Nobel’s Noblesse oblige for non-violence

Ratnadeep Banerji

The triumvirate of three Nobel Peace Laureates in India drew a caucus of denizens vouching for non-violent alternatives. Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh hosted a celebration of Tibetan culture –Thank You Tibet! A campaign launched with Nobel laureate Jody Williams, Shirin Ebadi and Mairead Corrigan Maguire spearheading non-violence and convincing people at large not to lose heart in its praxis.

The Nobel Women’s Initiative was established in 2006 by Nobel Peace Laureates Jody Williams from the USA, Shirin Ebadi from Iran, Wangari Maathai from Kenya, Rigoberta Menchu Tum from Guatemala, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan Maguire from Northern Ireland to bolster and expand the global movement to advance nonviolence, peace, justice and equality. Only 12 women in its more than 100 year history of Nobel Prize have been endowed with the Nobel Peace Prize. Of them, these six women representing North and South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa – decided to bring forward a united effort for peace with justice and equality. They embark on this mission, harping upon three main strategies of convening, shaping the conversation, and spotlighting and promoting.

Judy Williams received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her work to ban landmines. After seeing the ravages of war, she believes that working for peace is not for the faint of heart. It requires dogged persistence and a commitment to sustainable peace, built on sustainable development, environment justice and security, and meeting the basic needs of the majority of people on our planet. At her behest 1300 organizations in 95 countries have taken up cudgels to eliminate antipersonnel landmines. Mairead Maguire was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for her extraordinary actions to end the sectarian violence in her native Northern Ireland. Her own three kins who were mere children were killed by an Irish Republican Army getaway car after its driver was shot by a British soldier. Mairead responded to the violence facing her family and community by organizing massive peace demonstrations appealing for an end to the bloodshed. In 1993, she had travelled to Thailand with six other Nobel Peace Laureates in a futile effort to enter Myanmar to protest the detention of fellow laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

In the past three years, the Nobel Laureates have been able to bring attention to urgent issues of Iran-US tensions, Israel Palestine, the protracted Burmese and Sudanese conflicts, among others – using the media and engaging with world leaders and activists in public forums. With the leverage of the Nobel Prize, these dedicated women are able to lay down new approaches to women’s rights, peace and security, in ways that would strengthen and expand the global movement to advance nonviolence, justice and equality. The Nobel Women’s Initiative believes in peace being much more than the absence of armed conflict. Peace is the commitment to equality and justice; a democratic world free of physical, economic, cultural, political, religious, sexual and environmental violence.

It is the heartfelt mission of the Nobel Women’s Initiative to work together as women Nobel Peace Prize Laureates to use the prudence and esteem of the Nobel Prize to promote, spotlight and amplify the work of women’s rights activists, researchers, and organizations worldwide addressing the root causes of violence, in a way that strengthens and expands the global movement to advance nonviolence, peace, justice and equality.