Gordon L. Weil
This is not a column about “I told you so” and my forecast that President Trump would not win the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize,
It is a column about “They told you so.”
The Prize Committee announcement
of Maria Corina Machado, a Venezuelan, was a brilliant display of meanings
and messages aimed at everybody from Trump to all of us.
In selecting Machado, the Nobel Committee sent three
messages.
First, it favors recognizing people who have made personal
sacrifices on behalf of the rights of others.
Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for decades. Andrej Sakharov was sent into internal
Russian exile. Carl von Ossietsky, a German
journalist who revealed that the Nazis were breaking arms agreements, died in their
prison. Martin Luther King, Jr. Maria Corina Machado.
Machado lives in hiding from the Venezuelan regime. Her political movement saw its national
election victory stolen. She fights
on. The Nobel Committee is not sure she
will be in Oslo to receive the award or how she is being protected.
The second message is that Venezuela is under authoritarian
rule, which impoverishes its people. In this view, it shares Trump’s outlook
and his desire to see a new government there. The Committee made it difficult
for Trump to criticize the decision.
The third message is that individual action matters. National figures have been recognized, but a
single person, taking risks and showing courage, can awaken others to action. The Prize recognizes and encourages
individuals who try to change the course of history toward peace. Many winners were unknown before their
selection, which turned a spotlight on their causes.
The Nobel Peace Prize Committee laid out its focus clearly. It said: “Democracy is a precondition for
lasting peace. However, we live in a world where democracy is in retreat, where
more and more authoritarian regimes are challenging norms and resorting to
violence…. We see the same trends globally: rule of law abused by
those in control, free media silenced, critics imprisoned, and societies pushed
towards authoritarian rule and militarisation.”
Without democracy, it argues, there cannot be lasting peace.
The Committee’s concerns apply to the
United States today and to other countries increasingly made to feel more comfortable
in sliding into autocratic rule, following the American lead.
Trump will most likely hope that a successful deal for the
future of Gaza will earn him next year’s Prize, and he is sure to promote
himself for it. The world should be
served well if there is such a deal. But
it is premature now to conclude that a deal, even if reached, will be fulfilled
by Hamas or Israel. Much may depend on
the role of Arab states.
Trump and his backers compartmentalize, stressing his
efforts for peace, while setting aside his hostility toward others. He has transformed world trade, not through
negotiations, but by sheer force. He has
bombed Iran. He sinks boats on the high
seas. He has created a War Department,
imbued with the “warrior
ethos.” He covets other countries. He “hates”
his opponents.
While no Peace Prize winner was a perfect person, their
character pervaded their lives and their words.
Trump asks the Nobel Committee to segregate his peacemaking from the rest
of his actions. But this is not the Best
Actor at the Oscars, awarded no matter whatever else the star has done. The winner here must be seen as a laudable model.
What is the Committee’s message for the rest of us? Individual action on behalf of democracy and
peace matters.
If we care about the course of our country, each person
needs to decide what they can do as an individual to preserve and promote democracy
and peace. Handwringing and sloganeering
are not actions.
The Nobel Committee said: “Democracy depends on people who
refuse to stay silent, who dare to step forward despite grave risk, and who
remind us that freedom must never be taken for granted, but must always be
defended….”
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