Bangladeshi Economist wins Nobel Peace Prize

[M.E.H.Z.E.B]

Nobel prize links poverty reduction to peace

by Guy Jackson

Fri Oct 13, 12:00 PM ET



OSLO (AFP) - Attack the causes of poverty and you remove the roots of conflict -- that is the message the Nobel Committee wanted to send out by awarding its Peace Prize to the creator of a micro-credit scheme which benefits millions, analysts said on Friday.

Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus, the so-called "Banker to the Poor", and the Grameen Bank he founded three decades ago were the surprise winners of the award for pioneering a system of small-scale loans that has helped 6.6 million people escape the grind of poverty.
As the head of the Nobel Committee, Ole Danbolt Mjoes, said: "Lasting peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty."

A glance at recent Peace Prize winners reveals a shift in emphasis in the thinking of the secretive five-member committee away from the classic role of peacemaker, as it has honoured people working in the fields of human rights and the environment.
Asle Sveen, a Norwegian historian who closely follows the Nobel Prize, told AFP: "It is the first time that the fight against poverty has been rewarded in itself.

"There were enough good nominations in the area of conflict resolution in the strictest sense but the Nobel Committee is increasingly taking the fight to the fundamental reasons for which war is waged.
"It is not enough to make peace, this peace must be a just peace and the causes of war, such as hunger and poverty, must be treated at their roots."

Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai was another surprise winner in 2004 and the latest award shows that the Nobel Committee is moving with the times, said Sverre Lodgaard, the director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.

"Challenges to peace have become different over the years. We have become more aware of new connections which impact on our security.
"Peace is not just the absence of war but also the absence of reasons for having a war. The committee has been good at updating its concept of peace," Lodgaard said.

"The prize this year is distinct because it's really focused on Yunus' contribution to alleviate poverty.
"There is a good justification for that. There are more lives lost because of extreme poverty than because of war."
He said the Nobel jury had probably expanded its reach as far as it could go for now.

"I don't see much of an expansion in terms of fields or subject areas for a while because I think that the Committee has come to its outer limits," he said.
Lodgaard said however that new categories within the existing fields, such as artists or poets, could be rewarded for their role in creating the conditions for peace.
Stein Toennesson, the head of the Peace Research Institute of Oslo, said he believed a genuine peace broker such as former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, who helped end a three-decade conflict in the Indonesian province of Aceh last year, should have won.

"Yunus and the Grameen Bank are very good winners but I would have preferred someone who did something earth-shattering for peace," Toennesson said.

Ahtisaari, a veteran mediator whose also led Namibia to independence and helped end the fighting in Kosovo, was the favourite in betting ahead of the announcement.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061013/bs_afp/nobelpeace_061013160046

 

[War Lord]

And Cindy Sheehan was just |--| that close.

 

[M.E.H.Z.E.B]

And Cindy Sheehan was just |--| that close.

Close. But not close enough.

 

[Chauncey]

Good for him. It's nice to hear that the peace prize is going towards someone working towards eradicating the problem of poverty, which I agree is the cause of much violence. It's unfortunate that the international community will never follow this example due to their interest in bull****, free-market economics that has been plaguing the planet with more poverty than ever before. Bangladesh itself still has numerous problems, but it's great to see that atleast someone on this rock has the right idea.

 

[jaguarr]

Don't think that this guy's not making a huge amount of money doing what he's doing. While he paints some admirable reasons for his work, I'm more inclined to think of him as a sharp businessman who saw an untapped niche that no on else had that happened to have some positive side-effects for other people as a nice aside.

jag

 

[Chauncey]

Kinda like Hugo Chavez?

 

[jaguarr]

Kinda like Hugo Chavez?

I can see the parallels, I suppose.

jag

 

[Chauncey]

Or like Milton Friedman?

 

[jaguarr]

Or like Milton Friedman?

Not so much.

jag

 

[Chauncey]

James Baker III?

 

[jaguarr]

I feel like we're doing some sort of weird flash card exercise for an economics class.

jag

 

[Chauncey]

Sweatshop labor + export processing zones = SUV's with little American flags on them.

 

[jaguarr]

I hate people who put those little flags on their cars.

jag

 

[Chauncey]

I hate people who put those little flags on their cars.

jag

Whatever traitor, don't come crawling to me when the terrorists win because we were unable to dispell them with our unified flag-waving power.

 

[jaguarr]

Whatever traitor, don't come crawling to me when the terrorists win because we were unable to dispell them with our unified flag-waving power.

I also hate those little magnetic ribbons that say "Support our troops" that people put on their cars.

jag

 

[Chauncey]

I also hate those little magnetic ribbons that say "Support our troops" that people put on their cars.

jag

Now you're just insulting Jesus...and his army.

 

[jaguarr]

Now you're just insulting Jesus...and his army.

When I ask myself WWJD?, I can't help but think that he'd indict most of the current administration and go after companies like Haliburton for war profiteering. Jesus would have been a heck of an Attorney General, except he'd be too soft and lenient when it came to sentencing and penalties.

jag

 

[Chauncey]

When I ask myself WWJD?, I can't help but think that he'd indict most of the current administration and go after companies like Haliburton for war profiteering. Jesus would have been a heck of an Attorney General, except he'd be too soft and lenient when it came to sentencing and penalties.

jag

And then middle-America would get all pissed and it would turn out that Jesus turned the neo-cons into Martyrs. How's that for irony?

 

[jaguarr]

And then middle-America would get all pissed and it would turn out that Jesus turned the neo-cons into Martyrs. How's that for irony?

And then Jesus would out them for being against him which would turn the real believers against the neo-cons. It's the circle of life.

jag

 

[Chauncey]

Until Godzilla evolves to the point where he has opposible thumbs and can opperate a crossbow that shoots bullets with lazers in them. Where's your god gonna be then, hippie!

 

[C.F. Kane]

^It's amazing how post-modern these threads can get.

 

[jaguarr]

Until Godzilla evolves to the point where he has opposible thumbs and can opperate a crossbow that shoots bullets with lazers in them. Where's your god gonna be then, hippie!

What?! MY God? I didn't even VOTE for him!

jag

 

[Man-Thing]

There should be a Nobel WAR/VIOLENCE PRIZE!!!