Last year, I criticized the Nobel Peace Prize award to Yemeni activist Tawakkul Karman. My objection rested not in Karman’s track record as an opposition activist in Yemen, but rather rested in the tokenism and political agenda of the Nobel Committee. Its chairman made no secret that he hoped the award would legitimize the Muslim Brotherhood. As the Associated Press reported at the time:
Thorbjoern Jagland, who heads the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee, told AP that including Karman in the prize is “a signal that the Arab Spring cannot be successful without including the women in it.” He also said Karman belongs to a Muslim movement with links to the Muslim Brotherhood, “which in the West is perceived as a threat to democracy.” He added that “I don’t believe that. There are many signals that, that kind of movement can be an important part of the solution.”
A year on, has the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s decision to make Karman its youngest Nobel Peace Laureate paid off?
Sadly, the answer is no. Last week, the Pakistani Taliban conducted a horrific attack on 14-year-old school girl Malala Yousafzai whose crime was to advocate for girls’ right to education. With a bully pulpit bestowed by the Nobel Committee and its choice of Karman as a laureate because of her gender, religion, commitment to reform, and boldness, it would be reasonable to expect that Karman would be front and center in her condemnation of the Pakistani Taliban.
The world may have condemned the attack, but sadly, a Google search in English and an Open Source Center search of the Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and Turkish press show that Karman was too busy attending to other matters. Whereas prominent Pakistanis visited Malala and her family, Karman (and other Nobel laureates) were not among them. In both English and Arabic, Karman’s website focuses on promoting herself and her latest mentions and speeches. Perhaps she was too busy accepting honorary Turkish citizenship or attending the World Forum for Democracy in Strasburg, France, to speak up or visit Pakistan. Karman is not afraid to speak up on other issues: She has urged Turkish military intervention in Syria, at least to create a buffer zone, in the increasingly sectarian civil war. She has praised pro-revolution forces in the Yemeni army. Perhaps the victim needs to be a Sunni Islamist to be worthy of Karman’s time.
It’s time to ask the Nobel Committee and Karman’s most vocal supporters: Was the investment in Karman worth it? Has outreach to the Muslim Brotherhood privileged moderate factions within the group and marginalized more radical factions? If Karman was the token to give moral ammunition in the feminist fight against radicalism and dictatorship of all types in majority Muslim countries, why the apparent silence in the face of Yousafzai (and others)?
If I’m wrong in my assessment that Karman has disappointed, I will be gladly so. I am traveling right now with limited Internet and may simply have missed an important statement but, as of my writing this on Saturday afternoon Baghdad time, I do not think I have. I have seen ample coverage on Al Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, Al-Hurra, and other channels, but I have not seen Karman speak out. Certainly, I would stand happily corrected, however, and will read any comments on this post carefully for those Karman fans who can demonstrate that she has been a voice of support for Malala Yousafzai and those like her targeted by the Taliban, Salafis, the Muslim Brotherhood, and other Islamist groups.
It's interesting, and more than ridiculous, that the deliberations of a self selected bunch of Norwegians as to who is deserving, and who is not, are a matter warranting so much discussion. n nBoth the Norwegians as a polity, as well as the Peace Prize winners they have selected, are by and large deserving of nothing but contempt. n nWhen does the peace prize lose its impact? n nNot yet, it seems.
I have a slim hope that the 2012 winner of the NPP, the EU, will donate the cash to Malala Yousafzai, both for her medical care and recovery, and the cause for which her voice has resonated throughout the world: education for girls. n nI was glad to read that Malala had already been awarded Pakistan's first ever National Peace Prize. Seems like Pakistan has better judgment than Norway's Parliament (now THAT compare/contrast makes for a truly fun daydream) n nAs for Karman? I do not believe Arab Sunnis even acknowledge that Pakistan is Islamic – don't the Gulf States use Pakistanis for near slave labor? Besides, Yemen is a near failed state, so let Karman worry about Yemen.
The best pick the Nobel Peace Prize could make would be of an entirely new committee, one not deluded into thinking that they are supposed to actually effect Peace, or that they are able to do so, by awarding the besmirched Peace Prize to political favorites. n nIn their own way they are aping their darling Obama: In playing at picking winners, they actually raise up losers. As Paul said in Romans 1:22 “Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools” n
I think the writer, as poor as usual, does not have a complete idea about Muslim Movements mixing sunnis with Muslims brotherhood , again with Pakistan. This magazine also in proofreading seems poor as well because they should at least read what they publish in advance. Otherwise any hallucination can easily come into media existence fore-granted.
It actually reminds me of a story a good friend of mine (Indian): when I told him that am Yemeni and he knew that revolution is there in Yemen: He told me hilariously that "the Arab revolution has come in the spirit of the African revolution in Tunisia and Libya: this kind of wrong information he had about the Arab countries is due to the lack of his background on the Arab world and countries thinking that Tunisia is African country and not Arab country as well as Libya. n nMy Indian friend resembles this writer who is unable to differentiate between the religious sects and movements in the Islamic World due to his lack of cultural background, too. n nAll the best to the Yemeni 2011 Nobel Prize for Peace Laureate Tawakkul Karman with an advice to her to be more active than ever
One needs to check Karman's previous track record as an activist, nothing but talking impolitely in the media. She has no record of fighting against the government and gaining a tangible change in a Law or Regulation, though Yemen's Human Rights and Women Rights Laws are almost good but lack "perfect" implementation. Qatar and the U.S. are the godfathers of Mrs. Karman.