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10 Dec 2011 09:53

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World: Three women — two Liberian, one Yemeni — accept Nobel Peace Prize

  • Three examples of strong female peace-fighters: On Saturday in Oslo, the three winners of this year’s Nobel Peace Price — from left, Yemeni Tawakkol Karman, Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee and Liberian president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf — accepted their honors. The three women were chosen together as a reflection of women’s rights at large. Karman’s case is particularly of note — at 32 she is not only the youngest winner of an award, but also the first Arab woman, one reflective of this year’s Arab Spring movement. Gbowee, meanwhile, led an anti-rape campaign in her country; and Johnson-Sirleaf went a long way in easing tensions by leading the country past a long civil war. Congrats to all three. (Photo via AP) source
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07 Oct 2011 12:46

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World: Is the Nobel Peace Prize’s approach to the Arab Spring the right one?

  • We have included the Arab Spring in this prize, but we have put it in a particular context. Namely, if one fails to include the women in the revolution and the new democracies, there will be no democracy.
  • Nobel Prize Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland • Explaining how the committee worked the Arab Spring into the Nobel Peace Prize while giving it a broader context — the repression of women. One of the three winners, Yemen’s Tawakkul Karman, has been a leader the anti-government protests in that country. The other two, Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and fellow Liberian Leymah Gbowee represent different parts of the issue — Sirleaf is Africa’s first freely elected female leader, while Gbowee led a successful campaign against the usage of rape as a weapon during Liberia’s civil war. As the Arab Spring has plenty of moments which might be considered problematic for giving out a Nobel Peace Prize (such as war and violence), this is a compromise that de-emphasizes all that, while focusing on a quite-important issue. Think it’s the right approach? source
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