The problem with the Norwegian Nobel Prize enterprise did not start with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed

By Yared Huluf
Tigrai Online Dec. 7, 2019

The problem with the Norwegian Nobel Prize enterprise did not start with PM Abiy Ahmed winning the 2019 prize; it goes way  back in time when it chose Aung San suu Kyi as a winner for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights in 1991 two years after house arrest (1989 - 2010) for engaging in non-violent protest against the military dictators  of Myanmar (Burma) allegedly in line following the causes of her father Bogyoka Aung San who was assassinated on 17 July 1947 at an age of 32 years (13 Feb - July 17, 1947).

There is no question Aung San Suu Kyi is an extraordinaire personality. She had the courage to fight and fight she did against mighty. That said, she knew the world and her people were on her side. At the time of her arrest nothing had changed in Myanmar, it was business as usual. All the world Kew was the intension of Aung San Suu Kyi to stay steel and pursue, but an intension is different from what actually materialized. The struggle and resolution on one side, the hope and award offer on the other side, notwithstanding, looking back the massacre of the Rohingya at Rakihina and the plight of those who survived thereafter happened on her watch pointing to no hard evidence that her fight against the dictators was  in pursuit for democracy and human rights for all who deserved regardless.

This makes it problematic to argue that deliberation of an award on the basis of what would happen rather than what actually took place to honour. 

Likewise for the sake of consistency this approach was not applied to people like Nelson Mandela who was kept in harsh prison conditions for twenty six and a half years for championing the causes of the South Africans. He was awarded the prize in 1993 after release together with Frederick Willem de Klerk rightly so for the peaceful termination of apartheid and laying the foundation for a New Democratic nation. I call this a noble Nobel Prize. 10 May 1994 he became the president of South Africa.

One need not award for good intentions (even though it is good to acknowledge good intentions) but for a concrete steps taken and see it through that it is in operation.

A similar error taken by the Norwegian Nobel Prize House was on 9 October 2009 when an award was given to Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between people. 

Seven months into his presidency Thorbjorn Jagland, the chair of the Nobel Prize Committee, former Norwegian MP and Secretary General of the Council of Europe stated that: “we have not given the prize for what may happen in the future. We are awarding Obama for what he has done in the past year. And we are hoping this may contribute a little bit for what he is trying to do.”

Obviously this is playing with words. Yes Obama did not make the world a worse place to live in but he did not make it an ideal place to live in ether, although he could not be blamed for the shortfalls.

Two ill judgments in its coffer stashed-in would one expects the Norwegian Nobel Committee to learn its lesson- but it did not when it awarded PM Ahmed Abiy of Ethiopia for forging a peace deal with Eritrea.

Well there is no peace and there is no war. The same situation as it was the past 20 years and goes on. There are many other serious problems the countries are faced with that makes them less to be desired to visit let alone to award and pat the backs of their leaders. It makes one wonder if the Norwegian are doing services for their own and European causes cloaking the poor black man’s clothe.

Or should I wander if the Committee live in the same troubled planet we are all in? Or is it the case  - just like the free market- where if one has the money, one has the purchasing power and if one has the power one can bulldoze any contender and get away with whatever one wants. In the socio-economic and political sphere if there is no balance and check, one or a few nations, one or a few cartels, one or a few individuals will call the shot, not only then would they managed to crush any descent but (here is the irony) eventually they’ve commit Suicide not because they came under pressure and stress from others but because of their own fault.

There no doubt the Nobel Prize Committee has good intensions and heart that deserve acknowledgement but it would have been better if awards go based on hard substantive deeds rather than hoped and wishful thinking’s. 

I am sure the world has seen and would continue to see extraordinaire people emerging but wouldn’t it be better to acknowledge when and where they emerge rather than as if awarding in a continuous cycle come what may as in the prizes for winning lottery tickets or football games on a guaranteed and regular bases?  Yes it may take a year, 5 years or more to see extraordinaire emerging, so should the awarding be conducted once in 5 years or 10 years depending on the heroes emerging. This would prevent the rush that leads to misjudgment and misplacement of awards in the wrong hands.

But the Nobel Prize Committee is a victim the forces of market. There is a Tigrygna saying: if a bull befriends a donkey, the bull may not learn how to braying but certainly he did to fart. The Nobel Prize House is part of the system. How could it survive for years pinning down extraordinaire without popping its head now and then on a regular bases and provide the services that justify its existence? Imaging a corner shop that does close its door for six days a week and be able to pay a rent for the building it occupies to do business - it cannot, it will go bankrupt. The Norwegian Nobel Prize is  also a business enterprise that could not survive unless it masquerades up and down the market corridors looking for customers.

Nobel Ceremonial Farce!

Over and over if a lie is peddled
With a sprachgefuhl skills and sparks 
Mind experts claim into a truth it will morph and turn with a bit of sprinkle.
With anoetic ataraxia then the devil settles
Exploiting what it has been earned -
A Norwegian Nobel Medal with a million dollars prize as a cushion,
To settle financial burden.

But you cannot entirely blame the dissembler,
For coming up as a gospel preacher
To lead a shady life of a doppelganger

If fortune comes to your front door 
Mauger or no mauger questionable character that you are
You would probably take the offer.

It is those who echoed 
What is plainly void in words 
As in material deeds
That needs to be accountable
For elevating lies as credible.

How is it possible
In a broad daylight 
Top army generals killed
A body of engineer skilled
Murdered and left under a foothill
And those implicated still,
For not carrying out their duties to full,
instead of being brought and drilled
And ultimately for the crime committed billed,
They were promoted to the gap they created to fill?
Leave the thousands hoi polloi killed
And on a daily bases mishandled 
How could the Norwegian Nobel Cartel 
Justify these as a prevalence of peace
Copacetic they were with their verdict -
And now what is this Corybantic and chaotic
Disarray they are coming up with
When the winner fails to show up his face
And the ceremony becomes a farce,
In the style of the Norwegian Nobel Prize house?