Ardern in running for Nobel Peace Prize
Teen climate activist is favourite but Donald Trump believes he deserves award ‘for lots of things’
President Donald Trump is trying to position himself for the Nobel Peace Prize, which will be announced on October 11. He suggests he is deserving of this award, “for a lot of things” but has not received one yet because they are not given out fairly. It appears to irk him that “they gave one to Obama”.
The bookies place the chances of his winning as 12th best. The front-runner is young climate change activist Greta Thunburg. The second favourite, but a bit behind the front-runner, is New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Reporters without Borders is a close third.
They are part of this years’ pool of 301 candidates, which have to be carefully sifted through by the five members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, as appointed by the Norwegian Parliament.
This body distributes the award and the funds (about US$925,000) that go with each award in broad accordance with the will of Alfred Nobel, who made his fortune out of his invention of dynamite. His bequest to humanity was for an annual gift to those, “who during the preceding year have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind”.
Although there are Nobel awards for Chemistry, Physics, Medicine and Literature, the most well known is the Peace Prize. Since 1901, this award has been handed out annually to worthy recipients who have “done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition of reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses”.
Sometimes, the most obvious choices (like Mahatma Gandhi) did not get the Peace Prize, while at other times, some, like Aung San Suu Ky of Burma did get it (for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights), but many are currently questioning the wisdom of that decision. For 2019, there are 223 individuals and 78 organisations.
Reporters Without Borders is a serious contender due to the context relating to the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi Arabian officials.
Trump has a few considerations in his favour. More prize winners come from America than any other country. In addition four American leaders have received the award, with three of them getting it for their work in peace initiatives. In 2009 Barack Obama’s prime qualification seems to have been not being George W Bush. A secretary of state (Henry Kissinger, jointly with his Vietnamese counterpart Le Duc Tho, for ending the Vietnam War), got it, as did two American Vice-Presidents.
Although the Peace Prize is moving towards gender equity historically, it has been overwhelmingly awarded to men. Also, in terms of age structure, the award tends to go to more mature citizens, with the average age of peace prize winners being in their early 60s.
Greta Thunburg is the antithesis of many of these patterns noted above. She is only 16 years old, female, and has become both the alarm bell for the planet and the voice for a new generation which has woken the populace from its slumber, warning of real danger ahead. The Nobel Committee has previously awarded the prize to both Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, for their work around global warming.
Although Ardern does not command the same global media coverage as Thunburg, the depth of her response to the Christchurch Massacre, on March 15, has made her in the eyes of many the best candidate for the award.
The sincerity, empathy and compassion she displayed towards the families of the victims and their Muslim community was unique in an age when tolerance, respect and reconciliation are rare.
Second, her legislative and policy agenda, from the reform of gun laws, to the Royal Commission to find out how the risk slipped past the authorities; through to the international initiative in the Christchurch Call to try to tether the worst parts of the internet, is ground-breaking.
The Norwegian decision makers, who suffered their own mass shooting in 2011, will be sure to have these considerations in mind as they try to speak for humanity, for who is the most deserving person in making the world a better place, for 2019.