Wangari Maathai wins Peace Prize! Props to the Nobel Committee!

BrainGlutton · #1 10-08-2004, 04:09 PM

Kenyan environmentalist and pro-democracy activist Wangari Maathai (whom I honestly never heard of until today) is the first African woman to be awarded the Nobel Peace. I don't care much about that, but look at her Wikipedia bio -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wangari_Maathai:

Quote:

Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement - a grassroots environmental lobby - in 1977, which planted 12 million trees across the country to prevent soil erosion. Since then, she has been increasingly active on both environmental and women's issues.

Maathai was also the former chairperson of Maendeleo Ya Wanawake (the National Council of Women of Kenya). In the 1980s Maathai's husband divorced her, claiming she was too strong-minded for a woman.

In 1997 she ran for the presidency of Kenya, but her party withdrew her candidacy. Under the regime of former-President Daniel Arap Moi she was imprioned several times and violently attacked for demanding multi-party elections and an end to corruption and tribal politics. Maathai was elected to parliament in 2002 when Mwai Kibaki defeated Uhuru Kenyatta. She has been Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Wildlife since 2003.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2004 to Wangari Maathai for her contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace. "Maathai stood up courageously against the former oppressive regime in Kenya. Her unique forms of action have contributed to drawing attention to political oppression - nationally and internationally. She has served as inspiration for many in the fight for democratic rights and has especially encouraged women to better their situation", the committee said.

So I think it's a good choice. Africa is a horrible mess these days. Anybody willing to fight and to sacrifice for democracy, feminism, and eco-sustainability in an African country deserves international recognition.

Does any Doper have a problem with this choice? Anybody you'd rather see get the prize this year?

DrDeth · #2 10-08-2004, 04:24 PM

She is certainly *A* good choice, no doubt. That commitee has made many of it's recent choices strongly weighing their liberal politics and Political Correctness. But she certainly deserves recognition.

elucidator · #3 10-08-2004, 04:33 PM

Rather a pity that standards have become corrupted by lefty Scandahoovians. I mean, after Kissinger, it was all downhill, Peace Prize-wise.

BrainGlutton · #4 10-08-2004, 07:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DrDeth

She is certainly *A* good choice, no doubt. That commitee has made many of it's recent choices strongly weighing their liberal politics and Political Correctness. But she certainly deserves recognition.

Quote:

Originally Posted by elucidator

Rather a pity that standards have become corrupted by lefty Scandahoovians. I mean, after Kissinger, it was all downhill, Peace Prize-wise.

Well, let's look at the record. From the Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Peace_Prize:

Quote:

1970 Norman Borlaug (USA) for research at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center.

1971 Chancellor Willy Brandt (Germany) for West Germany's Ostpolitik, embodying a new attitude towards Eastern Europe and East Germany.

1972 Not awarded

1973 Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger (USA) and Foreign Minister Le Duc Tho (Vietnam, declined) for the Vietnam peace accord.

1974 Seán MacBride (Ireland) president of the International Peace Bureau and the Commission of Namibia of the United Nations.
Eisaku Sato (佐藤榮作) (Japan) prime minister.

1975 Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov (USSR) for his campaigning for human rights.

1976 Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan founders of the Northern Ireland Peace Movement (later renamed Community of Peace People).

1977 Amnesty International, London for its campaign against torture.

1978 President Mohamed Anwar Al-Sadat (Egypt) and Prime Minister Menachem Begin (Israel) for negotiating peace between Egypt and Israel.

1979 Mother Teresa poverty awareness campaigner (India)

1980 Adolfo Pérez Esquivel (Argentina) human rights

1981 The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

1982 Alva Myrdal (Sweden) and Alfonso García Robles (Mexico) delegates to the United Nations General Assembly on Disarmament.

1983 Lech Wałęsa (Poland) founder of Solidarność and campaigner for human rights. Served as the first president of Poland after the fall of Communism

1984 Bishop Desmond Mpilo Tutu (South Africa) for his work against apartheid.

1985 International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Boston.

1986 Elie Wiesel (USA) author, Holocaust survivor

1987 Óscar Arias Sánchez (Costa Rica) for initiating peace negotiations in Central America.

1988 The United Nations Peace-Keeping Forces, New York.

1989 Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama.

1990 President Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (USSR) for helping to end the Cold War.

1991 Aung San Suu Kyi (Burma) opposition leader and human rights advocate.

1992 Author Rigoberta Menchú (Guatemala) for campaigning for human rights, especially for indigenous peoples.

1993 President Nelson Mandela (South Africa) and Former President Frederik Willem de Klerk (South Africa) "for their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa"

1994 PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat (Palestine), Foreign Minister Shimon Peres (Israel) and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (Israel) for concluding the Oslo peace accords.

1995 Józef Rotblat (Poland/UK) and the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs for their efforts in the fight against nuclear arms.

1996 Carlos Felipe Ximenes Belo (East Timor) and José Ramos Horta (East Timor) for their work towards a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in East Timor.

1997 International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and Jody Williams for their work for the banning and clearing of anti-personnel mines.

1998 John Hume (UK) and David Trimble (UK) for their efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland.

1999 Médecins Sans Frontières, Brussels.

2000 President Kim Dae Jung (金大中) (South Korea) for his work for democracy and human rights, and in particular for peace and reconciliation with North Korea.

2001 The United Nations and Secretary-General Kofi Annan (Ghana)

2002 Jimmy Carter - former President of the United States "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"

2003 Shirin Ebadi, Iranian human rights activist and democracy campaigner

Yeh . . . definitely a PC pattern. Is that good or bad?

(PaulFitzroy, feel free to weigh in at any time about the abomination of the 1994 award to Arafat!

)

gum · #5 10-09-2004, 01:50 AM

She sounds like an excellent person. Don't know about the 'Peace' prize, though. It is, ofcourse, terribly PC of the commitee. Like today's prizes being awarded for movies, documentaries and such. Very trendy.
Maybe it might have been better to do 1972 all over again this year.

Unless they read the SDMB. elucidator is a good candidate for a peace prize.

Zoe · #6 10-09-2004, 04:03 PM

Quote:

Don't know about the 'Peace' prize, though. It is, ofcourse, terribly PC of the commitee.

I am pleased that environmental efforts are included under the Peace Prize now. Judging from her accomplishments, she has truly earned it the hard way.

I admire such courage and strength and just don't understand what it is that builds it inside of such women.

BrainGlutton · #7 10-09-2004, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gum

She sounds like an excellent person. Don't know about the 'Peace' prize, though. It is, ofcourse, terribly PC of the commitee. Like today's prizes being awarded for movies, documentaries and such. Very trendy.
Maybe it might have been better to do 1972 all over again this year.

You're just never to get over the Bowling for Columbine Oscar, are you?

silenus · #8 10-09-2004, 04:37 PM

I'd never heard of her either, but she deserves the award. Actions and commitments like hers need to be recognized and supported on an international level. They hurt none, and help all. Props to the Nobel committee.