Bradley Manning
Soldier Bradley Manning, alleged author of leaking classified information to WikiLeaks, is one of the 231 candidates for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize, an award that many people believe it has lost discretion over time.
The list of nominees, which is officially closed for this year, is secret and members of the Nobel Committee did not comment on its content. But several experts have begun to speculate about who is on the list, and some people who are entitled to nominate candidates have posted their suggestions.
On Friday, the Committee announced the last names for consideration.
While including 188 people and 43 organizations, the list is close to the nominees’ record of last year, when there were 241 nominations for the Prize, which was finally awarded to the female trio composed by Liberians Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee, and Yemeni Tawakkol Karman.
According to the Committee, the Prize was awarded to the three women for “their nonviolent struggle for women’s safety and their right to fully participate in the work of building peace.”
The list of candidates also includes former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who ran the war against Yugoslavia, and the European Union, which is undergoing a debt crisis and internal conflicts.
Other well-known candidates are U.S. political scientist Gene Sharp, theoretician on non-violent struggle that inspired some figures of the Arab Spring,
President Moncef Marzouki of Tunisia, who took power after encouraging the revolts started in this country in late 2010, and the Al Jazeera news channel, famous for its bias in the NATO invasion of Libya.
While having a great international impact, the Nobel Peace Prize is not exempt from controversy, as in 2009, when Barack Obama received the award just a few months after his inauguration.
The Swedish authorities, entitled of ensuring the Nobel Prize foundations, are currently investigating to determine if the Norwegian Committee complies satisfactorily with the task entrusted by Swede Alfred Nobel more than a century ago.
The decision comes after repeated critics of Norwegian lawyer Fredrik Heffermehl, author of the book “Nobel’s Will.” According to him, the award has lost sight of its original target. In his will written in 1895, Alfred Nobel wanted the Prize to reward “the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding
and promotion of peace congresses.”
The winner will be announced in October and the Prize will be awarded on December 10, the death anniversary of Alfred Nobel, who invented the dynamite.
Taken from www.cubadebate.cu
Translated by Osmany Gonzalez Tocabens