#Norwegian Nobel Committee

[xtruss]

At the top of the shortlist for the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize are the OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, the International Court of Justice, UNRWA and Philippe Lazzarini, Article 36 and the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, and UNESCO and the Council of Europe.

UNRWA and its Commissioner-General, Philippe Lazzarini, were nominated due to UNRWA's "fundamental" effort to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza. Norwegian Labour MP Asmund Aukrust nominated the agency "for its long-term work to provide vital support to Palestine and the region in general."

The Nobel Peace Prize for 2024 will be announced at 11 am on Friday, October 11, 2024, and is chosen by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.

Palestinian children wait in line to receive food prepared by volunteers for Palestinian families, displaced to Southern Gaza due to Israeli attacks, between rubbles of destroyed buildings in Rafah, Gaza.

In the Gaza, where Israeli attacks persist, Palestinians are grappling with food shortages. The city of Rafah, which has become a refuge for tens of thousands displaced due to the Israeli attacks, is facing increasing challenges in sourcing food.

[irishgop]

[mindblowingscience]

The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese organization of survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for its activism against nuclear weapons. Jørgen Watne Frydnes, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said the award was made as the “taboo against the use of nuclear weapons is under pressure.”

Continue Reading.

[larimar]

nobelprize_org

BREAKING NEWS The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize to Narges Mohammadi for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.

Her brave struggle has come with tremendous personal costs. Altogether, the regime has arrested her 13 times, convicted her five times, and sentenced her to a total of 31 years in prison and 154 lashes. Mohammadi is still in prison.

In September 2022 a young Kurdish woman, Mahsa Jina Amini, was killed while in the custody of the Iranian morality police. Her killing triggered the largest political demonstrations against Iran’s theocratic regime since it came to power in 1979.

The motto adopted by the demonstrators – “Woman – Life – Freedom” – suitably expresses the dedication and work of Narges Mohammadi.

Last year’s wave of protests became known to the political prisoners held inside the notorious Evin prison in Tehran. Mohammadi assumed leadership. From prison she expressed support for the demonstrators and organised solidarity actions among her fellow inmates. The prison authorities responded by imposing even stricter conditions. Mohammadi was prohibited from receiving calls and visitors.

Narges Mohammadi is a woman, a human rights advocate, and a freedom fighter. In awarding her this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes to honour her courageous fight for human rights, freedom, and democracy in Iran. This year’s peace prize also recognises the hundreds of thousands of people who, in the preceding year, have demonstrated against the theocratic regime’s policies of discrimination and oppression targeting women. Only by embracing equal rights for all can the world achieve the fraternity between nations that Alfred Nobel sought to promote. The award to Narges Mohammadi follows a long tradition in which the Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the peace prize to those working to advance social justice, human rights, and democracy. These are important preconditions for lasting peace.

[universal-casey]

Hello again. I want to apologise to have bothered you from my previous asks again, and I hope you’re doing well. The $wap AU and Sovime AU have been a joy to read about. I also have to say your design choices for each give them such a distinctive difference, that I would love to know your inspirations.

(Also I’m sorry saying the wrong height in one of my asks. I didn’t mean that Soviet was 2ft but 2 meters. Even though 3 meters would be more correct…? I don’t know much. But I’m sorry for making that small mistake.)

—

(Explanation with sources:)

As you may know. Norway is the country that gives the Nobel Peace Prize. (To Swedens dismay or happiness.) And it’s quite a big deal.

And well, at the end of the Cold War. Someone got it. Someone quite important.

You might know them as President Mikhaïl Gorbatchev. The last leader of the Soviet Union. Why did he get it? Well, it was because he ended the Cold War. Or as the Nobel Peace Prize committee themselves stated:

“Prize motivation: “for the leading role he played in the radical changes in East-West relations””

“In 1989 the Berlin Wall fell, and the Cold War between East and West was brought to a halt. In 1990, the Nobel Committee gave President Gorbachev the main credit for this by awarding him the Peace Prize.”

Here is a video of when he came to Norway lol.

