A Slow Year for Peace

So Al Gore wins the Nobel Peace Prize, and my first thought is... him? Why?

I would like to have done hard research on this, but Wikipedia is convenient, and probably right, so that’s where I’m getting most of my facts.

According to Alfred Nobel’s will, he left the peace prize decision-making process to a “Committee of five persons to be elected by the Norwegian Parliament (Storting),” to be given, “to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”

Pretty clear! What did the Committee say for itself in 2007? First, let’s clarify that the award went not just to Al, but also to the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The reason: “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change.”

Wow fellas! Way to stay on-mission!

I got nothing against Mr. Gore, but he’s basically been a barker. A movie star. An “advocate” in less charged language. That doesn’t seem peace-prize worthy to me, and the Other Al (at least his will) would seem to agree.

I looked at the last 10 years of Nobel peace prize awarding to see Gore’s contemporary laureates line-up. The hyperlinks below go to the recipients’ pages on the Nobel site.

2006 Muhammad Yunus, Grameen Bank "for advancing economic and social opportunities for the poor, especially women, through their pioneering microcredit work"

2005 International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei "for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way"

2004 Wangari Maathai "for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace"

2003 Shirin Ebadi "for her efforts for democracy and human rights. She has focused especially on the struggle for the rights of women and children."

2002 Jimmy Carter "for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development"

2001 United Nations, Kofi Annan "for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world"

2000 Kim Dae-jung "for his work for democracy and human rights in South Korea and in East Asia in general, and for peace and reconciliation with North Korea in particular"

1999 Médecins Sans Frontières "in recognition of the organization's pioneering humanitarian work on several continents"

1998 John Hume, David Trimble for their efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland"

1997 International Campaign to Ban Landmines, Jody Williams "for their work for the banning and clearing of anti-personnel mines"

So what, are we out of Jimmy Carters and John Humes? The prize has gone unawarded some years, during major wars, or for undisclosed reasons. The Committee could have just given it a bye this year if there were no suitable candidates.

Smells like politics. Smells like -- despite the Committee’s protestations -- a feeble attempt to bop George Bush on the nose. That shit is tired, Oslo. I expect better from you.