Nobel Peace Center

When I'm in Oslo, I often stop by the Nobel Peace Center, a place that celebrates peacemakers and acts of peace.

They have stood up to powerful forces and pured their blood, sweat and tears into working for peace.

In the middle of the exhibition there's a solemn room, dimmed lighting, quiet music.

You can explore biographies of the past winners, watch videos, read about amazing discoveries, find educational activities.

You can also explore the Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholms and the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo.

Here's your challenge.

Pick one Nobel Prize category, choose a past winner, and spend some time learning about what that person accomplished.

So it's nice to see that the Nobel Peace Prize folks actually had enough spine, backbone to give it to somebody that's deserving.

I was really joyfully surprised because I had direct experience with the Nobel Peace Center when Kathy and I went to Norway in 2024, that shortly after we were there they awarded the Nobel Prize to Maria Machado, the Venezuelan operative for the CIA, [laughs] basically, who, uh, ended up giving her award to Trump.

So I thought, "Uh, that committee is hopelessly captured, and they'll never, uh, no one will ever care anything about the Nobel Peace Prize again."

Mm-hmm.

Uh, according to most, uh, people like that, nothing else matters.

He went off, off the deep end.

I wanted to write something up either for the, uh, Peace and Planet News or for the V- VFP newsletter on the Nobel Peace Center.

So, uh, I've updated it since the other day when, when the new a- awardee was announced.

efforts to safeguard freedom of expression.

I'm continuing today the conversation that Maria and I began at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo in September at a meeting convened to discuss democracy on the brink with 14 young Generation Z activists from across the world.

Maria Ressa is an indomitable rights activist and a fearless defender of freedom of expression who exposed the abuse of power and the use of violence by the authoritarian regime of the Filipino president, Duterte, especially his murderous anti-drug campaign.

For that, she has had to face decades of legal harassment by the government.

This was the second episode of season 12 of Democracy in Question.

Thank you very much for listening.

Please join me in November when my guest will be Lorraine Manos, a young American activist who was also a guest at the Democracy on the Brink meeting at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo.

Lorraine began her career as a climate justice activist in the Sunrise Movement, then was political director of If Not Now, a movement opposing Israeli occupation of Gaza and West Banks, and is currently working with the Democracy Revival Center in Washington, D.C. We'll of course discuss in November the results of the U.S. midterm elections, which many of us around the world are watching with bated breath.