—

I have read your AU, and while I obviously know you took liberties in certain aspects of history. And that this is Countryhumans. I can’t help but ask you. Even if Norway, if I am correct, got *invaded* because of the small but important river up on their border. (Seriously though, Pasvik river???? That’s what got the final straw??? Not the U-2 spy plane crash, (which caused Nikita Khrushchev to threaten Norway, with what you have probably guessed, A-Bombing all *airports* in the country.) Not the disagreements of WW2. Not even Leon Trotsky (which was threatened out of Norway) NOT even Svalbard was the cause… but the river????? The measly river…? It’s just too hilarious. And Soviet made Norway the nuclear power house??? That one??? The one that put Germans after WW2 in cages and threw rocks and tomatoes at them… (Depending on where you were at the time.) That’s the country he gives nuclear power plants too??? The one he actually liberated once (WW2 the Liberation of Finnmark.)????? No wonder then, that he would have gotten paranoid in 1995, when Norwegian scientists released a rocket to take samples up in the stratosphere… and everyone thought it was a missile. Sorry, it’s just too funny. I couldn’t help but ramble.)

I just want to say I respect what you’re doing. This is in no way to offend you. I couldn’t care less of what you make of Norway. After all, he is just an unimportant side character. (Idk.) And while I love my country, I know we are unimportant in the grand scheme of things.

However, I must know. (Since I assume Soviet is the one who would have gotten the Peace Prize in your AU. With them being the leaders or something.)

What did he do with it lol?? Please, I beg you. I must know what he did with it. (Unless Norway got *invaded* before that. Then poop.) It is a necessity for my being to know. Like, what happened to it lol. Go crazy with it. I just must know. Please 🙏 You don’t have to tell me what Norway thinks. I can probably guess. But I need to know that medals lore in your AU.

Well, neither Soviet, nor the human leaders in the Soviet Union, ever got a Nobel peace prize for ending the Cold War, since it is still ongoing into the 2020s thanks to the takeover of America!

Norway was taken over because of the nuclear power, not in spite of it. Not sure where the river idea came from lol.

I’m sorry for not answering your asks sooner!! It’s just they require a lot of research and I haven’t been in the mood to do extensive research as of late lol

[justforbooks]

The Nobel prize in literature has been awarded to 64-year-old Norwegian author Jon Fosse “for his innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable”. His works include the Septology series of novels, Aliss at the Fire, Melancholy and A Shining.

“His huge oeuvre, spanning a variety of genres, comprises about 40 plays and a wealth of novels, poetry collections, essays, children’s books and translations,” said Anders Olsson, chairman of the Nobel committee for literature. “Fosse blends a rootedness in the language and nature of his Norwegian background with artistic techniques in the wake of modernism.”

“I am overwhelmed, and somewhat frightened. I see this as an award to the literature that first and foremost aims to be literature, without other considerations,” Fosse said in a statement.

He also told the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK that he was “surprised but also not” to have won. “I’ve been part of the discussion for 10 years and have more and less tentatively prepared myself that this could happen,” he said.

Jacques Testard, Fosse’s fiction publisher, said on hearing the news: “He is an exceptional writer, who has managed to find a totally unique way of writing fiction. As his Norwegian editor Cecilie Seiness put it recently in an interview: if you open any book by Jon and read a couple of lines, it couldn’t be written by anyone else.

“His fiction is incantatory, mystical, and rooted in the landscape of the western fjords where he grew up,” Testard added. “It’s very important to remember that he writes in Nynorsk or New Norwegian, a minority language in Norway, a political act in itself. He’s also an exceptional playwright and poet. He’s an incredible mind, and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer person.”

The Norwegian writer’s English translator Damion Searls said he is thrilled Fosse’s work will now find an even wider audience. “I first brought Fosse’s fiction into English almost 20 years ago. I read Melancholy in German and immediately felt that the work was brilliant and needed to be translated. I found an American publisher and a co-translator, and started learning Norwegian”, he told the Guardian. “I have since translated around 10 books of his, depending on how you count them, including a libretto, a play and a forthcoming children’s book.”

Though the author and translator mostly communicate via email and hadn’t met in person until the 2022 International Booker prize events in London, Searls considers Fosse a friend. “He is the same kind, wise, modest, friendly, supportive person over email as you would expect from his novels, and corresponding with him has always brought me the same kind of peace and serenity his novels so magically impart.”

