Nobel Peace Prize medalThere are only 113 of these medals in existence — it is given to winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.

On Friday — around 2 AM FDL time — the recipient of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize will be announced in Oslo, Norway. At a time when so much of the world seems embroiled in conflict, violence, war, and tyranny, I am grateful for the chance to step back and take notice of the efforts of those who have been beacons of hope, voices for reconciliation, agents of compassion, and builders of community.

Care to spend a few moments thinking about those who work for peace?

Among the past Nobel Peace Prize winners are various NGOs like the International Committee of the Red Cross (a three time winner — 1917, 1944, and 1963) and Doctors Without Borders (1999); several agencies and officers of the United Nations (most recently the International Atomic Energy Agency and its director in 2005); and individual recipients like Americans Martin Luther King, Jr. (1964) and Jane Addams (1931), South Africa’s Desmond Tutu (1984), the multi-national Elie Wiesel (1986), Bangladesh’s Muhammad Yunus (2006), and Burma’s Aung Sang Suu Kyi (1991). Each spoke and acted with power, to advance the cause of peace in extraordinary ways.

At times, the Nobel Peace prize has been given to pairs of people, such as Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk (1993); John Hume and David Trimble (1998); and Anwar el-Sadat and Menachem Begin (1978) — leaders of opposing forces in nations caught up in lengthy, violent conflicts. As was said of Mandela and de Klerk but which applies to other such pairs, they “have taken initiatives to break the vicious circle that their country was caught up in.” The 1973 award to the pair of Henry Kissinger and Le Duc Tho is probably the most controversial Nobel ever given — so controversial that Tho himself refused to accept it (the only person ever to do so).

[Speaking of opposing forces in nations caught up in lengthy, violent conflicts, I'm about halfway through Bob Harris' book Who Hates Whom: Well Armed Fanatics, Intractable Conflicts, and Various Things Blowing Up: A Woefully Incomplete Guide. Bob will be at the FDL Book Salon on October 21, hosted by Tbogg, and judging from the book, it should be quite the chat. But I digress: back to talking about peacemakers . . .]

There have also been surprises, like scientist Linus Pauling (1962), “who ever since 1946 has campaigned ceaselessly, not only against nuclear weapons tests, not only against the spread of these armaments, not only against their very use, but against all warfare as a means of solving international conflicts.” Pauling had also won the 1954 Nobel prize in Chemistry, making him the only winner of two different Nobel prizes that were not shared with someone else.

As Friday approaches, speculation is growing as to who might be awarded the 2007 prize, with Al Gore and others involved with climate change frequently mentioned on various unofficial short lists. (Newsweek goes a step further and wonders whether a Nobel Prize might encourage Gore to jump into the race for president, as does the UK’s Independent.)

Most of us will never get a chance to make an official nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize, but there’s nothing to stop us from recognizing someone on our own for their work to build peace. We have no medals to pass out here at FDL, no enormous sums of money to disburse, and no elaborate ceremony prepared — just this thread to answer these questions:

(1) Who would you nominate for a peace prize (and why)?

(2) What have they inspired you to do, to make your corner of the world a more peaceful place?

The floor is open for nominations.

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  4. The Nobel is Great, but the Press Release is Even Better
  5. Erick Erickson: Obama Won the Nobel Prize Because He’s Black