In 1979, German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt stated: "Whoever has visions should go to a doctor." In the same year, Rupert and Christel Neudeck believed: "Whoever has visions should go out and establish Cap Anamur to save boat people from drowning in the South China Sea." To the benefit of ten thousand refugees, the Neudecks turned to the bible rather than official German policy for guidance. As the Old Testament says: "Without a vision the people perish." Laudation of Franz Alt at the Einstein Award.

Naturally, concerns were immediately raised about the mission of the Cap Anamur humanitarian aid ship – starting with my own editorial report on the work of the Neudecks and going all the way up to the board of directors of ARD. These concerns found even more resonance among politicians. "If we attempt to rescue refugees from a distant sea, then we will have to take them in here in Germany as well," said a German Minister President to me at the time. "And that's just not possible."

Rupert Neudeck described the resistance he faced from German politicians against his spectacular rescue mission as follows: "The Minister President of Hesse, Holger Börner, didn't shy away from declaring during his fight against our ship: "That ship will open the floodgates to refugees." Of course that was criminal nonsense, says Rupert Neudeck, "The ship did not create the refugees. With our very first ship we were actually able to rescue 9,507 refugees. During that whole time, the three years until 1982, our best friend and source of support were our fellow citizens, the German people. We felt ourselves being swept along by a wave of affirmation. The governments no longer dared to claim that they were actually against our mission."

Cap Anamur was an act of conspiratorial democracy, an act inspired by the man we are now honoring, Rupert Neudeck. His work as a fisher of men, as it were, was a result of candid spontaneity and a deep conviction in what is right and good. He writes: "We were all solidly convinced that Jesus Christ did not say we should demand guarantees for an ocean rescue mission. No, he charged us with the following: if we see someone in need of help on the ocean route between Vietnam and Malaysia, then it is our duty to help that person."

And this raises a very timely question: Must we not also lend a helping hand when we see young Africans braving stormy seas in their tiny nutshell boats trying to flee to Europe? This evening, on this Monday, there are 100,000 young Africans in the ports of Dakar, Senegal, who are willing to risk their lives to make it over to Europe, knowing full well that 1 in 10 might drown in the process. Yet they flee regardless, because the ground beneath their feet is slowly giving away - in no small part due to climate change. But the Africans did not cause global warming, the Europeans did. The average European consumes 30 times more energy than an African.

Because Rupert Neudeck is also grappling with this question, he is again helping out in his own way. He is installing solar panels on schools and homes so that Africans can have a future in their own land, in their mother country Africa. With SolarWorld's support, Rupert Neudeck and his current organization, the "Green Helmets", installed a large-scale solar power system in the Rwandan district of Bugesera that generates all the electricity necessary to run an educational center. Like Frank Asbek in his new book or Muhammad Yunus in Bangladesh, Rupert Neudeck sees that there can be no development without an adequate supply of energy and water. With education, water and renewable energy we may be able to ensure that no child on this planet need die of hunger by the year 2030. We can, as Muhammad Yunus says again and again, relegate hunger to the dustbin of history. With the help of microcredits, even the poorest can afford solar power systems and thus light. Light for Africa – what a vision for this sun-drenched continent. Solar power is THE resource of the 21st century. And Africa has it in spades. All we need to do is figure out how to mobilize the solar wealth bestowed upon our beautiful blue planet. Rupert Neudeck is setting an example in this regard. An example that will lead to a better world in the future. Prosperity for all is not a utopian idea, but a realizable vision. At any given moment of our existence on this planet, the sun is providing us with 10,000 times more energy then we currently need. We don't have an energy problem. We just aren't using the energy we have correctly, and that is something we can change.

Rupert Neudeck, his wife Christel and their staff are combining a social vision with an ecological vision. And this vision can serve as a symbol of peace. For unlike oil, solar power does not lead to wars of resources. The big political question of the 21st century is: War for oil or peace through solar power? If only bananas grew in Iraq, would there be a single American soldier stationed there?

What kind of world do we live in? If a news show dealing with realistic eco-social issues were aired on ARD tonight, what would my colleagues in Hamburg have to say?

First: Today is yet another day where we allowed 50,000 people to die of hunger on this rich and bountiful Earth. Jean Ziegler, the UN Special Rapporteur on Food and a friend of Rupert Neudeck, said: "Let's be honest – we murdered them." And climate change is only accelerating death by starvation.

The second report of this news show would then have to be: Today is yet another day where we have contributed to the extinction of 150 different animal and plant species - with global warming as the main cause. Yet without plants and animals, mankind cannot exist.

Third report: Today we have produced yet another 60,000 hectares of desert. We do this every single day. We are laying waste to our beautiful planet. Our children and grandchildren will curse us to no end for what we have done.

Fourth report: Today we have once again pumped 150 million tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. In essence, we are waging World War III on nature itself. Rupert Neudeck and his Green Helmets are serving as symbols of peace in this world war. Especially in Africa, each solar power system and each wind turbine is a symbol of peace. No one can wage war over the wind or the sun.

Rupert Neudeck has not only had solar power systems installed in Africa, but also on hospitals in Afghanistan and - just in the last week - on schools in Palestine. For him, solar policy is the same as social policy and development policy since only solar power can lead to a more just and peaceful world.

As the discoverer of the photovoltaic effect, Albert Einstein can also be considered a solar pacifist. It was that discovery – and not, as many assume, his theory of relativity – that earned him the Nobel Prize. Rupert Neudeck and his largely voluntary staff have saved a hundred thousand people in Africa and Asia over the last 30 years.

In 1984, Heinrich Böll gave a speech in honor of Rupert Neudeck and his humanitarian aid workers and signaled out one particular aspect of their work for praise, an aspect that until today has received too little attention.

Quoting Heinrich Böll:

"It is a thing of beauty to feed a hungry child,

to dry his tears,

clean his nose,

there is beauty in healing the sick.

One area of aesthetics that we have not yet discovered

is the beauty of justice.

We can halfway agree

about the beauty of art, of a human being, of nature.

Yet - justice and equity are also beautiful

when they are fully realized."

This wonderful part of the speech is the Magna Carta of the work of Rupert and Christel Neudeck. They do this work because it is beautiful and because they enjoy it.

Rupert Neudeck and his Green Helmets are worthy recipients of this important award. Congratulations, dear Rupert!

© Franz Alt 2009