Born in 1959 in Haugesund on the west coast of Norway, Fosse grew up in Strandebarm. Aged seven, he nearly died in an accident, which he said was “the most important experience” of his childhood and one that “created” him as an artist. In his adolescence, he aspired to be a rock guitarist, before turning his ambitions to writing.

His debut novel, Raudt, svart (Red, Black), was published in 1983. His first play to be performed, Og aldri skal vi skiljast (And Never Shall We Part), was staged at the National Theater in Bergen in 1994. Yet, the first play he wrote, Nokon kjem til å komme (Someone Is Going to Come), would lead to his breakthrough in 1999 when French director Claude Régy staged it in Nanterre.

Fosse went on to become the most-performed Norwegian playwright after Henrik Ibsen. He has written more than 30 plays, including Namnet (The Name), Vinter (Winter) and Ein sommars dag (A Summer’s Day). His longer works include the Septology trilogy, the third volume of which was shortlisted for the international Booker prize in 2022.

Septology, which Fosse started during a pause from playwriting and after converting to Catholicism in 2013, is about an ageing painter, Asle, living alone on the south-west coast of Norway and reflecting on his life. There in Bjørgvin lives another Asle, who is also a painter but struggles with alcohol. The doppelgangers are consumed by the same existential questions about death, faith and love.

In 1989, the same year that Fosse’s novel Naustet (“Boathouse”) came out, the writer taught the fellow Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgård, who was a student at the Academy of Writing in Hordaland. “Fosse’s voice is unmistakable in whatever he writes, and is never anything if not present,” wrote Knausgård in 2019.

Fosse’s UK publisher is Fitzcarraldo Editions, which also publishes Annie Ernaux, the winner of the 2022 Nobel prize in literature. Fosse’s win marks the London-based independent publisher’s third win in five years: Olga Tokarczuk was made laureate in 2018. The prize was postponed and awarded in 2019 instead due to a sexual assault scandal involving the husband of one of the academy’s former members which led to several members resigning.

Fosse resides between Austria and Norway. He will receive the prize at a ceremony in Stockholm on 10 December. He will receive 11m SEK (£821,209), up from 10m SEK awarded last year.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[feminismisstillahatemovement]

On Tuesday, Rep. Claudia Tenney announced that she had nominated Donald Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize, citing his "groundbreaking efforts to foster peace and cooperation between Israel, Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates" via the highly praised Abraham Accords. Tenney compared the former president's work to that of the 1978 peace agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia and the 1994 Oslo Accords, both of which were recognized and rewarded by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee.

"Donald Trump was instrumental in facilitating the first new peace agreements in the Middle East in almost 30 years," Tenney wrote in a statement. "For decades, bureaucrats, foreign policy 'professionals,' and international organizations insisted that additional Middle East peace agreements were impossible without a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. President Trump proved that to be false." "The valiant efforts by President Trump in creating the Abraham Accords were unprecedented and continue to go unrecognized by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, underscoring the need for his nomination today," she continued. "Now more than ever, when Joe Biden's weak leadership on the international stage is threatening our country's safety and security, we must recognize Trump for his strong leadership and his efforts to achieve world peace. I am honored to nominate former President Donald Trump today and am eager for him to receive the recognition he deserves." This is not the first time Trump has been nominated for the prestigious award as the result of his Middle East policy. As the CBC reports, the former president received a slew of nominations from all over the world for the 2021 prize. Among those who put his name forward citing the Abraham Accords were a quartet of Australian law professors and conservative members of the Swedish and Norwegian parliament. The latter, Christian Tybring-Gjedde, had previously nominated Trump for the prize following his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. [source]

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The difference between the numerous global wars taking place under the Democrats and the unusually peaceful Trump years is striking and undeniable: No new wars were started under Trump's presidency, and he made great strides in de-escalating conflict everywhere.

Whereas, six months into taking office, Biden started bombing Syria, and during his term we have seen the U.S. send tens of billions of dollars worth of killing machines to Ukraine to run a proxy war against Russia, bringing the entire world closer to nuclear war than it has been in 40 years. and now it's Gaza. All this has happened in only 4 years, but the corporate media has pushed an entirely opposite narrative to the facts the whole time.

