Indian poet Rabindra Nath Tagore, who was the first Asian to win a
Nobel Prize for Literature. This is from Tagore’s book Gitanjali or Bouquet of
Songs, published in 1910, but is as relevant now as it was more a century ago.
Where the mind is without
fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not
been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from
the depth of truth
Where tireless striving
stretches its arms towards perfection
Into that heaven of freedom,
my Father, let my country awake. –
All the best
then as you move into an exciting new phase of your lives. And thank you for
listening to me patiently.
