Nobel laureate Maria Ressa gives emboldening message to Harvard grads
By Marivir Montebon
It was an event that I looked forward to watch: Nobel Laureate Maria Ressa’s commencement address to the graduates of Harvard on May 23, 2024. Her 20-minute speech was, to me, the most emboldening message ever delivered by an inspirational speaker to new entrants to the labor force.
Maria Ressa. (Screen grab from YouTube)
#FightForDemocracy now #TurnCrisisIntoOpportunity
#protestsshoulddnotbeviolent #protestsshouldnotbesilenced
#classof2024 #welcometothebattlefield
What resonated with me the most, as a journalist, is for graduates to choose their best selves while standing on the rubble of the world brought about by an atom bomb that’s exploded in our information ecosystem, where social media has “turned our world upside down, spreading lies, faster than facts, while amplifying fear and anger, fueling hatred. By design. For profit. Whether it’s the AI of social media or generative AI, we don’t have integrity of information, we don’t have integrity of facts.”
She goes on to say: “And here’s three sentences I’ve said over and over. Without facts, you can’t have truth. Without truth, you can’t have trust. Without these three, we have no shared reality, no rule of law, no democracy. We can’t begin to solve existential problems like climate change.
This outrage economy – built on our data, micro-targeting us – transformed our world, rewarding the worst of humanity. Online violence is real world violence. And people are dying – from genocide in Myanmar, fueled by Facebook according to the UN and Meta itself, to Ukraine, Sudan, Haiti, Armenia, Gaza.
The challenge today is whether our international rules-based order still works. Does it? The challenge is justice, core to our humanity. Too many powerful people are getting away with impunity – from countries to companies, and it is dividing us in ways that are literally destroying us, destroying democracy, destroying trust.”
Personally, I embrace the challenge and acknowledge my vulnerability as well.
During the commencement ceremony, Ressa was also conferred with an honorary doctor of laws degree. Maria Angelita Ressa is a co-founder and CEO of Rappler, a digital news organization based in the Philippines. Among her important works include How to Stand Up to a Dictator and A Thousand Cuts. In 2021, Ressa was conferred the Nobel Peace Prize alongside journalist Dmitry Muratov.
Ressa was born in Manila and raised in Toms River, New Jersey. She studied at St. Scholastica’s College and University of the Philippines. She finished her Bachelor of Arts degree in English, Theater, and Dance at Princeton University.
Ressa receives honorary doctor of laws degree from Harvard.
The Harvard Corporation earlier barred 13 students from graduating due to their participation in the pro-Palestine protests inside the campus.
Full text of her speech on May 23, 2024 at Harvard by Rappler.
Ressa in New York with members of the FilAm Press Club of New York in April 2019. (Photo by Troi Santos).
