Posted on 10/13/2006 12:30:24 PM PDT by libertarianPA
OSLO (AFP) - Attack the causes of poverty and you remove the roots of conflict -- that is the message the Nobel Committee wanted to send out by awarding its Peace Prize to the creator of a micro-credit scheme which benefits millions, analysts said on Friday.
Bangladeshi economist Muhammad Yunus, the so-called "Banker to the Poor", and the Grameen Bank he founded three decades ago were the surprise winners of the award for pioneering a system of small-scale loans that has helped 6.6 million people escape the grind of poverty.
As the head of the Nobel Committee, Ole Danbolt Mjoes, said: "Lasting peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty."
A glance at recent Peace Prize winners reveals a shift in emphasis in the thinking of the secretive five-member committee away from the classic role of peacemaker, as it has honoured people working in the fields of human rights and the environment.
Asle Sveen, a Norwegian historian who closely follows the Nobel Prize, told AFP: "It is the first time that the fight against poverty has been rewarded in itself.
"There were enough good nominations in the area of conflict resolution in the strictest sense but the Nobel Committee is increasingly taking the fight to the fundamental reasons for which war is waged.
"It is not enough to make peace, this peace must be a just peace and the causes of war, such as hunger and poverty, must be treated at their roots."
Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai was another surprise winner in 2004 and the latest award shows that the Nobel Committee is moving with the times, said Sverre Lodgaard, the director of the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs.
"Challenges to peace have become different over the years. We have become more aware of new connections which impact on our security.
"Peace is not just the absence of war but also the absence of reasons for having a war. The committee has been good at updating its concept of peace," Lodgaard said.
"The prize this year is distinct because it's really focused on Yunus' contribution to alleviate poverty.
"There is a good justification for that. There are more lives lost because of extreme poverty than because of war."
He said the Nobel jury had probably expanded its reach as far as it could go for now.
"I don't see much of an expansion in terms of fields or subject areas for a while because I think that the Committee has come to its outer limits," he said.
Lodgaard said however that new categories within the existing fields, such as artists or poets, could be rewarded for their role in creating the conditions for peace.
Stein Toennesson, the head of the Peace Research Institute of Oslo, said he believed a genuine peace broker such as former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, who helped end a three-decade conflict in the Indonesian province of Aceh last year, should have won.
"Yunus and the Grameen Bank are very good winners but I would have preferred someone who did something earth-shattering for peace," Toennesson said.
Ahtisaari, a veteran mediator whose also led Namibia to independence and helped end the fighting in Kosovo, was the favourite in betting ahead of the announcement.
"Peace is not just the absence of war but also the absence of reasons for having a war."Ergo, eliminate all other religions and there would be no reason for the muzzies to be whizzed and all the killing and terrorism would stop. So simple. Let's all head down to our local mosque and convert.
Yep, sounds like a plan...for the criminally insane...
(grin)
These clowns have it exactly backwards. They confuse cause and effect, and continue to demonstrate the utter idiotic worthlessness of the Nobel Peace Prize.
http://www.microcreditsummit.org/
I saw a program on PBS hi definition tv (I think) a while back. The documentary was fascinating. Almost all microcredit is being lent to mothers with children. Loans must be paid back, and the men in these third world countries have abysmal records of repaying the small loans.
The program showed the women sitting around attending "classes" to learn about money management, how to build their business (buy a cow, sell the milk), and how to budget to payback the loans. In order to get a loan, the woman has to be a part of a group because the women help one another cover for shortfalls if they can't pay their loan that month. All the women shown were strongly motivated to provide better lives for their children. Only one man was profiled - a man who repaired shoes.
Yes, it was. I'm pleased to see Mr. Yunus being recognized, even if the connection between micro-credit lending and "peace" is a bit drifty :-).
I think the AFP and the Nobel committee missed the point. They are using capitalism to help people help themselves. The micro loans are not free, the bank is making a profit, the borrowers are making a profit.
They were unanimous in their desire for the following three things:
The NPR person was completely taken back that these "miserable people" who's station in life is to make liberals feel they're needed would desire such things.
- The right to own property.
- An enforcible system to protect that right.
- To woo capitalists into providing small, low interest loans.
Actually, there is a body of learned opinion holding that most of the cultural, social, and economical development occurs in the lands either being ravaged by war [but not too much, of course], or at least under the war conditions.[see Charles Murray book "Human accomplishment"]. The examples most frequently cited are Renaissance Italy and Holland Gold Age. Of course, there are other contributory factors of the civilizational nature as well.
Umm.... Oops.
Poverty is not the cause of war but frequently war is the cause of poverty.
So what is new? They gave one to Albert Schweitzer back in '52 for being a jungle doctor.
History is demarcated by war, nobody ever asked:
"What did you do in the Peace, Daddy?"
It is a pass-along; one person takes money from many sources and loans it to a few who are never made to repay it when their fortunes fail to improve.
Gee, Marx said this 150 years ago but now it's being hailed as a new idea....
Yup, we should have thought of this sooner. After all if Hitler had turned the German economy around and controlled inflation we would not have invaded Poland. And, if Japan could have changed from a feudal society into and industrialized society, then they would not have attacked Pearl Harbor. Or maybe, if we could have pumped billions of dollars into the Middle East, then they would not have attacked us.
This is a real capitalistic, money-making banking business, and his repayment rate is 98%. He's probably done more for the people of his country than any government-conceived plan or World Bank loan.
capitalism is just another world for freedom. Freedom of private individuals to decide without interference from the government
So what they should do is link peace with freedom
" is a pass-along; one person takes money from many sources and loans it to a few who are never made to repay it when their fortunes fail to improve."
See my post 24. They do indeed repay. The program is very successful.
I saw a program on PBS hi definition tv (I think) a while back. The documentary was fascinating. Almost all microcredit is being lent to mothers with children. Loans must be paid back, and the men in these third world countries have abysmal records of repaying the small loans.
Microcredits have been around for many many years. I remember the Mennonites and other groups working with them in the 70's
Microcredit can stave off starvation but cannot build wealth. In many third world countries one cannot invest ones earnings in tangibles such as realestate becasue there is not system to transfer realestate. so wealth cannot be kept which is one of the reasons that in other countries there are such a different basis for decision making and financial responsibility.
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