US Senator Marco Rubio and Representative James McGovern have nominated Hong Kong pro-democracy movement for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize.
The co-chair and chair of Congressional-Executive Commission on China sent the Nobel Peace Prize Committee a nomination letter for the city’s “impressively organized and coherent, yet notably leaderless and flexible” protest movement. The prize, they said, shall honour “millions of people in Hong Kong whose bravery and determination have inspired the world.”
Protests erupted last June over a now-axed extradition bill. Demonstrators are continuing to demand an independent probe into the police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.”
Other commissioners, including representatives Chris Smith, Thomas Suozzi, and Tom Malinowski, and Senators Jeffrey Merkley, Steve Daines, and Todd Young, also signed the nomination.
In the letter, they said Hongkongers “demonstrated civic courage, extraordinary leadership, and an unwavering commitment to a free and democratic Hong Kong that upholds the rule of law and fundamental human rights and freedom” and like Liu Xiaobo, made sacrifices to speak up for human rights.
Liu Xiaobo was sentenced 11 years of imprisonment on charges of “inciting subversion of state power” and passed away in custody in 2017. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010 to honour his “long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China” in absentia and the prize was presented to an empty chair at the ceremony. His widow Liu Xia was under house arrest for years since his death.
The letter said the US and UK “suspended the sale of police and crowd control equipment to Hong Kong” and the government has “used excessive and unnecessary” to crack down peaceful protests.
I have nominated the people of Hong Kong, who risk their lives and security every day to stand up for freedom of speech and basic democracy, to the Nobel Peace Prize for 2020 I hope this will be further encouragement to the movement: #StandWithHongKong https://t.co/HffCZcbwfc — Guri Melby (@gurimelby) October 15, 2019
Last year, Norwegian lawmaker Guri Melby also nominated Hongkongers for the prize as “further encouragement to the movement”.
Poignant_Porpoise on February 6th, 2020 at 13:47 UTC »
I don't really like these posts for several reasons. For one thing, the requirements for being nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize aren't particularly significant. Just look through the list of people/organisations/institutions which have been nominated and you'll see plenty of questionable to detestable people, everyone remember that Trump was even nominated. It is pretty much a non-event that the Hong Kong pro democracy movement has been nominated, it will be one of very, very many. Secondly, I absolutely support their movement 100% but sadly it just won't ever happen that they'll be awarded the Nobel Peace prize. The award and the institution are too heavily tied in with the Norwegian government, the committee members are predominantly former Norwegian politicians, and in addition, the Norwegian king is present at the ceremony. Like any government (especially a small one), they are far too terrified of the prospect of pissing China off.
As a lot of people know, Norway already did this in 2010 when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the pro human rights writer Liu Xiaobo, a person whom the Chinese government absolutely detests. Any news about the award was heavily censored, including international broadcasters, China wrote an official complaint to the committee, and trade/diplomatic relations between Norway and China suffered dramatically until his death in 2018. In addition to this, the award is utilised less as an award, and more as a tool to cause political/social change. The committee will usually decide the recipient based not solely on their merit as a recognition for what they have done, but rather the impact the award itself will cause. This usually means that it is either given to political leaders as a way to reinforce certain policies/decisions, or it is awarded to relatively lesser known people/institutions who would benefit greatly from the recognition. This award is so highly politically charged, I just can't see it realistic that the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement could ever hope to receive it unfortunately.
grapesinajar on February 6th, 2020 at 11:52 UTC »
Just a random thought... Perhaps there could be a separate prize for this kind of thing - a "freedom prize" or "human rights prize".
Standing up for rights is rarely a "peaceful" undertaking. Should not a "peace prize" be specifically for achieving peace, i.e. preventing conflict?
autotldr on February 6th, 2020 at 11:02 UTC »
This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 69%. (I'm a bot)
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