The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the six Nobel Prize categories introduced by the creator of dynamite, the famed Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel. Other Nobel Prize categories established in 1901 include chemistry, physics, medicine, economics, and literature. Except for the Nobel Peace Prize, all categories are conferred annually in the Swedish capital, Stockholm.
The cataclysm over the Nobel Peace Prize emerged at its inception. The questionable foresight and disputably politically motivated decisions of the Nobel Committee spearheaded controversial individuals and institutions, including Henry Kissinger, receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. On the other hand, many deserving personalities like Mahatma Gandhi (claimable) repudiated the award. There have been allegations against the Nobel Committee that includes nepotism, political and social motives, lobbying, and recessive response to international interference regarding the Nobel Peace Prize.
1973, Vietnam and United States were at war. At that time, then US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and North Vietnamese revolutionary leader Lee Dur Tho jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize. Following the event, criticism sparked against the Nobel Prize Committee.
One of the reasons for such intense criticism is that Henry Kissinger ordered to drop off bombs one after another in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, even though the US was in a truce with Vietnam. Thousands of Vietnamese people got killed in it. Owing to this, the acceptance of Kissinger`s Nobel Peace Prize appeared questionable and flared a global debate.
Even the famous US media `New York Times` criticized Kissinger`s Nobel award as the `Nobel War Prize. Not only that, US diplomat George Ball wrote in the Washington Post newspaper, "Norway`s citizens must possess a bit of common sense." The revolutionary leader of Vietnam also refused to accept the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with Kissinger at that moment.
"Peace has not yet been established," Lee Dur tho of Vietnam remarked. Consequently, he refrained from receiving the Peace Prize. Two members of the Nobel committee resigned due to such a decision from the end of Lee.
Barack Obama was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, just nine months after taking office as President of the United States. The Nobel Committee`s decision triggered widespread criticism around the world as he had made no significant contribution to peace in such short tenure. Obama himself was surprised to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Many of Obama`s supporters also criticized the decision of the Nobel Committee as `inaccurate and vilified.
The event of Aung San Suu Kyi receiving the award, who used to be known as Myanmar`s pro-democracy leader, is a different story. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 after being incarcerated for a long time during the junta regime. The world community applauded her achievement as a representative of the oppressed.
However, when her political party took over power in Myanmar in 2011, she was heavily criticized for his silent role in various controversial activities, especially the killing of Rohingya. Human rights organizations, including the United Nations, protested. Even thousands of pro-democracy people took to the streets to renege her Nobel Peace Prize.
Dr. Mohammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank he founded jointly received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. The Nobel Committee enunciated he received the prize for revolutionizing the concept of `microcredit` worldwide.
The then US Secretary of State Cordell Hole in 1945, the President of Egypt Anwar Saadat in 1978, the Dalai Lama of Tibet in exile in India in 1990, the human rights activist Rigoberta Menchu of Guatemala in 1992, Yasser Arafat of Palestine and Shimon Peres of Israel in 1994, the then US President Jimmy Carter in 2002 receiving the Nobel Peace Prize was also widely criticized.
Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation of India, did not obtain the Nobel Peace Prize despite being a worthy man and being nominated five times. Owing to this, the Nobel Committee is known to regret it later. In 2006, the former director of the Nobel Institute, Geor Lundested, regretted that one of the biggest mistakes in the history of the Nobel Committee was not awarding the Nobel Prize to Mahatma Gandhi. Mahatma Gandhi was shortlisted for the Nobel Peace Prize five times! Nevertheless, every time, for imperceptible reasons, the five times nominated did not receive the award.
Many people consider the Nobel Prize an honor, but few showed the courage not to receive it and expressed reluctance. Two such winners had voluntarily declined the award. One is the French existentialist philosopher, playwright, writer, and critic Jean-Paul Sartre. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1964 and he refused to accept it. Also, the Vietnamese revolutionary leader Le Duc Tho annulled the Nobel Prize in 1974 as the prize was shared with Henry Kissinger.
Translated from নোবেল শান্তিতে অশান্তি
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