The Nobel Peace Prize for 2006 has been awarded..

[Princess Turandot]

"to Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank for their efforts to create economic and social development from below. Lasting peace can not be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty. Micro-credit is one such means. Development from below also serves to advance democracy and human rights."

Press release:
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2006/press.html

Background on Grameen Bank:
http://www.grameen-info.org

More on Professor Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank:
http://www.grameen-info.org/book/index.htm

[texasleo]

1. good for them.

[Divine Discontent]

2. oh don't lie....

that sux and you know it! (lol j/k congrats to them) it would have been great for Cindy to get a peace award, but maybe Demo bosses told her to tell them just nominate her, but with it being so close to the election they didn't want them to go running her name through the news cycles for a week when the repubs are on the run...

[jokerman93]

20. I disagree

Cindy was given the nomination which is also an honor and an acknowledgement of the value of her work.

[Divine Discontent]

28. you disagree with my LOL

so you do believe it sux? ha..
come on, you're supposed to be the jokerman. I was kidding, of course it's a great honor.

[jokerman93]

29. :-) *sigh*

Being Jokerman can be such a burden sometimes...
:toast:

[AlGore-08.com]

22. Cindy Sheehan was an extreme long shot to win, IF she really was nominated

1.) Around 200 people are considered for the Nobel Prize each year. Even if someone is nominated, they may not be considered, and even if they're considered it's extremely unlikely that they'll win.

The nomination process involves the Nobel Committee (which is composed of 5 people nominated by the Norwegian Legislature) asking over 3000 people to submit names of folks to be considered for the prize. The people asked to suggest nominees include:

Members of national assemblies and governments of states;
Members of international courts;
University rectors;
Professors of social sciences, history, philosophy, law and theology;
Directors of peace research institutes and foreign policy institutes;
Peace Prize laureates and/or board members of organizations that have been awarded the Peace Prize;
Active and former members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee;
Former advisers appointed by the Norwegian Nobel Institute.

2.) The Nobel Prize Committee never announces who it considers for the Nobel prizes for 50 years. There is always a lot of speculation in the media about who was nominated and who will win, and most of it is usually wrong. Sheehan might not have even been nominated. We won't know for sure until 2056.

3.) If you look at the past winners, you'll see that it was extremely unlikely that Cindy Sheehan would have won even if she had been nominated - - she hasn't had the kind of impact on world peace these folks and institutions have had:

1901 Jean Henri Dunant (Switzerland) Founder of the Red Cross
1906 Teddy Roosevelt (USA) For drawing up the peace treaty in the Russo-Japanese War
1919 Woodrow Wilson (USA) For founding the League of Nations
1922 Fridtjof Nansen (Norway) Originator of the Nansen passports for refugees
1927 Ferdinand Buisson (France) Founder and president of the League for Human Rights
1944 International Committee of the Red Cross (awarded retroactively in 1945)
1945 Cordell Hull (USA) For co-initiating the United Nations
1948 Not awarded because they were going to give it to Mahatma Gandhi, but he was assassinated before the prizes were announced
1952 Albert Schweitzer
1953 American Secretary of State George Catlett Marshall For the Marshall Plan
1964 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr
1965 United Nation's Children's Fund (UNICEF)
1975 Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov (USSR) For his campaigning for human rights
1977 Amnesty International, London
1985 International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Boston
1993 President Nelson Mandela (South Africa) and former President Frederik Willem de Klerk (South Africa) For their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa
1997 International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and Jody Williams (USA)
2002 Jimmy Carter "For his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development"

[daleo]

27. Don't forget Henry Kissinger.

The Nobel committee has made some strange choices in its history. Today's choice is a pretty safe one.

[Divine Discontent]

3. cat # 5

looks like its killed before, and its willing to do it again if its pushed too far...


love that graphic, all yours?

[Princess Turandot]

4. An apt description!

That's my Razputin; the graphic is mine. He is a sweet cat in many ways; he generally only bites me once day. A good thing, since I sometimes think he can un-hinge his jaws!

Here's one of his webpages, altho this probably isn't the right thread for it:

http://www.vultureviews.net/posting/raztazz/origin.htm

[Divine Discontent]

5. well ya,

considering I'm incredibly tired, and I said my joke in the peace prize award thread???? LOL... DU'ers I'm going to bed, I just couldn't resist, and Princess Turandot proved my feelings correct on that wild-cool cat!! (check out the pics you WON'T BELIEVE THAT CAT!!)

[Divernan]

33. That cat's just not getting enough sleep - always yawning!

I have that problem too.

[ClintonTyree]

6. I thought FOR SURE this was Bush's year.

After all he's done for the people of Iraq I don't see how the committee could NOT award the prize to *, this year. It's all partisan politics I tell ya'. It's that damned Clinton's fault! HEAVY :sarcasm:

[Jim Lane]

9. Yep. Ain't nobody more peaceable than a dead man (or woman). n/t

[Bhaisahab]

7. thats great.

grameen bank has done incredible wonders for the poor in bangladesh. its long overdue, coz Mr Yunus really deserves it.

[etherealtruth]

8. A wonderful choice!

"Lasting peace can not be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty."

[Zensea]

10. Very interesting -- Steven Rockefeller Jr. is on their board

http://www.grameenfoundation.org/who_we_are/our_people/board_members/steven_rockefeller_jr/

I thought I'd heard of this bank before.
Steven Rockefeller being the grandson of Nelson Rockefeller and who also "serves on the Board of Directors of the Soros Economic Development Fund and the Deutsche Bank Microcredit Development Fund."

