■"In Wartime, Critics Question Peace Prize for Environmentalism," by Patrick E. Tyler, New York Times, 10 October 2004, p. A5.
The Nobel Peace Prize this year goes to Wangari Maathai, a female environmental activist who pushes women's rights on the continent, in addition to planting something like 2 million trees in past few years . . . and can you believe that people are complaining? Apparently a lot of Norwegians are baffled by the selection, assuming it would go to somebody . . . anybody with something bad to say about the Bush White House and the postwar situation in Iraq.
Should we be disappointed? Hardly. First, who would you pick? Michael Moore?
Second, picking a women's rights activist with strong environmental credentials from Africa is a delightful choice, just as good as last year's selection of the human/women's rights activist from Iran (another female and a lawyer to boot).
Frankly, too many past Nobel picks have been ex post facto congratulations for jobs not so much "well done" as "just begun," and many of these picks later turn out to be big embarrassments, like Kissinger and Arafat. To me, this was a fabulous pick that spotlights Africa, women's rights in the Gap, and environmentalism in general.
This is thinking about peace within the context of everything else, and that's great stuff.
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