Trump is unique in that he is not owned or funded by the military-industrial complex, the biggest business in the world, that owns all the other little businesses, the news sites and TV stations. He disrupts the status quo, and that is why they are so scared of him, and have been doing everything they can to destroy him the past 5 years.

[alivesoul]

I’ve written quite a bit about the threat of nuclear weapons and how we are closer to nuclear war today than we have been since the end of the Cold War. For the record, some argue the Cold War never really ended. Today, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded Nihon Hidankyo, the only nation-wide organization of atom bomb survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki “for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again”. To me, this may be the most significant peace prize given in decades, maybe since MLK. The US military is poised to spend 1.7 trillion (TRILLION!!!) dollars (your money, my money, our money) to overhaul its stockpile of nuclear weapons. Madness. Congrats to the folks at Nihon Hidankyo and kudos to the Nobel Committee for their timely selection. It’s no small matter. We must stop the proliferation of these death weapons.

[mariacallous]

The 2023 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi for “her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced in Oslo on Friday.

Mohammadi, 51, has been sentenced to more than 30 years in prison, and has been banned from seeing her husband and children. Her name has become synonymous with the battle for human rights in Iran, where nationwide protests broke out last year following the death of Mahsa Amini. Amini was a 22-year-old woman who had been taken into custody by the regime’s notorious morality police.

In awarding the prize to Mohammadi, the Nobel Committee said it “recognizes the hundreds of thousands of people who in the preceding year have demonstrated against the theocratic regimes’ policies of discrimination and oppression targeting women.”

“Her brave struggle has come with tremendous personal costs. Altogether, the regime has arrested her 13 times, convicted her five times, and sentenced her to a total of 31 years in prison, and 154 lashes,” Norwegian Nobel Committee chair Berit Reiss-Andersen said at the announcement ceremony.

“Ms. Mohammadi is still in prison as I speak,” Reiss-Andersen added.

Mohammadi said she will continue striving for “democracy, freedom, and equality” in a message shared with CNN by her family on Wednesday, to be released in case she won the prize.

It is not clear whether Mohammadi knows about her win. Her friends and family told CNN that those detained in Iran’s notorious Evin Prison are not allowed to receive calls on Thursdays and Fridays.

In the statement, Mohammadi said she would stay in Iran to continue her activism “even if I spend the rest of my life in prison.”

“Standing alongside the brave mothers of Iran, I will continue to fight against the relentless discrimination, tyranny, and gender-based oppression by the oppressive religious government until the liberation of women,” she said.

Taghi Rahmani, Mohammadi’s husband, told CNN that the prize is “for all the people of Iran.” Rahmani, a fellow activist and former political prisoner who served a total of 14 years in regime jails, lives in exile in France with their twin children.

“This prize is not just for Narges; it is for all the people of Iran. A movement in which Iranian women and men took to the streets, stood for months, and fought to show that they will continue to struggle for democracy and civil equality,” Rahmani said.

In a separate statement to CNN, Mohammadi’s family said: “Although the years of her absence can never be compensated for us, the reality is that the honor of recognizing Narges’ efforts for peace is a source of solace for our indescribable suffering. “It has been more than eight and a half years since she has seen her children, and she has not heard their voices for over a year. All of this signifies what she has endured on the path to realizing her aspirations. Therefore, for us, who know that the Nobel Peace Prize will aid her in achieving her goals, this day is a blessed day,” the family statement added.

Incarcerated, but not silenced

Despite being jailed, not even the dark cells of Tehran’s Evin Prison have crushed Mohammadi’s powerful voice.

In an audio recording from inside the jail, shared with CNN ahead of Friday’s announcement, Mohammadi, is heard leading the chants of “woman, life, freedom” – the slogan of the uprising sparked last year by Amini’s death. Amini was arrested for allegedly not wearing her headscarf properly.

The recording is interrupted by a brief automated message – “This is a phone call from Evin Prison” – as the women are heard singing a Farsi rendition of “Bella Ciao,” the 19th-century Italian folk song that became a resistance anthem against fascism and has been adopted by Iran’s freedom movement.

“This period was and still is the era of greatest protest in this prison,” Mohammadi told CNN in written responses to questions submitted through intermediaries.

Mohammadi was one of 351 candidates for this year’s award – the second-highest number in the history of the Nobels. She became the 19th woman to win the award in more than 120 years of the prize.