I think there is a subtext in this choice that might not be immediately evident to some. Something to do with a struggle between the elites.

[C_U_L8R]

11. a great idea that does a lot of good

how come republicans never think of things that might help the world?
not a single good deed comes to mind... not one

[gristy]

12. Looks like a good choice to me

Glad the micro-credit concept is now going to get some more widespread exposure.

[DinahMoeHum]

13. I had a feeling that Dr. Yunus would win the Nobel for peace or economics

sooner or later.

I first read about him a few years ago in Frances Moore Lappe's book: Hope's Edge-The Next Diet for a Small Planet. There's a whole chapter devoted to him and his work.

www.smallplanetinstitute.org

http://www.amazon.com/Hopes-Edge-Diet-Small-Planet/dp/1585422371/sr=1-1/qid=1160741564/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-7526304-0956864?ie=UTF8&s=books

Indeed, congratulations are in order. This is the 2nd time a profile from Lappe's book has been awarded a Nobel Prize. The first time was when the Peace prize was awarded to Wangari Maathai of Kenya for her Green Belt movement: www.greenbeltmovement.com

:toast:

[oblivious]

14. Just for the sake of argument: How many current wars are due to poverty?

As worthy as this reason seems for a peace prize, isn't it sort of ignoring the elephant in the room?

[ContraBass Black]

16. How many people currently die early due to the direct results of poverty?

Many, many times those that die in war.

[oblivious]

17. But poverty reduction was not really the intent of the Peace Prize.

With regard to the Peace Prize, Nobel defined this as having "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."

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/articles/sejersted/index.html

I don't know, it seems to me that the committee is trying to avoid stepping on the toes of the powerful, so it is avoiding recognizing peace activism, which was obviously the main intent of the prize originally.

[Zensea]

18. Avoid stepping on the toes of the powerful?

Check my post above (#10) and then think about the conflicts between the elites regarding how to "deal" with the third world.
On one side you have moneyed elites like the Bush family and the Saudis. On the other side you have moneyed elites like Soros and Rockefeller.
Giving this prize to the Grameen Bank is a direct slap in the face to the approach of the moneyed elites that Bush represents.

Plus poverty reduction is a very good way to work for peace. Remove one of the causes of conflict.
A lot of the resentment against the United States that manifests through people such as Bin Laden is a direct result of poverty and economic inequality in the countries where they live.

[oblivious]

32. But it has little to do with peace activism and reducing armies.

Repeat: With regard to the Peace Prize, Nobel defined this as having "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."

[onenote]

34. Elie Weisel, Mother Teresa, Desmond Tutu, Lech Walesa

All Nobel Peace Prize winners.

[AnneD]

21. People in poverty have no power...

Powerless people have no hope. Hopeless people have nothing to loose. People with nothing to loose do not fear death. Fearless people attack those with power.

[MrCoffee]

25. Loads...take a look at Africa's civil wars.

[oblivious]

31. But don't they tend to be wars over resources?

Not so much the poor rebelling against injustice.

[papau]

15. micro-credit is indeed a great idea & works to lift folks out of poverty

It is a well deserved award.

[CabalPowered]

23. Agreed! Grameen has a very interesting concept

and it's working. :thumbsup:

[ashling]

19. The egalitarian economist

Angered by the plight of the rural poor in his native Bangladesh, Muhammad Yunus combined financial acumen with the pursuit of equality

Friday October 13, 2006
Guardian Unlimited


Professor Muhammad Yunus, 66, pioneered the idea of micro-finance - lending small amounts of money to the poorest people in Bangladesh without collateral.
Mr Yunus, the founder and managing director of the Grameen Bank, thought that if financial resources can be made available to the poor people on terms and conditions that were appropriate and reasonable, "millions of small people with their millions of small pursuits can add up to create the biggest development wonder".

The Grameen Bank, like any capitalist enterprise, saw a market that had been neglected and went after it. But Mr Yunus was not just a capitalist, he was also interested in development. With Grameen, he created a vehicle that combined capitalism and social responsibility.
As the bank says on its website: "Credit is a cost-effective weapon to fight poverty and it serves as a catalyst in the overall development of socio-economic conditions of the poor who have been kept outside the banking orbit on the ground that they are poor and hence not bankable."


***

Whereas conventional banks are owned by the rich, generally men, Grameen Bank is owned by poor women. While the overriding objective of the conventional banks is to maximise profit, Grameen Bank's objective is to bring financial services to the poor, particularly women, to help them fight poverty, stay profitable and financially sound.

In another difference with normal banks, Grameen Bank branches are located in rural areas, whereas the branches of conventional banks usually locate themselves as close as possible to the business districts and urban centres. In perhaps the biggest difference, the first principle of Grameen banking is that clients should not go to the bank, it is the bank that should go to the people instead.

more @

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,1921830,00.html

[MrCoffee]

24. Outstanding selection! Microcredit is the key to development.

And development is the key to sustainable peace.

[donsu]

26. there is another story about this at Asia Time on the home page

near the bottom where Notes and Quotes are:

http://www.atimes.com/


-snip-

"I'm very, very happy. It's a great honor for us and for Bangladesh. It's a recognition of our work. As a Bangladeshi, I'm proud that we have given something to the world. Our work has now been recognized by the whole world."

-snip -
-----------------------------

[Jim Stark]

30. A fantastic decision!

This guy actually makes a difference in the world instead of just talking.