Nobel Peace Prize 2003

[Monte Smith]

The historically meaningless Nobel Peace Prize is due to be awarded tomorrow. Drudge is making some noise about the pope being a favored candidate, but doesn't give a link.

Predictions?

[walto]

I don't give a link either.

[Tom Storer]

I think we can safely predict that Bush, Powell, Blair, Chirac, de Villepin, Schroeder, Sharon, Arafat and Osama bin Laden are not in the running.

Saddam Hussein? Nah, maybe not.

Kofi Anan? Jesus, who the hell knows?

[Cem]

Originally posted by Monte Smith
Drudge is making some noise about the pope being a favored candidate, but doesn't give a link. Predictions?

The guy that tried to kill the pope, maybe? Mehmet Ali Agca? Mind you that was 20 odd years ago...

[Monte Smith]

Kofi already got it. They could give it posthumously to the Brazilian UN envoy who was slain in the Baghdad HQ bombing, Sergio Vieira de Mello, if they want to again acknowledge that august body's relevence and efficacy.

kissinger? arafat? nah, they already got it?
idi amin? nah, recently dead.
okay, maybe Rumsfeld? Yeah, ole Rummy should get it!

[clinthopson]

This would be a good year for them to pass.

Fuck all uv ya. I'm nominating Chris A. Seeing how he is so peaceful and all. I'll submit some of his anti-Bush ramblings from here, that'll jerk some tears from them nobel(noble?)folks. If he isn't the modern day Ghandi, then I don't know who is.

[Tom Storer]

Oh, right, Kofi Anan already got it. I forgot.

Hans Blix? No, I can't think of anyone who deserves a Nobel Peace Prize.

I predict it will be somebody no one has heard of.

[Brian Olewnick]

Originally posted by Tom Storer
.

I predict it will be somebody no one has heard of.

In that case, it's gotta be Joe Bob Cerniglia of Wheatley, Kansas.

[Uli]

Names that I've read in a speculative article included:

The Pope for his stance against the war. this with the proviso that the Pope would have to share it with some Muslim personality
Vaclav Havel

Ignancio da Silva

Kazai.

[hornplayer]

how about the Governator? AH-nold......

[cookie]

I'm with Clint. Maybe they should skip a year. Or maybe they should tap the Dalai Lama. He's hot right now and he's *all about* peace of all kinds including inner peace.

[GA Russell]

I think that regardless of the original intent (which, by the way, was for Nobel to be remembered for something other than the deaths caused by his invention dynamite), these awards are primarily the committee members either a) flattering themselves to bestow a compliment on somebody more important than them, like the Pope, or b) giving an honor to one of their liberal friends.

I suspect it will be the Pope, because he might not be with us next year at this time, and the committee doesn't want to be remembered for failing to give him the Peace Prize because it was too busy giving it to people like Yasser Arafat and Kofi Anan.

[Monte Smith]

Originally posted by cookie
I'm with Clint. Maybe they should skip a year. Or maybe they should tap the Dalai Lama. He's hot right now and he's *all about* peace of all kinds including inner peace.

They already gave it to the Dalai Lama, too.

True post, GA Russell.

[clinthopson]

Oops, I forgot Arianna Huffington.

May she rest in peace

[Pete C]

Don't give it to no pope until he renounces all that other Vatican shit.

[Uli]

Originally posted by GA Russell
I think that regardless of the original intent (which, by the way, was for Nobel to be remembered for something other than the deaths caused by his invention dynamite), these awards are primarily the committee members either a) flattering themselves to bestow a compliment on somebody more important than them, like the Pope, or b) giving an honor to one of their liberal friends.

Of course, that leaves the door open for you to cynically bitch about any of their choices you don't like. You could have hidden your slant a bit by just phrasing b) as honoring their political friends.

That would give me the chance to add Kissinger to your list of unworthy recipients.

The fact is, I think, the committe has both conservative and liberal members. And maybe even members beyond this supposedly all defining split.