Oleksandra Matviichuk, a Ukrainian human rights lawyers who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022, commended the committee’s decision to honor Mohammadi.

“We live in a very interconnected world. Right now, people in Iran are fighting for freedom. Our future depends on their success,” Matviichuk posted on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

At Friday’s news conference announcing the award, Reiss-Andersen said: “Only by embracing equal rights for all can the world achieve the fraternity between nations that Alfred Nobel sought to promote,”

“The award to Narges Mohammadi follows a long tradition in which the Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the Peace Prize to those working to advance social justice, human rights and democracy. These are important preconditions for lasting peace,” she added.

‘Woman, life, freedom’

Henrik Urdal, director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, described Mohammadi’s win as “a tremendous achievement for women’s rights in Iran.”

“Women in the country have been fighting for equality and freedom for generations, and the death of Mahsa Amini became a catalyst against oppression and violence,” Urdal said in a statement to CNN.

“Today’s laureate, unfairly jailed in Tehran, sends a powerful message to the leaders of Iran that women’s rights are fundamental everywhere in the world,” he said.

Mohammadi’s recognition comes after a year of huge upheaval in Iran, sparked by Amini’s death, which swelled into nationwide protests lasting months. Reiss-Andersen described the unrest as “the largest political demonstrations against Iran’s theocratic regime since it came to power in 1979.”

They were met by a brutal government crackdown. “More than 500 demonstrators were killed. Thousands were injured, including many who were blinded by rubber bullets fired by the police. At least 20,000 people were arrested and held in custody,” Reiss-Andersen said.

Last month marked the one-year anniversary of Amini’s death. Video obtained by CNN showed further demonstrations throughout multiple cities in Iran, including capital Tehran, Mashad, Ahvaz, Lahijan, Arak and the Kurdish city of Senandaj.

Many of the protesters shouted “Woman, Life, Freedom,” and others chanted slogans against Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

The long road to the Nobel

Mohammadi, who studied for a degree in physics at Imam Khomeini International University in the 1990s, initially worked as an engineer, while writing columns for reformist Iranian newspapers, Berit Reiss-Andersen said at Friday’s news conference.

In 2003, she joined the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran, an organization founded by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi.

Mohammadi was arrested for the first time in 2011 and convicted in part because of her membership of the Defenders of Human Rights Center. After being released on bail two years later, Mohammadi began to campaign against the use of the death penalty.

“Iran has long been among the countries that execute the highest proportion of their inhabitants annually,” the committee acknowledged. Since January last year, more than 860 prisoners have been punished by death in the country.

Mohammadi was arrested and sentenced again in 2015 for her activism against capital punishment. But her work continued from inside Evin, as she began to oppose human rights abuses committed against political prisoners.

CNN reported last year on how Iran’s security forces used rape to quell the protests that broke out after the death of Amini.

With media access inside Iran severely constrained, CNN went to the region near Iraq’s border with Iran, interviewing eyewitnesses who had left the country and verifying accounts from survivors and sources both in and outside Iran, to corroborate several reports of sexual violence against protesters.

One Kurdish-Iranian woman, whom CNN is calling Hana for her safety, says she both witnessed and suffered sexual violence while detained. “There were girls who were sexually assaulted and then transferred to other cities,” she said.

Iranian officials did not respond to CNN’s request for comment on the alleged abuses.

Since the anniversary of Amini’s death, Iran has continued its crackdown on women’s rights. Its parliament passed draconian new legislation in September, imposing much harsher penalties on women who breach hijab laws. The so-called “hijab bill,” which will be enacted for a three-year trial period, sets out various regulations around the wearing of clothing, which if violated can carry up to 10 years in prison.

UN experts said the new law could amount to “gender apartheid.”

“Authorities appear to be governing through systemic discrimination with the intention of suppressing women and girls into total submission,” the experts said in a statement.

[mightyflamethrower]

OSLO — The Norwegian Nobel Committee has announced the recipient of this year's Nobel Peace Prize will be Hamas, for their valiant efforts to release a few kidnapped children in exchange for several terrorists.

