18.7 C
Los Angeles
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Why Artificial Intelligence Must Be Stopped Now

Those advocating for artificial intelligence tout the...

We Need a Plan for the Transition to Renewable Energy

The transition to renewable energy is inevitable...

Nobel Peace Prize 2022: Shortlist Respecting Nobel’s Antiwar Intention

ActivismNobel Peace Prize 2022: Shortlist Respecting Nobel’s Antiwar Intention

Fredrik S. Heffermehl | Nobel Peace Prize Watch – TRANSCEND Media Service

January 2022 – Nobel Peace Prize Watch hereby presents its list of nominations for the 2022 Nobel Prize “for the champions of peace”. The overarching purpose of the prize, specified in the Nobel testament, is to liberate all nations from weapons, warriors and war, in his own words: to “build the community of nations”, “reduce or abolish” armaments and “promote peace congresses”.

The awarders, the Norwegian Nobel Committee have a legal obligation to promote the peace vision specified in Alfred Nobel´s testament. However – ignoring the will and developing a general prize for “peace” – the committee insists on embezzling funds that Nobel intended for the protagonists of a demilitarized world order. The committee has continued ignoring the will even after it received solid documentation of Nobel´s intention in three books. Arms races increase the risk of new wars and high risks, but Nobel prescribed an alternative.

The following is NPPWs shortlist for 2022 of candidates whose actions support a demilitarized world and thus come within the peace order Nobel wished his prize to promote.

We appeal once again to the Norwegian awarders to see the need for a global peace order. They should take note of a widespread and increasing disdain, as formulated in a mail to us from an expert in international affairs: “making the prize a weapon for cheap geopolitical purposes has demeaned both the concepts of peace and human dignity.”

We encourage people qualified to nominate (professors/MPs) to help us (without delay nominate one or more in the NPPW list below. Send to: Norwegian Nobel Committee, postmaster@nobel.no, and inform NPPW by copy to nominations@nobelwill.org . (The committee´s website forms at nobel.no do not work well – they are not compulsory).

THE NPP SHORTLIST:
The following candidates are eminently suited to promote the core purpose of Nobel´s testament; global peace through “the community of nations” based on co-operation, international law, institutions and demilitarization of international relations:           
 –  Madeleine Rees, England; Reaching Critical Will     

Madeleine Rees, a British lawyer, has been the Secretary-General of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) since 2010. Her long record as human rights defender includes service as head of the OHCHR in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where she courageously helped expose the involvement of UN peacekeepers in sex trafficking.  Rees is leading the WILPF’s efforts to advance a future of human security and justice for all and building a true global movement for feminist peace. In 2014, Rees was awarded the OBE for her services to a.o. international peace and security.

Reaching Critical Will (RCW) is the disarmament programme of WILPF, created in 1999 to lead the organisation’s analysis and advocacy for disarmament, the reduction of global military spending and militarism. RCW seeks to achieve disarmament, challenge militarism, and confront violent masculinities and gender discrimination through research, policy analysis, advocacy, monitoring, and reporting on international forums such as the United Nations. RCW is committed to creating change by starting a new international discourse.

Nominator/s: Prof. (law) Hedda Giertsen, Oslo

–   Scilla Elworthy, England

Dr. Scilla Elworthy combines scholarly research with innovative methods of education and practical action for peace by dialogue and disarmament. An excellent and energetic author and speaker she provides visionary leadership for a different world. She has founded Oxford Research Group and several programs, including Peace Direct for Local Peace Builders. Her books include “Pioneering the Possible: Awakened Leadership for a World that Works” (2014), and “A Business Plan for Peace” (2017).

Nominator/s: Prof. (social science) Vinod Shankar Singh, India

–  David Swansson, USA; World Beyond War 

Antiwar activist, energetic author and organizer who has published several visionary books on abolition of war and how to organize global peace. His organization World Beyond War, WBW, founded in 2014, is a global effort to abolish the institution of war itself, take war off the table as a viable option. Just as with slavery, there is no such thing as a “good” or necessary war. Both institutions are never acceptable, no matter the circumstances. WBW seeks transition to a global security system supported by international law, diplomacy, collaboration, and human rights, and defending those things with nonviolent action rather than the threat of violence.

–  Binalaksi Nepram, India

Binalaksi Nepram began her activism against private arms and the use of force in the small communities of northeastern India where she was born. From the local and close perspective, Binalaksi has developed a struggle against the world’s weapons of mass destruction and for a culture of peace, and she advocates non-violence for both state and non-state actors. She has founded several organizations, among them the Manipuri Women’s Gun Survivor Network and the Control Arms Foundation of India. “Her achievements offer an inspiring model for activists in other parts of the world”, wrote IPB when it awarded her the Sean McBride prize in 2010.

