Promoting Peace, Tolerance, and Respect

IMF News, September 27, 2018

Source details

Remarks by Christine Lagarde, Managing Director IMF, delivered September 26, 2018.
Occasion: 2018 World Leader Award, Appeal of Conscience.
Acknowledgements included Rabbi Schneier, Secretary Mnuchin, and Johann Rupert.
Media contacts listed: IMF Communications Department; MEDIA RELATIONS Phone: +1 202 623-7100 Email: MEDIA@IMF.org.

The hard work begins after the awards ceremony, when individuals return to their lives in the private sector, public sector, and civil society and continue "the task of promoting peace and tolerance."
The Appeal of Conscience's work—establishing dialogue and listening to one another—plants "the seeds of peace" in contexts such as Cuba, Hungary, India, and the United States.
Peace is presented as a precondition for economic development: "without peace there can be no economic development, and as we all know, economic security is a critical building block on the pathway to peace."
Economic prosperity is linked to hope and freedom: "If there is no economic prosperity, there is no hope. Those who have economic freedom can more easily pursue their aspirations — and can build a society free of ethnic, religious, and civil strife."

Christine Lagarde describes her family history as "an accident of faith and love":
- Her father: born to a Jewish mother and a non-religious father; converted to Catholicism while a student at École Normale Supérieure in Paris, converted by a Chinese priest who was a refugee and the vicar of the school.
- Her father's intention to become a priest ended after meeting her mother.
This personal narrative is used to illustrate plurality, conversion, and interfaith experience as part of the foundation for her remarks.

Lagarde draws an extended analogy between synchronized swimming and the cultivation of peace, tolerance, and respect:
- She was on the French national synchronized swimming team.
- In 1973 she trained at the Jewish Community Center in Rockville, Maryland, while attending Holton-Arms school.
- Synchronized swimming builds "muscle memory" through repetition: "You do the routine over and over and over again. You join hands with the other members on the team. You listen to every note of music."
- Conclusion of metaphor: "peace, tolerance, and respect have to become second nature — and they are profoundly needed right now. So we need to practice the routine over and over so that our first nature is overwhelmed by our second nature."

The IMF's mission is described as promoting "economic security and prosperity for our 189-member nations."
The IMF's goals are framed as interconnected with the Appeal of Conscience: achieving economic security supports the pathway to peace.

On the day of the remarks Lagarde noted three personal events that made her pleased:
- Receiving the 2018 World Leader Award.
- Receiving the first sonogram pictures of her soon-to-be grandson.
- Learning that the Vatican had tweeted one of her speeches on the Sustainable Development Goals and the elimination of extreme poverty by 2030.

Source: Remarks by Christine Lagarde, Managing Director IMF, "Promoting Peace, Tolerance, and Respect", September 26, 2018.