"The humanity, compassion, and kindness of this act are inspiring to us all," said a Nobel Committee Spokesperson Ingrid Haugen while presenting the award to a Hamas fighter wearing a vest strapped with c4 and ball bearings. "Hamas didn't need to release these orphaned Israeli child colonizers after slaughtering their parents in front of them, but they did. We could use more tender goodwill like this in our world today."

Human rights groups around the world were quick to praise the genocidal terrorist organization after they released 17 of their 250 hostages in exchange for a long enough ceasefire for them to hide all their weapons in a new children's hospital. "We live in dark times," said Haugen, "but the brave mujahideen of Hamas have restored our faith in humanity."

Hamas took home the coveted award after receiving more votes than runner-up nominee Florian Mibbs, a Portland college student who tore down posters of kidnapped Israeli children on her campus.

At publishing time, Hamas had also been nominated for a Nobel Prize in Physics for their pioneering work in converting water treatment pipes into rockets.

[bobmccullochny]

History

December 10, 1896 - Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel died at San Remo, Italy. His will stipulated that income from his $9 million estate be used for awards recognizing persons who have made valuable contributions to humanity. Nobel recipients are chosen by a committee of the Norwegian parliament. Prizes for Peace, Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature and Economics are presented annually in a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden, on the anniversary of his death. Each prize is valued at about $1 million.

December 10, 1898 - The Treaty of Paris was signed between American and Spanish representatives following Spain's defeat in the Spanish-American War. Under the treaty, the U.S. gained the Philippine Islands, the islands of Guam and Puerto Rico, and an agreement by Spain to withdraw from Cuba. The treaty passed by a single vote in the U.S. Senate on February 6, 1899, and was signed by President William McKinley four days later.

December 10, 1941 - During World War II, British Battleships Repulse and Prince of Wales were sunk by Japanese warplanes in the South China Sea, killing nearly 800 crewmen.

December 10, 1948 - The General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

December 10, 1950 - Dr. Ralph Bunche became the first African American man awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for his efforts in mediation between Israel and nearby Arab states the previous year.

December 10, 1989 - The first non-Communist government since 1948 assumed power in Czechoslovakia.

Birthday - Educator Thomas Gallaudet (1787-1851) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He co-founded the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1817.

Birthday - Poet Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) was born in Amherst, Massachusetts. Her poetry became known only after her death when her sister discovered nearly 2,000 poems locked in her bureau, written on the backs of envelopes and scraps of paper. They were published gradually over the next 50 years, beginning in 1890.

Birthday - American librarian Melvil Dewey (1851-1931) was born in Adams Center, New York. He invented the Dewey decimal book classification system, advocated spelling reform, and urged use of the metric system.

[raffaellopalandri]

Narges Mohammadi wins the Nobel Prize for Peace

The Norwegian Nobel Committee, from Oslo, announced on Friday they decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2023 to Narges Mohammadi for “her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all”. Narges Mohammadi – Image taken from Internet Mohammadi, who is 51 now, is an engineer and a columnist. She has been sentenced by the regime to a…

[whereareroo]

A NOBODY FROM SWEDEN

WF THOUGHTS (9/18/23).

Once upon a time in New York City, a few minutes after midnight on April 1, 1953, a sleeping diplomat was awakened by a phone call from a journalist and told that he had just been nominated to be the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Believing that the call was an April Fool’s joke, the diplomat hung up the phone and went back to sleep.

A good story needs an intriguing opening paragraph. The two sentences set forth above are the start of a good story. It’s a true story.

I learned the story in 1982, when I was attending law school in New York City. I was doing some research on some obscure international law issues. Thankfully, there were folks at the United Nations who were experts on these issues. Because I wanted my research to be perfect, I arranged to interview the experts. Over a period of months, I met with the various experts at their offices at the headquarters of the United Nations.

To get to the United Nations, I had to walk through a park called Dag Hammarskjold Plaza. It’s right next to the United Nations. After a few visits, I decided that I’d better learn something about the strange name for the park. That’s how I learned about the 1953 phone call and the subsequent events.

The man who received the midnight call was a Swedish diplomat named Dag Hammarskjold. He honestly believed that the call was a joke. At the United Nations, the top boss is called the Secretary-General. Hammarskjold was a nobody. He was a low level diplomat at the United Nations. By the time he was awakened for the third time, Dag figured that he better stay awake and find out what was happening.

