(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
Frp politician Erlend Wiborg nominates once again NATO for the Nobel Peace Prize. Abid Raja foreslo last year Jens Stoltenberg as NATO Secretary General for the same prize. I have asked myself the question: Who would I have nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize if I were sitting in the Storting today and could make my own proposal for a candidate?
I have no doubt: I would propose giving the Nobel Peace Prize for 2025 to the country of South Africa.
And why is that? And what does this proposal entail?
Well, if Nobel Committee had accepted my proposal, it would be the first time that the Peace Prize had been awarded to a country. Previously, most laureates have been individuals or non-governmental organizations, but a number of intergovernmental organizations have also received the Peace Prize, and in 2012 the committee chose to award the prize to the supranational EU. There should therefore be nothing to prevent a country from being awarded the Peace Prize if, through its work in the international community, the country has contributed to realizing the goals mentioned in Alfred Nobel's will – “reduction of military forces”, “arranging peace congresses” or “fraternization of nations”. It is South Africa's work in the latter two fields that makes me believe that the country would be a worthy recipient of the Peace Prize.
Until 1994
The fraternity of nations can only be achieved in a world where all people are granted equal value and equal rights regardless of their ethnic group, and where no nation seeks to dominate or destroy others. The apartheid system that South Africa had until 1994, meant that the majority of all citizens were deprived of citizenship rights in their own country, in favor of "citizenship" in delimited, resource-poor bantustans. These were formally recognized as independent states by the apartheid regime, but in reality they had no basis for independence.
Blacks who had the status of citizens of a bantustan rarely had any alternative to working as 'foreign workers' in the South African state, which was controlled by the white minority – but could be deported back to 'their homeland' at any time if they protested the conditions. To ensure its own survival within the region, the apartheid regime in South Africa also occupied neighbouring Namibia, while Angola and Mozambique, whose respective governments refused to cooperate with the apartheid regime, were destabilised through support for armed rebel groups.
The Apartheid regime and today's Israel
The modern South Africa that I would nominate for Nobel Peace Prize, was created through a merger of the territory that was under apartheidthe state and the various bantustans. All citizens were given equal democratic rights in the new state, regardless of ethnicity and which state they had previously held formal citizenship in.
The process of ending apartheid was largely through nonviolent internal resistance and international solidarity through the campaign for boycotts, sanctions and divestment of the apartheid state. Through its physical existence today, South Africa shows us an example of how the supposedly insoluble conflict in the Middle East can be resolved by simply merging today's Israel with the Palestinian state, which is largely under Israeli occupation – and granting all citizens equal democratic rights in the new state.
South Africa is worthy of the Peace Prize not only for its exemplary role model, but also for its work in highlighting the close parallels between the apartheid regime and today's Israel. South Africa has pointed out that a peaceful resolution to the conflict can only happen if the rest of the world recognizes the unequal power balance and stands in solidarity with the occupied Palestinians through a similar BDS campaign to the one directed against the apartheid regime in South Africa.
Israel's goals and practices constitute genocide according to the definition of genocide in the UN Genocide Convention.
After Israel launched a full-scale attack on the civilian population of Gaza in the fall of 2023, with the goal of driving the entire population into the Sinai Desert, South Africa was the country that took responsibility – and the brunt of threats from the United States and other of Israel's Western allies. They pointed out that Israel's goals and procedures constitute genocide according to the definition of genocide in the UN Genocide Convention, and thus also brought the accusation of genocide before the International Court of Justice. Allegations of alleged or alleged planned genocide have been used as a substitute argument for wars of aggression that violate international law on a number of occasions, including NATO's bombing of Libya in 2011. South Africa has shown the world how a country should act in accordance with international law when another country is actually committing genocide.
Libya sabotaged by NATO
During the conflict in Libya in 2011, South Africa was a leader in The The African Union's efforts to send a negotiating delegation to the country to negotiate a peaceful transition from Gaddafi's dictatorship to a new, democratic Libya, and was therefore also among the proposers of the UN resolution on Libya. This initiative, which falls under Nobel's criterion of "arranging peace congresses", was unfortunately sabotaged by NATO. Although NATO had not been given a mandate for this in the Security Council resolution, the Western military alliance initiated massive bombing of Libyan government forces and refused the African Union delegation permission to land. The active participation in the destruction of Libya is the greatest stain on modern Norway's record. For the Norwegian Nobel Committee, which was appointed by the same Parliament that accepted Norway's participation in the destruction of Libya, awarding the Peace Prize to South Africa will also be part of a necessary reckoning with Norway's role in the world community, which, unlike South Africa, has acted contrary to Alfred Nobel's will after 1994.
Our regular commentator Leerand is the leader of the FOR party, and former deputy leader of Rødt.
