Prize for the Protection of Freedom of Opinion
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has announced its decision to award the 2021 Peace Prize to Novaya Gazeta editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov and Maria Ressos of the Philippines- “for their efforts to protect freedom of expression, which is precondition for democracy and lasting peace “. Dmitry Muratov became our third compatriot to receive the Nobel Peace Prize – after Andrei Sakharov and Mikhail Gorbachev.
Author: Euku. Photo: ru.wikipedia.org
The decision of the Norwegian Nobel Committee states that “ Mrs Ressa and Mr Muratov will receive the Peace Prize for a courageous fight for freedom of speech in the Philippines and Russia. At the same time, there are representatives of all journalists who, in a world where democracy and press freedom are facing increasingly unfavorable conditions, uphold this ideal. ''
“ Dmitry Andreevich Muratov has been defending freedom of speech in Russia for decades in increasingly difficult conditions, & ndash; stated in the decision of the Nobel Committee. & ndash; In 1993, he co-founded the independent Novaya Gazeta. He has been the editor-in-chief of this newspaper for a total of 24 years since 1995. & # 39; & # 39; The decision also commemorates the deaths of six journalists in the publication, including Anna Politkovskaya. Despite the assassinations and threats, Editor-in-Chief Muratov refused to give up the newspaper's independent policies. They consistently defend the right of journalists to write whatever they want, about anything, provided they adhere to the professional and ethical standards of journalism, & # 39; & # 39; & ndash; stated on the Nobel Prize website.
Andrei Sakharov became the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize from our compatriots in 1975, in 1990 & ndash; Mikhail Gorbachev. This year's award size & ndash; SEK 10 million & nbsp; crown & ndash; $ 1.19 million. Dmitry Muratov and Maria Ressa will receive half of this amount.
Dmitry Muratov joked on the video about the Nobel Prize and foreign agents
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growing authoritarianism in his home country, the Philippines, & ndash; informs the Nobel Committee about his colleague from Southeast Asia, who shared the award with Dmitry Muratov. & ndash; In 2012, she co-founded Rappler, a digital investigative media company she still leads today.
As a journalist and CEO of Rappler, Ress has established herself as a fearless supporter of freedom of speech. The rappler is drawing critical attention to Duterte's controversial and bloody anti-drug campaign. The death toll is so high that this campaign is reminiscent of a war against the countries' own populations. “
Maria Angelita Ressa previously worked for CNN as a leading investigative reporter in Southeast Asia for almost two decades. Last year, she was convicted of defamation under the controversial Philippine Cybercrime Act, which was condemned by human rights groups and journalists as an attack on press freedom.
Ress was named 2018 by Time & ndash; as one of the world's journalists fighting false news. & nbsp; The woman was arrested on February 13, 2019 on charges that the news website Rappler, which she runs, published false reports about businessman Wilfred Kenge. Last June, a court in Manila found her guilty of cyber defamation.
The verdict stated that Rappler “ did not provide a drop of evidence“. in a controversial article: “They just published it as news in their online post and ruthlessly ignored whether it was untrue or not.”
As Maria Ressa is an outspoken critic of Philippine President Rodriguez Duterte, her arrest and convictions were seen by many in the opposition and the international community as a politically motivated act by the authorities.
The journalist faces six months in prison for six years and a fine of $ 8,000. Maria Ressa said her convictions could herald the end of press freedom in the Philippines.
Unlike other Nobel Prizes & nbsp; the Peace Prize is not awarded in Stockholm, but in Oslo, Norway.
According to Alfred Nobel's will, since March 1901, it has been awarded to those who have “ done more or done the best for fraternity among nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and for maintaining and promoting the peace of the convention. & # 39; & # 39;
From 1901 to 2020, 101 Nobel Peace Prizes were awarded. In most cases, one laureate won the prize. In 30 cases “ Nobel & # 39; & # 39; divided into two. And only twice in history has the award been given to three recipients at once (in 1994 it was divided between Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin and in 2011 – between three women: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Sierra Leone, Leima Gbowie of Liberia and Tawakkol Karman of Yemen.) Efforts to sign the Paris Peace Agreement aimed at ending the Vietnam War.
Le Duc Tho refused to accept the award on the grounds that such “bourgeois sentimentality” was not for him and that peace in Vietnam had not been achieved. Kissinger received the award, but not without the tricks: he donated the money he received to charity, did not attend the awards ceremony, and later offered to return the Nobel Medal to Communist troops after a year and a half. And three Nobel Prize winners learned about their awards in captivity: German pacifist and anti-fascist journalist Karl von Ossetsky, who was sitting in a concentration camp, Aung San Suu Kyi, a politician from Myanmar (after his release and even as head of state, she was arrested again after a recent military coup) and Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo (he was released from prison on custody on parole and died in 2017).
