Veteran Chinese journalist Alex Lo has sarcastically called for a name-change for the Nobel Peace Prize. He proposes that it should be called the Nobel War Prize. The comments come as part of his critique of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who was recently awarded the honour.
While making a formal announcement, the Nobel committee called her a “champion of peace”. She keeps the “flame of democracy burning”, it said.
Machado earlier sparked debate due to her past support for foreign intervention in Venezuela. While the Nobel Committee praised her non-violent struggle for democracy, critics argue her past statements show a militaristic outlook.
In 2019, she suggested that only a “credible and imminent threat” of international military force could push President Nicolas Maduro from power.
She has also supported US President Donald Trump’s military presence in the Caribbean. She defended US bombings of drug boats as necessary to cut off Maduro’s illegal drug funding.
Reports claim Machado and her advisers coordinated with the Trump administration on potential plans to remove Maduro.
According to The Guardian, many experts are sceptical about her association with radical right-wing politicians, such as US President Trump and Brazil’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro.
Lo’s opinion piece on the South China Morning Post echoes a similar concern.
He notes that it was US Secretary of State Marco Rubio who nominated the Venezuelan far-right politician for the Nobel. Rubio was a Senator at that time. Mike Waltz, US Ambassador to the United Nations, also backed the nomination.
Lo also reminds his readers that Machado told CBS News that only the US forces could “stop the suppression” in her country.
“Praising the head of the US empire, which has treated her country as an enemy and is launching military operations, doesn’t seem very peaceful,” Lo states.
“Whether Machado is a hero or villain, a national liberator or traitor, is something very much dependent on your political position. But she doesn’t seem the kind of peacemaker Alfred Nobel had in mind,” he adds.
Meanwhile, some social media users have pointed out that Alfred Nobel was also called the “Merchant of Death”. Was he? Here’s the truth.
Alfred Nobel: Merchant of Death
In 1888, Alfred Nobel’s brother Ludvig died in France. However, a French newspaper mistakenly published Alfred’s obituary instead. The headline read, “The merchant of death is dead”. The publication condemned him for earning wealth from explosives and weapons.
Nobel invented dynamite and owned Bofors, a major arms company. He was deeply affected by the label. Worried about being remembered for destruction, Nobel decided to change his legacy.
In 1895, Nobel wrote a will dedicating most of his fortune to creating prizes that honoured people improving humanity through science, literature and peace. The first Nobel Prizes, awarded in 1901, transformed his image forever.
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