(no subject)
So Obama won the peace prize. Huh.
Not quite sure how I feel about that.
On the one hand, I suppose I understand how they want to encourage him to do more peaceful acts. Like when the committee gave Gorbachev the award.
On the other hand though, I feel like there are some causes and activists that could benefit from the visibility much more than the president of the US. According to the cnn article, other nominees included "three Chinese dissidents, an Afghan activist and a controversial Colombian lawmaker"*. What did the dissidents have to say? What kind of activism is the Afghan doing? What laws is the Colombian trying to get passed that could do with some international support? How are ALL of them directly promoting and working towards peace? And what could those causes do with $1.4 million?
Whether people want to think about it or not, the US is still waging two wars. Maybe if you look optimistically, they're wars that will end in greater peace, but right now there isn't peace, there's turmoil. Obama's still going to be leading the war and it's entirely possible that it won't end in peace.
I kind of wonder if it's some giant elaborate prank. This week's news has been ridiculous. (Bomb the moon for water?)
*http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/10/09/nobel.peace.prize/index.html?iphonefb
Oh god I'm citing sources in my livejournal. Academia has permeated my mind.
ETA:
Meet the People Who Were Passed Over for Obama
Sima Samar, women's rights activist in Afghanistan: "With dogged persistence and at great personal risk, she kept her schools and clinics open in Afghanistan even during the most repressive days of the Taliban regime, whose laws prohibited the education of girls past the age of eight. When the Taliban fell, Samar returned to Kabul and accepted the post of Minister for Women's Affairs."
Ingrid Betancourt: French-Colombian ex-hostage held for six years.
Handicap International and Cluster Munition Coalition: "These organizations are recognized for their consistently serious efforts to clean up cluster bombs, also known as land mines. Innocent civilians are regularly killed worldwide because the unseen bombs explode when stepped upon."
"Hu Jia, a human rights activist and an outspoken critic of the Chinese government, who was sentenced last year to a three-and-a-half-year prison term for 'inciting subversion of state power.'"
"Wei Jingsheng, who spent 17 years in Chinese prisons for urging reforms of China's communist system. He now lives in the United States."
"Dr. Denis Mukwege: Doctor, founder and head of Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo. He has dedicated his life to helping Congolese women and girls who are victims of gang rape and brutal sexual violence."
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Meet-the-people-passed-over-for-the-Nobel-Prize-63854692.html
Not quite sure how I feel about that.
On the one hand, I suppose I understand how they want to encourage him to do more peaceful acts. Like when the committee gave Gorbachev the award.
On the other hand though, I feel like there are some causes and activists that could benefit from the visibility much more than the president of the US. According to the cnn article, other nominees included "three Chinese dissidents, an Afghan activist and a controversial Colombian lawmaker"*. What did the dissidents have to say? What kind of activism is the Afghan doing? What laws is the Colombian trying to get passed that could do with some international support? How are ALL of them directly promoting and working towards peace? And what could those causes do with $1.4 million?
Whether people want to think about it or not, the US is still waging two wars. Maybe if you look optimistically, they're wars that will end in greater peace, but right now there isn't peace, there's turmoil. Obama's still going to be leading the war and it's entirely possible that it won't end in peace.
I kind of wonder if it's some giant elaborate prank. This week's news has been ridiculous. (Bomb the moon for water?)
*http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/10/09/nobel.peace.prize/index.html?iphonefb
Oh god I'm citing sources in my livejournal. Academia has permeated my mind.
ETA:
Meet the People Who Were Passed Over for Obama
Sima Samar, women's rights activist in Afghanistan: "With dogged persistence and at great personal risk, she kept her schools and clinics open in Afghanistan even during the most repressive days of the Taliban regime, whose laws prohibited the education of girls past the age of eight. When the Taliban fell, Samar returned to Kabul and accepted the post of Minister for Women's Affairs."
Ingrid Betancourt: French-Colombian ex-hostage held for six years.
Handicap International and Cluster Munition Coalition: "These organizations are recognized for their consistently serious efforts to clean up cluster bombs, also known as land mines. Innocent civilians are regularly killed worldwide because the unseen bombs explode when stepped upon."
"Hu Jia, a human rights activist and an outspoken critic of the Chinese government, who was sentenced last year to a three-and-a-half-year prison term for 'inciting subversion of state power.'"
"Wei Jingsheng, who spent 17 years in Chinese prisons for urging reforms of China's communist system. He now lives in the United States."
"Dr. Denis Mukwege: Doctor, founder and head of Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo. He has dedicated his life to helping Congolese women and girls who are victims of gang rape and brutal sexual violence."
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Meet-the-people-passed-over-for-the-Nobel-Prize-63854692.html