–  Jan Oberg, Sweden/Denmark

Oberg is a unique and keen protagonist of the UN Charter norm “peace by peaceful means” and the abolition of war. He uses empirical analysis as basis for criticism and constructive peace ideas and plans. His Transnational Foundation, TFF, a network think tank based on Gandhian principles, has 80 associates around the world. Programs include conflict mitigation, alternative security, nonviolence, a UN-based world order, peace research, education, advocacy, postwar reconciliation, and field work. TFF is also providing lectures and conflict skills training as well as innovative theories and practical solutions.

–  Klaus Schlichtmann, Germany/Japan; and
– SA9, Second Article 9 Association, Japan

An international peace order must be one where the law reigns supreme, where the power of the law replaces the law of power. Klaus Schlichtmann has dedicated his life to this cause and has eminent historical insights with a thorough knowledge of the creation of the UN and works tirelessly to empower the Security Council and encourage UN member nations to renew their loyalty to the principles of world peace enshrined in the UN Charter.

SA9 seeks to have all nations follow the example of Japan and commit to refraining from aggression as prescribed in Art 9 of the Japanese constitution of 1946. The UN must realize the collective security idea of the Charter.

Nominator/s: Prof Winston Langley, Boston, USA.

–  Alfred de Zayas, Switzerland                                                                                        

Professor Alfred de Zayas has a long career as academic researcher, educator, and practitioner in the UN and several human rights organizations. He has become a leading, most prolific defender of improving global co-operation and «Building a Just World Order”, which is the title of his latest book. Of particular relevance to the Nobel prize is his efforts to promote «The Human Right to Peace», see Ch. 3, pp 61-87, of the book and his 25 Principles of International Order. The latter sum up UN Charter commitments and how the UN must become the cornerstone of a world under «The Rule of Justice» (not just Rule of Law). De Zayas promotes the essence of Nobel´s testament, “building the community of nations”.

Nominator/s: IHRAAM, by Prof (law) Francis Boyle, USA.

–  Julian Assange, Australia; Chelsea Manning, USA; and Edward Snowden, USA   

The world has had the great fortune that two of the most brilliant minds have combined the expertise on computer technology with a rare understanding of the human, social, legal, constitutional aspects and the dangers of the uncontrolled military exploitation of the new technology. For their service to humanity and their countries both have lost their freedom.

Julian Assange founded Wikileaks to supply people all over the world with insight in secret documents they ought to have access to. His massive publication of secret US documents of military and diplomatic content led to a US conspiracy to take revenge and scare others from challenging the empire. His fate, where those guilty of war crimes demands him to be extradited to punish him illustrates the unacceptable power of the US military, even over the law enforcement in other countries.

Nominator/s: Prof. (law) Aslak Syse, Oslo

Chelsea Manning, serving in the US military, took courageous steps to expose a mass of secret material on war crimes and diplomatic schemes of the US.

Edward Snowden, a dedicated patriot employed by the CIA, was aghast when he understood that the scope of the systems developed by the NSA amounted to a global police state. The US misused computer technology for a global intrusion in the lives of everyone, high and low, friend and foe, US citizen or foreigner, to make a “Permanent Record” (name of his book in 2019). The authorities acted in blatant violation of international law and the 4th Amendment of the US Constitution requiring justifiable suspicion and advance court approval of search in each case. Snowden felt that his oath of loyalty to the US constitution – not the government – required him to “to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them”. The US spy agencies commit an unprecedented, massive infringement of the rights of people and nations all over the world.

***************************

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WATCH – Oslo / Gothenburg, January 2022

For inquiries or further information, please contact us:

Tomas Magnusson – gosta.tomas@gmail.com, tel +46 708 293197

Fredrik S. Heffermehl – fredpax@online.no, tel. +47 917 44 783
____________________________________________

Fredrik S. Heffermehl, cand. jur, LLM NYU, is a member of the TRANSCEND Network and ex-Vice President of the International Peace Bureau. He is the author of The Nobel Peace Prize, What Nobel Really Wanted (Praeger, 2010 – expanded versions in Chinese, Swedish, Finnish, Spanish and [2014] Russian). fredpax@online.no – http://www.nobelwill.org.

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 24 Jan 2022.

Check out our other content

Check out other tags:

Most Popular Articles