In the aftermath of WWII, the UN started its operations in 1945. Originally, it didn’t have an official headquarters. The permanent headquarters in New York City didn’t open until 1952. From 1945 until 1952, the Secretary-General was a diplomat from Norway.

Late in 1952, the Norwegian announced his retirement. Who would be the next Secretary-General? That was a hotly debated issue for the next few months. Nobody thought that it was going to be Dag Hammarskjold.

The United Nations is a very political organization. Its nominating committee works in total secrecy. For months the committee considered, and secretly rejected, a series of candidates. As midnight approached on March 31st, the committee settled upon Dag Hammarskjold. He was acceptable because he was so unknown. Nobody had any reason to object to his nomination. When his name was first thrown into the ring, the officials from the U.S. had never even heard of him.

Because of the secrecy and his obscurity, Dag never knew that he was being considered for the top job. He was totally surprised by the phone calls that he received during the very early morning hours of April 1, 1953. By sunrise he was convinced that the calls weren’t a joke and that he was going to be the second Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Dag stayed in the top job until September of 1961. He built the UN, which was still in its infancy when he took the helm, into a serious and powerful international organization. Many say that he was the most important U.N. Secretary-General in history. He was particularly focused on maintaining world peace. Now you know why the park near the U.N. is named for Dag Hammarskjold.

This week, world leaders are meeting at the U.N. for the big General Assembly meeting. Today- -September 18th- -is also very important for another reason. On this day in 1961, under suspicious circumstances, Dag Hammarskjold died in a plane crash. He was on his way to the Congo to negotiate the settlement of an armed conflict. Many think that Dag’s plane was shot down by his enemies. There’s always somebody who is opposed to peace. Later in 1961, Dag Hammarskjold was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his outstanding work at the U.N. and his many contributions towards wold peace. He is the only person to ever receive the Peace Prize posthumously.

If you ever think that you’re a small person who can’t make a difference in the world, think about Dag Hammarskjold. It’s easy to remember his name. The nobody from Sweden made the world a better place. RIP, Dag Hammarskjold.

[foreverlogical]

STOCKHOLM — The 

Nobel Foundation on Saturday withdrew its invitation for representatives of Russia, Belarus and Iran to attend this year’s Nobel Prize award ceremonies after the decision announced a day earlier “provoked strong reactions.”

Several Swedish lawmakers said Friday they would boycott this year’s Nobel Prize award ceremonies in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, after the private foundation that administers the prestigious awards changed its position from a year earlier and invited representatives of the three countries to attend, saying it “promotes opportunities to convey the important messages of the Nobel Prize to everyone.”

Some of the lawmakers cited Russia’s war on Ukraine and the crackdown on human rights in Iran as reasons for their boycott. 

Belarusian opposition figure Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya on Friday called on the Swedish Nobel Foundation and the Norwegian Nobel Committee not to invite representatives of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s “illegitimate regime to any events.”

On Saturday, she welcomed the Nobel Foundation’s decision. She told The Associated Press that it was “a clear sign of solidarity with the Belarusian and Ukrainian peoples.”

“This is how you show your commitment to the principles and values of Nobel,” Tsikhanouskaya said.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who said Friday he wouldn’t have allowed the three countries to participate in the award ceremonies, was also happy with the decision. He posted on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that “the many and strong reactions show that the whole of Sweden unambiguously stand on Ukraine’s side against Russia’s appalling war of aggression.”

The foundation said Saturday it recognized “the strong reactions in Sweden, which completely overshadowed this message” and therefore it had decided not to invite the ambassadors of Russia, Belarus and Iran to the award ceremony in Stockholm.

However, it said that it would follow its usual practice and invite all ambassadors to the ceremony in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, where the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded.

Saturday’s announcement was widely praised in Sweden by politicians. Even the Swedish Royal House reacted with spokeswoman Margareta Thorgren saying, as quoted by newspaper Aftonbladet, that “we see the change in the decision as positive”. She added that King Carl XVI Gustaf was planning to hand out this year’s Nobel awards at ceremonies in Stockholm “as before.”

This year’s Nobel prize winners will be announced in early October. The laureates are then invited to receive their awards at glittering prize ceremonies on Dec. 10, the anniversary of award founder Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896.

[andrewtheprophet]

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