Comments

  1. michaelpowers says

    For her passion for learning, and her work towards a noble ideal – to the point of shedding blood for it – the nomination is entirely appropriate. If she won, would it make her the youngest person to do so?

  2. athyco says

    Yes! Even if she weren’t the youngest to be nominated, even if she doesn’t win it, I believe that her name will be among those more easily remembered in a couple of decades when the Nobel Peace Prize is discussed.

  3. says

    I’m torn. I don’t think the prize means anything anymore (look at some of the past recipients, one of whom still has drones roaming the skies). But she receives it, that will wipe away some of the prize’s tarnish.

  4. says

    I don’t think the prize means anything anymore (look at some of the past recipients, one of whom still has drones roaming the skies)

    I think it’s best to keep those issues separate. Malala’s what she is. Obama’s what he is.
    The nobel prize board is what they are for choosing not to ask Obama to return the prize.

    I have separate opinions about each of those and don’t blend them all together. Happiness and good wishes for Malala, a great big raspberry but not extremely surprised about Obama, and withering contempt for the prize board, who have greatly damaged their “brand” – first by making a mistake (which many of us made, who shared in the “hope”) and secondly by ratifying that mistake by not acting further. They played politics when they gave Obama the prize and they could have played further politics by asking him to give it back. Of course, it’s all about politics – Malala is playing politics, too, by some people’s standard.

  5. Wave says

    What is needed is a frank, serious discussion and criticism of the fascistic theology that prompted the shooting in the first place.

    I’m sorry, but awarding Malala the Peace Prize will do absolutely nothing to defeat the “misogyny” and ignorance the led to this.

    It is just a balm, a feel-good measure, an indulgence by and for westerners that does little to address the root causes of the shooting.

    “Misogyny”, too, doesn’t quite cut it.

    There’s a world of difference between some trite smart-ass who whistles at a blonde, and flat-out psychopaths intent on religiously motivated mass murder in an effort to prevent girls from getting an education.

  6. Wave says

    Nobody said there wasn’t.

    Why do you consistently refuse to pinpoint, define, delineate and target the theology behind this case?

    The problem isn’t one of “nobody said their wasn’t”.

    The problem is that nobody will ever say there is

    It’s also rather hypocritical on the part of Norway’s Labour Party, a party that has virtually ruled Norway uninterrupted since the end of WWII, to even sponsor this.
    Over the past 20 years a whole succession of Labour Party Education Ministers have tweaked, adjusted and carved up the official school curriculum so as to exempt ( exclude actually) young Muslim girls from any subjects, activities and courses running counter to their religious sensitivities.

    No gym, no music, no art, no dance, no swimming, no singing, no romantic literature…everything pared down to Taliban levels of austerity.

    Believe it or else.

    But hey! These same misogynist jokers will now step forward, and in a (mostly) self-serving gesture designed to soothe their guilt, hand Malala a Peace Prize.

  7. says

    @Wave (#17):

    The problem is that nobody will ever say there is

    What planet do you live on? No only will people say there is a difference, there are even those who will say there is nothing at all wrong with the former, in an attempt to make them feel better about their own society.

    And as Ophelia wrote, she does talk about Islam’s role in various bad things—quite frequently, in fact. If you want to discuss the theology that motivated the shooting, then do so. But don’t pretend that other people don’t just because every single post on their blog isn’t about that.

    @Marie-Thérèse O’Loughlin (#20): Thank for sharing the news. Very glad to hear she’s recovering.

  8. says

    The fact that the Nobel peace prize has been awarded to individuals who clearly didn’t deserve it, Henry Kissinger and Mother Theresa come to mind, is no reason for not celebrating this nomination. Yes, the Nobel committee has made some weird decisions; why, for instance, was Theodore Roosevelt awarded the prize in 1906? But many recipients have richly deserved it as Malala would. I hope she wins it.

  9. Torcant says

    This article was published in the Hurriyet newspaper which is the most prominent in Turkey.

    The link to the original is this:
    http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/yazarlar/22523128.asp

    The translation is as follows (sorry for the inadequate English):

    Beat the Bitch!
    by Yılmaz ÖZDİL
    5 February 2013

    An American woman was murdered.

    People say…
    Why was she wandering around alone? After all, women don’t go out alone!

    Remember:
    – A young Russian woman had to climb to the top of a bus stop while fleeing, one of her shoes was missing, they were pulling her socks off from below, and recording her underwear with their phones.

    – A young German woman had to seek refuge in a cab drivers’ office,

    – A Lithuanian girl, in a Pharmacy store,

    – A Croatian girl had to ask for protection from my camera man… her sweater was intact, but her bra was torn—her bra! She wanted to show us her legs, we said we can’t publish because of decency laws, then she showed her arms, full of bruises. The grinning-salivating crowd got away with it by paying 50 liras or so.

    They returned among us. They returned to the buses, ferries, to secluded places.

    – The guy caught red handed while raping a woman, got a reduced sentence for “not going all the way”… in this country.
    – The pervert who captured himself on video while raping, got a reduction because the woman was his “ex girlfriend”.
    – There are cases where a “if she didn’t cry out loud while being raped, that means she consented” reduction were applied.
    – I know of a father who raped her step daughter and got a reduction thanks to a “her mental health was not affected” report.
    – There was a guy who dragged a woman into the bushes, beaten her, removed her clothes, then was caught because he somehow experienced an asthma attack and fainted short of raping her; he also got reduction because he said “I could rape her if I wanted to, but didn’t”.
    – There is a guy who received a “she wasn’t virgin after all” reduction, after raping and impregnating a woman.
    – There is a guy who murdered a man after seeing his wife asking him the time, and got a “she was flirting with him” reduction for being provoked.
    – Another one murdered his wife, then defended himself by saying “she was wearing jeans, had piercings and I found birth control pills in her purse”, and got a reduction.
    – There is a father who killed her daughter for saying “my father raped me” in a TV reality show, and got a discounted sentence for “public defamation”.
    – There is a serial rapist who got a reduction for appearing in the court in a nice suit.

    You see? Even this week they legislated for a controlled eviction plan. And who were first released? The women beaters.

    What is worse than the killing of the American woman, is that no one is surprised by that murder!

    Bully Republic.

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