Hope of a Nobel

For some time now, the literature and peace categories of the Nobel Prize have ceased to be an award for work and are instead an instrument of policy. This seems to confirm the reason for why the 2009 Peace Prize was given to U.S. President Barack Obama, as well as German writer Herta Muller for literature.

Looking at the list of names that filled the expectations in these categories, one asks what Obama’s contributions to world peace were during his nine months as leader of the premier nation in the world, or what has Muller done for universal literature in order to deserve such recognition.

It would have been enough to name Dr. Sima Samar, an activist who has dedicated her life to defending women’s rights in conflict zones and leads the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. Senator Piedad Córdoba, though controversial, deserved the award much more than Obama.

In literature, the names on the list were true literary giants, like Peruvian Mario Vargas Llosa, Argentinean Ernesto Sábato and Miguel Delibes of Spain, to cite only those of the Spanish language.

If you looks carefully at the log of the Nobel Prize winners in these two categories, you can see that there have been more misses than hits. It is known that the politics of the Nobel Foundation have changed over the past few decades. More than recognize work, what [the award] does is catapult a name. Foundations of history such as Joyce, Kafka and Borges have been erased from the Swedish Academics’ list, and unknowns such as Muller have obtained it.

In Obama’s case, the granting of the esteemed Nobel medal, along with a million dollars, is recognition of a peaceful and respectful discourse. It is a bet on a world of hope, but also a planet with nuclear bombs.