The Nobel Peace Prize promises
Monday, 2 November 2009
Md. Masum Billah
Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize more for promises he made than his achievements. This drew both praise for him and scepticism from around the world. Accepting the prize Obama said he felt humbled. He also said that he accepted the award as a call to action to confront the global challenges of the 21st century. Obama has indeed created a new environment of international politics. In the past, rarely a leader captured the world's attention by creating the hope for a better future as has Obama done. The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. It cited his push for nuclear disarmament and his outreach to the Muslim world. Obama, the first black US President, has been widely credited for improving America's global image which suffered badly during the eight-year presidency of George W. Bush. Bush alienated even America's time-tested friends in Europe.
Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki called the decision to award the peace prize as hasty. The appropriate time for awarding the prize to Obama would have been, according to him, when foreign military forces leave Iraq and Afghanistan and when he stands by the rights of the oppressed Palestinian people.
We are in need of action, not sayings, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Palestine said. He also said that if there is no fundamental change in American policies toward the acknowledgement of the rights of the Palestinian people, this prize would move us neither forward nor backward.
Among the nominees for the Peace Prize this year were Colombian activist Piedad Cordoba, Afghan woman rights activist Simi Samar and Denis Mukwege, a physician who opened a clinic in war-torn Congo to help rape victims. The critics called the decision of the Nobel Committee this year as premature, given that Obama has achieved few tangible gains as he grapples with challenges ranging from the war in Afghanistan and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea. The award was announced on the day Obama was convening his war advisers to weigh whether to send more troops to Afghanistan to turn the tide against a resurgent Talibans.
Obama's troubles at home include a battered economy and a fierce debate over healthcare reform that once gave him high approval ratings. Critics say that awarding the prize to Obama is an insult to the memory of former award winners like the Reverend Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, Jody Williams, Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi and Lech Walesa who put their lives and careers on the line to struggle for peace and human dignity.
They say the award this year has gone to a man who has accomplished very little in his short term in office. They say, Obama has managed to expand one war while blocking international condemnation of brutality in another. They also say that he has done nothing to reverse his own country's leading role as a promoter of war and international violence.
The Guantanamo prison is still open. Under Obama, the US has blocked the Goldstone Report which accuses Israel of war crimes in Gaza. Under Obama, the US military continues to bomb Afghanistan, killing civilians indiscrimnately. His administration continues to refuse to sign the international anti-landmine treaty. And under Obama, the US continues to be the leading producer and exporter of arms. The US continues to outspend the rest of the world on military. Obama continues to intimidate Iran, though not in the same language as Bush used to do.
So critics around the world continue to ask whether Obama deserves the Peace Prize. They recall that Henry Kissinger, despite his role in the slaughter of well over a million innocent people in Indochina, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973. The Nobel Committee was, in the past, criticised time and again for awarding the Peace Prize to controversial persons. One must, however, admit that Obama is by far a better choice, as he made some visible efforts to build peace. In eight months he has taken his country toward a much saner direction.
It is also true that Obama is yet to make any substantive achievement in establishing peace. But Obama is praised for bringing the US closer to mainstream global thinking on climate change and ending the Bush policy of unilateralism. And Obama changed the global perception of the US under Bush.
Obama's willingness to sit down and negotiate with Iran and North Korea, rather than threaten these countries like Bush, has already improved the international climate. His policies has ended the isolation the US suffered under Bush. Let Obama be a man of peace.
A senior manager of BRAC Education Programme, PACE, the writer can be reached at:
e-mail: mmbillah2000@yahoo.com
Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize more for promises he made than his achievements. This drew both praise for him and scepticism from around the world. Accepting the prize Obama said he felt humbled. He also said that he accepted the award as a call to action to confront the global challenges of the 21st century. Obama has indeed created a new environment of international politics. In the past, rarely a leader captured the world's attention by creating the hope for a better future as has Obama done. The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples. It cited his push for nuclear disarmament and his outreach to the Muslim world. Obama, the first black US President, has been widely credited for improving America's global image which suffered badly during the eight-year presidency of George W. Bush. Bush alienated even America's time-tested friends in Europe.
Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki called the decision to award the peace prize as hasty. The appropriate time for awarding the prize to Obama would have been, according to him, when foreign military forces leave Iraq and Afghanistan and when he stands by the rights of the oppressed Palestinian people.
We are in need of action, not sayings, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Palestine said. He also said that if there is no fundamental change in American policies toward the acknowledgement of the rights of the Palestinian people, this prize would move us neither forward nor backward.
Among the nominees for the Peace Prize this year were Colombian activist Piedad Cordoba, Afghan woman rights activist Simi Samar and Denis Mukwege, a physician who opened a clinic in war-torn Congo to help rape victims. The critics called the decision of the Nobel Committee this year as premature, given that Obama has achieved few tangible gains as he grapples with challenges ranging from the war in Afghanistan and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to nuclear standoffs with Iran and North Korea. The award was announced on the day Obama was convening his war advisers to weigh whether to send more troops to Afghanistan to turn the tide against a resurgent Talibans.
Obama's troubles at home include a battered economy and a fierce debate over healthcare reform that once gave him high approval ratings. Critics say that awarding the prize to Obama is an insult to the memory of former award winners like the Reverend Martin Luther King, Mother Teresa, Jody Williams, Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi and Lech Walesa who put their lives and careers on the line to struggle for peace and human dignity.
They say the award this year has gone to a man who has accomplished very little in his short term in office. They say, Obama has managed to expand one war while blocking international condemnation of brutality in another. They also say that he has done nothing to reverse his own country's leading role as a promoter of war and international violence.
The Guantanamo prison is still open. Under Obama, the US has blocked the Goldstone Report which accuses Israel of war crimes in Gaza. Under Obama, the US military continues to bomb Afghanistan, killing civilians indiscrimnately. His administration continues to refuse to sign the international anti-landmine treaty. And under Obama, the US continues to be the leading producer and exporter of arms. The US continues to outspend the rest of the world on military. Obama continues to intimidate Iran, though not in the same language as Bush used to do.
So critics around the world continue to ask whether Obama deserves the Peace Prize. They recall that Henry Kissinger, despite his role in the slaughter of well over a million innocent people in Indochina, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973. The Nobel Committee was, in the past, criticised time and again for awarding the Peace Prize to controversial persons. One must, however, admit that Obama is by far a better choice, as he made some visible efforts to build peace. In eight months he has taken his country toward a much saner direction.
It is also true that Obama is yet to make any substantive achievement in establishing peace. But Obama is praised for bringing the US closer to mainstream global thinking on climate change and ending the Bush policy of unilateralism. And Obama changed the global perception of the US under Bush.
Obama's willingness to sit down and negotiate with Iran and North Korea, rather than threaten these countries like Bush, has already improved the international climate. His policies has ended the isolation the US suffered under Bush. Let Obama be a man of peace.
A senior manager of BRAC Education Programme, PACE, the writer can be reached at:
e-mail: mmbillah2000@yahoo.com