The World's Most Prestigious Prize by Geir Lundestad

The World's Most Prestigious Prize by Geir Lundestad

Author:Geir Lundestad
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780192579027
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Published: 2019-05-06T16:00:00+00:00


Aung San Suu Kyi (1991)

While the committee had felt much was clear in 1990, there was a lot of uncertainty the following year. There were no clear favourites. After Mikhail Gorbachev had received the prize, there was little interest in following this up with another big international name. There were also few suitable candidates, perhaps with the exception of Helmut Kohl and Vaclav Havel. I have already mentioned the perspective on Havel. Kohl had done much to unite Germany, and he was also a strong advocate for European integration. However, illegal financial contributions to his party, the CDU, put paid to any chance of him being a candidate. Of course, Nelson Mandela was big news, but he would have to demonstrate what he stood for through concrete action first.

Almost every year there are some more timeless candidates. In 1991 the Salvation Army in particular stood out as one such candidate. Many people have wondered why the Salvation Army has never received the Nobel Peace Prize. The organization has often been suggested; it has also been frequently discussed. During the committee’s discussions I have never heard a bad word said about the Salvation Army. The fact that it has never received the prize must be due to something more than better candidates being nominated by the committee every year. I think there have been two issues: an uncertainty as to how peace-creating the Salvation Army’s work has really been in Nobel’s sense of the concept, and the fact that their activities have largely focused on wealthier countries.

One year several representative of the Salvation Army attended the announcement of the prize. This was no coincidence. Stein Kåre Kristiansen, a journalist and son of committee member Kåre Kristiansen, had hinted strongly that the Salvation Army would receive the prize. Many people, those in the Salvation Army included, thought that he must have heard this from his father. I wanted to go over to them and tell them they could just go home. They did not deserve to be humiliated in this manner. But of course, I said nothing.

It became increasingly clear to the committee that the laureate had to be Aung San Suu Kyi. As stated in the committee’s announcement on 14 October 1991, she received the prize for ‘her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights’ in Burma. This struggle was ‘one of the most extraordinary examples of civil courage in Asia in recent decades’. She spearheaded an important struggle in Burma, and she was also a major symbol in the fight against oppression in general. Giving the prize to her would hopefully also serve to encourage the many people all over the world ‘fighting for democracy, human rights and ethnic autonomy by peaceful means’.

Suu Kyi was born in 1945. She was the daughter of the great Aung San, who had led the struggle for the independence of Burma. He was murdered by conservative political opponents in 1947 before the struggle for independence was won. His wife, Suu Kyi’s mother, later became the Burmese ambassador in New Delhi.



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