Sudha Devi Nayak
History scripts human civilisation and we hear her voices long after they are out of hearing. They rise from the tombs of time to inspire us with hope and courage and also to cast a chill at the atrocious and diabolical machinations of man. The acclaimed historian Simon Sebag Montefiore, in his extraordinary collection of speeches of great men and women, “Voices of History, Speeches that changed the World”, from ancient times to the present, gives us the essence of man-human, noble, poignant, cruel, horrific, expressing every emotion he is made of. Words are powerful tools to celebrate, to castigate, to mould opinion, change the world and move or wreck the spirit. Here we come across the finest words spoken- and the most ignoble. Sebag Montefiore says, “Words matter. Respect them – and those who use them well. Language is everything”.
The array of speakers includes kings and queens, rockstars and novelists, prophets, dreamers and killers. All human drama is here and these voices span centuries and cultures. The best of these speeches are sublime literature and the worst are sheer bombast and evil to incite the darkest passions of men. Churchill’s speech at the House of Commons, when Hitler defeated France is a masterpiece of oratory containing the memorable line “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat”. It is said Churchill “mobilised the English language and sent it into battle.” Martin Luther King, the civil rights leader fighting for a more inclusive nation, addresses those who have marched in defence of their rights with his great speech “I have a dream” where he says “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood”. Jawaharlal Nehru’s famous “tryst with destiny” speech, when India awakened to freedom at the midnight hour stirred the hearts of millions.
Barrack Obama with his elegant turn of phrase and exquisite expression defined his dream with his firm belief “Yes, we can” that summed up the spirit of his people and gave him the presidency. John F Kennedy makes an inaugural address that is second only to Lincoln’s brilliant Gettysburg address in its simplicity and grandeur. Lincoln in his address at Getysburg battlefield during the civil war, a mere 278 words exhibits a mastery of language and economy of expression that makes it the greatest speech in history. Mahatma Gandhi’s speech before his Salt March spells his mission of non-violence and truth. He believed in the righteousness of his cause and says, “A satyagrahi, whether free or incarcerated is ever victorious.”
Singer-poet Bob Dylan in his beautiful songs of poetry created anthems of love and anger that inspired antiwar and civil rights movements. In his Nobel address he reflects on music and literature and says his lyrics are meant to be sung not read on a page and he quotes Homer, “Sing in me oh Muse, and through me tell the story.”
From noble calls for liberation, from speeches that celebrated the triumph of the human spirit we come to delusions and genocidal rants of Hitler and Himmler reeking of anti-semitism, naked projections of power and hatred, monstrous in attitude and idea. Gengiz Khan, the brutal and ambitious Mongolian conqueror, defines happiness thus” The greatest pleasure and joy for man is to crush a rebel and to defeat an enemy, destroy him” and Osama bin Laden celebrates the 9/11 attack on America where he had innocent civilians killed.
Socrates the Greek philosopher said, “The unexamined life is not worth living”. Facing trial in Athens for corrupting youth he believes nothing evil happens to a good man. His famous exit line while facing death is “The hour of departure has arrived and we go our ways – I to die and you to live. Which is better god only knows”.
The speeches enthrall, inspire, enlighten and enrich our lives and hold warnings for the future and make essential reading.