[Tom Storer]

Iranian rights lawyer wins Nobel
Friday, October 10, 2003 Posted: 0912 GMT ( 5:12 PM HKT)


OSLO, Norway (CNN) -- Iranian human rights lawyer Shirin Ebadi has won the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for her focus on human rights, especially on the struggle to improve the status of women and children.

"As a lawyer, judge, lecturer, writer and activist, she has spoken out clearly and strongly in her country, Iran, far beyond its borders," the Norwegian Nobel Committee said in its citation Friday.

It said she had stood up as a "sound professional, a courageous person, and has never heeded the threat to her own safety."

The 56-year-old was one of the first judges in Iran and received her law degree from the University of Tehran before leaving after the Islamic revolution in 1979.

Ebadi was awarded Norway's Rafto Prize in 2001 for her sustained fight, over many years, for human rights and democracy in Iran.

She won the 10 million Swedish krona ($1.32 million) prize from a record field of 165 candidates including Pope John Paul and former Czech President Vaclav Havel.

The announcements of this year's Nobel awards started last week with the literature prize being awarded to South African J.M. Coetzee.

On Monday American Paul C. Lauterbur and Briton Sir Peter Mansfield won the 2003 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for discoveries leading to the development of magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, a technique that reveals images of the body's inner organs.

The physics prize on Tuesday went to Alexei A. Abrikosov, Anthony J. Leggett, and Vitaly L. Ginzburg, for their work concerning superconductivity and superfluidity. Abrikosov is a U.S. and Russian citizen, Ginzburg a Russian and Leggett a British and American citizen.

On Wednesday, Americans Peter Agre and Roderick MacKinnon won the Nobel Prize in chemistry for studies of tiny transportation tunnels in cell walls, work that illuminates diseases of the heart, kidneys and nervous system.

American Robert F. Engle and Briton Clive W.J. Granger shared the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for developing statistical tools that have improved the forecasting of economic growth, interest rates and stock prices.

The prizes are presented to the winners on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death in 1896 in the Swedish capital, Stockholm. The Peace Prize is presented in Oslo.

[Monte Smith]

Huh. Haven't heard of Ebadi before, my bad, but I think this is a superior choice. Certainly this is an area of the world that needs attention desperately these days. The publicity that comes with a Nobel PP could focus some scrutiny on the tyranny of the mullahs...and, of course, on Iran's nuke plans.

[Gordon B]

The Nobel Committee chose wisely this year. Funny that this thread died once the actual winner was chosen.

[Sand]

The Nobel Committee chose wisely this year.

[Monte Smith]

Uh oh. Khatami makes like he feels the same way I do about the Nobel Peace Prize--that it isn't particularly meaningful. In this instance, I hope he and I are wrong. I hope this award puts a spotlight on Iran. Hope, hope, hope.

Khatami Plays Down Nobel as Ebadi Returns to Iran
By Christian Oliver

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Reformist President Mohammad Khatami (news - web sites) said he was pleased an Iranian had won the Nobel Peace Prize but played down the importance of the award ahead of laureate Shirin Ebadi's return to Tehran on Tuesday.


Reuters Photo

Ebadi, 56, who won the award on Friday, is a human rights lawyer who has long been a thorn in the flank of hard-liners -- a vocal advocate of women's rights who has taken on some of the prickliest defense cases of political activists.

"I am happy that one of our compatriots has won this award," Khatami was quoted as saying on the official IRNA news agency.

But he added: "The Nobel Peace Prize is not that important, the awards for literature and science are more important."

Khatami is backed by reformists in the Islamic state but has largely failed to make headway against Iran's clerical leadership since his election in 1997.

Iran's first Nobel Peace Prize winner, Ebadi returns to an uncertain reception, having already incited hardline wrath for attending a Paris news conference without her headscarf.

Sources close to her, who declined to be identified, feared hard-liners' knives would be out after her appearance in Paris.

But liberal commentators argued her international renown would protect her from hard-liners in the powerful judiciary.

