Rest in peace for a Nobel Prize
When the Swedish millionaire Alfred Nobel died in 1896, he left his fortune to finance awards for “those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind”.
His will called for recognition of those who made extraordinary contributions to physics, chemistry, medicine and literature.
The Peace Prize is for “the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses”.
These awards have led to international recognition for a range of scientists, artists, and perpetrators of crimes against humanity. The last is an inevitable consequence of the Nobel Foundation’s statutes, which since 1974 have forbidden the awarding of prizes “posthumously, unless death has occurred after the announcement of the Nobel Prize”.
As in investing, past performance is no guarantee of future results. Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi won the 1991 prize “for her non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights”. Yet as the country’s top civilian leader from 2016 through 2021, she was complicit in the genocide against Rohingya Muslims and abuses of other minorities.
Does anyone believe that 2009 laureate Barack Obama — who reportedly boasted in 2011, “Turns out I’m really good at killing people” — left the world a more peaceful place? Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, the 2019 winner, was lauded for ending a protracted war with neighbouring Eritrea. Today his government stands accused of ethnic cleansing in northern Ethiopia.
The best reason to award the living is that it may help them in their struggle against a repressive government, especially since an individual dissident is often less well-known than a head of state or powerful diplomat. Recipients like the late Chinese democracy activist Liu Xiaobo (2010) are among the most deserving.
This year the unjustly imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny would be a more sensible choice than environmental activists demanding the global middle class accept lower living standards.
But Navalny is already famous, and shame doesn’t have a great record of moving Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Further, the example of Suu Kyi should counsel caution. Unlikely as it may seem now, Navalny could someday lead Russia. No one knows what kind of ruler he would become.
The Nobel Peace Prize is a good idea tainted by decades of misjudgment. All humans are fallible, and only after death can one take the full measure of their lives.
Awarding the prize posthumously and donating prize money to a cause or organisation associated with the winner’s legacy is the least bad way to promote the elusive quest for peace.
The Wall Street Journal
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