A total of 107 people and 28 organizations became Nobel Peace Prize winners. The record in the number of prizes received belongs to the International Red Cross, awarded the “ Peace Nobel Prize & # 39; & # 39; three times already, & ndash; in addition, the creator of the Red Cross, Henri Dunant, became a laureate in 1901.
329 candidates were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021 & ndash; 234 people and 95 organizations. For comparison: in 2020, 211 people and 107 organizations (a total of 318 candidates) were nominated for this award. The record year in the number of nominations was 2016, when 376 candidates were registered. & Nbsp;
Numerous predictions about the winners of 2021 have not been fulfilled. In general, lists of nominees' names have been kept secret for at least half a century. Representatives of a number of categories have the right to nominate someone for the Peace Prize. These may be statesmen or members of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, members of the Executive Committee of the International League of Women for Peace and Freedom or university professors of social studies. Of course, Nobel Peace Prize winners can also nominate nominees.
All proposed nominations are reviewed by the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee. Based on this study, a short list of twenty to thirty candidates is compiled. Separate reports from Norwegian and foreign experts are prepared for each of them. The last meeting of the committee is usually held in late September-early October & ndash; then a final decision is made on the laureates.
Last year, the World Food Program (WFP) won the Nobel Peace Prize & ndash; “ for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to improving conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in preventing hunger from being used as a weapon of war and conflict. & # 39; p>
Received the Nobel Prize The World Food Program surpassed the favorite in a number of World Health Organization forecasts in 2020. But this year, according to many forecasts, the WHO had a great chance of achieving recognition of the Nobel Prize. This agency remains a leading player in coordinating the international response to the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the WHO's top priorities this year has been equal and fair access to coronavirus vaccines in all countries. Since the vaccine was launched in February, the WHO-sponsored COVAX program has delivered more than 311 million doses of vaccine to 143 participating countries. However, this scheme faces a continuing shortage of vaccines due to “vaccination nationalism” in developed countries.
It should be noted that not everyone considers the WHO to be a worthy candidate. Dan Smith, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, told CNN that he considered her role controversial and would be “surprised” if the World Health Organization, accused by former US President Donald Trump of approaching China too close, was selected as a laureate. p>
Among the nominees this year was the organization Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, which opposes killer robots.
Among the probable winners of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021, Time magazine named the opposition from Russia and Belarus & ndash; respectively Alexei Navalny and Svetlana Tikhonskaya. Several members of the Norwegian parliament also nominated for the award of Hong Kong dissident Martin Lee and the Hong Kong website Free Press.
Grete Thunberg, a young Swedish environmental activist, also spoke actively among the potential winners. As the newspaper notes, Thunberg's “ Nobel & # 39; & # 39; would send a strong signal to the forthcoming UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November that climate change has become the greatest threat facing humanity today.
The forecasts were also the name of US President Joe Biden, who signed dozens of decrees in his early days as US leader, including joining the Paris Climate Agreement, from which President Donald Trump resigned in 2020, and halting the construction of US-US border walls. Mexico. But if we remember the catastrophic withdrawal of the US contingent from Afghanistan, which fell into the hands of radical & nbsp; Islamists, then awarding a peace prize to a White House owner would seem like a complete mockery.
Among the favorites this year was New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern (because of her fight against the pandemic, but not everything is easy here either: the next day the head of government admitted that New Zealand's “zero COVID” strategy was defeated by Delta's onslaught) Committee for the Protection of Journalists in the United States, United Nations Human Rights Agency (UNHRC). And the icing on the cake & ndash; the global movement of protests against systemic racism Black Lives Matter, marked in 2020 by riots and violent clashes on both sides of the Atlantic.
However, with Norwegian MP Erlend Viborg nominating NATO for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, the BLM rebels do not look like a wild choice.
According to Dan Smith, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, there were generally no “peacekeepers and mediators as a clear choice” because 2021 was not a good year for peace or peacebuilding. The expert also listed in a CNN commentary three main issues that can be highlighted human rights, media freedom and climate change.
“ Media freedom or an excellent journalist (or both together) could be a good choice, & ndash; Smith thinks. & ndash; But I would change climate change beyond its significance: another record year of floods, fires and melting polar ice caps plus the convening of COP26 three weeks after the award is announced … So I think the most likely and highly sought-after prospect is to pass this award on to young activists for climate change (including Greta Thunberg, but as one of many) from around the world.“
Dmitry Muratov showed mixed feelings after the Nobel Prize Peace Prize: photo report ; “> 
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