"The judiciary cannot afford to treat her as just another lawyer, professor or citizen who can be simply prosecuted or placed in solitary confinement," wrote Mehrdad Serjooie in an editorial in the English-language daily Iran News.

Ebadi is expected to arrive in Tehran late on Tuesday evening. Some Iranian papers said she would be welcomed by human rights organizations.

Mohammad Kazam Anbarloui, chief editor of conservative daily Resalat, vented his anger about Ebadi's failure to obey Iran's strict dress code for women in the Paris news conference beamed live to Iran by international news channels.

"It is not a peaceful gesture it is a declaration of war on Islam's authentic culture," he was quoted as saying by the ISNA students news agency.

As stated in her Nobel citation, Ebadi is a Muslim who believes rights can advance within the framework of Islamic law.

Noting that Ebadi was from a religious family, Khatami said: "I hope she considers fully the interests of Islam and Iran and does not allow this opportunity to be misused."

NO RESTING ON LAURELS

Ebadi has indicated she will not rest on her laurels. Shortly after her return she is expected to launch straight into another controversial case, representing the family of Canadian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi who died in custody in July.

Many of her supporters fear that, as in the case of Myanmar's laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the authorities will not shrink from clamping down on her because of her fame.

Iran's passports demand that citizens conform to Iran's strict laws even when they are outside the country. Women are required to wear headscarves and loose-fitting clothes that disguise their figure.

But one Western diplomat in Tehran said the international attention would work in Ebadi's favor.

"The government does care about its image," he said.

The hardline press relegated Ebadi's victory to brief back page mentions and the diplomat reckoned conservative politicians would also be eager to avoid causing a stir.

"People who are uncomfortable with her victory would prefer to ignore it," he said.

(- Additional reporting by Parinoosh Arami)

[Monte Smith]

While she's got the mic:

Iranian Nobel Winner Demands Release of Dissidents

Wed Oct 15, 7:16 AM ET

By Parisa Hafezi

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian Nobel Peace Prize Winner Shirin Ebadi called Wednesday for the immediate release of jailed dissidents in the Islamic Republic and insisted that human rights were not incompatible with Islam.

The human rights lawyer's Nobel win has ignited fierce debate in Iran with hard-liners labeling her a political stooge of the West while pro-reform activists hail her as a symbol of the fight for greater democracy and freedom in Iran.

"I wish for the release of all political prisoners and jailed journalists, as soon as possible," Ebadi told a news conference the day after returning to Iran to an emotional reception from hundreds of supporters.

Dozens of pro-reform activists have been jailed and scores of liberal newspapers have been shut down by Iran's hard-line judiciary in the past four years.

The crowd of 3,000 people who turned out to welcome Ebadi home at Tehran's main airport Tuesday night chanted, "Free political prisoners."

Iranian officials promised the European Union (news - web sites) last week to provide information on some 30 political prisoners held in jail. The EU Monday accused Iran of practicing torture, suppressing freedom of expression and discriminating against women.

Ebadi, 56, a human rights lawyer, spent almost three weeks in jail herself and was banned from practicing law for five years in 2000.

Many ordinary Iranians hope Ebadi's Nobel award could reinvigorate Iran's reformist movement which has struggled under moderate President Mohammad Khatami (news - web sites) to make much headway in the face of stiff resistance to change from powerful hard-liners.

But Ebadi quickly dismissed speculation that her new-found fame would see her launch into the political arena.

"If entering politics means gaining power, God save me from the day I become tempted by power," she said.

A long-time campaigner for women's and children's rights, Ebadi insisted that Islam was a religion of peace and equality and could not be blamed for human rights abuses.

"If women in Islamic countries are oppressed it is because of their male-dominated cultures, not because of Islam," she said.

Ebadi's award was welcomed with muted enthusiasm by Khatami Tuesday. He said that while he was pleased an Iranian had won, the peace prize was not as important as the Nobel prizes for literature and science.