The Nobel Peace Prize is an anachronism and a compromised “honor” as the struggle against the U.S. and its collective west allies intensifies. The peoples of the world know who is fighting for peace, and who, like this year’s winner, Maria Corina Machado, is an imperialist tool.
“...I am sending letters to some of the main world leaders with the same request that I am submitting to you: to promote within the United Nations Security Council the adoption of effective protection measures for Venezuelans and the promotion of a process of regime change…” - Maria Corina Machado letter to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Alfred Nobel’s will spelled out how he wanted to honor those who are accomplished in the fields of medicine, literature, physics, chemistry, and “the person who has done the most or best to advance fellowship among nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and the establishment and promotion of peace congresses.” While Nobel’s wishes would seem to be clear, the Nobel Peace Prize is rarely awarded to anyone who actually works for peace as Nobel described.
There are many worthy people and organizations who have carried out good deeds for humanity, but few of the winners have actually been peacemakers. This year’s winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Maria Corina Machado, is no exception to this unfortunate trajectory, as she openly calls for war against her own people in Venezuela. She supports sanctions that have killed thousands of her countrymen and women and favors a U.S. military attack on her country, which is precisely and perversely why she received the once respected honor.
The Nobel Peace Prize Committee honored Machado “for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.” These words may sound benign to those who are unaware that the people of Venezuela already have a democracy. They are punished because they continue to exercise their democratic rights by voting for a government that the U.S. and its allies want to destroy. Anyone who supports the Venezuelans’ sovereign rights is treated as an enemy of those war-loving nations, which are paradoxically referred to as “the free world.”
Donald Trump openly campaigned for the prize himself and complained that he was robbed even after Machado’s win was announced. But Trump was too obviously problematic, better to choose someone who could be molded into the role of peacemaker with an international disinformation campaign, even though she admittedly works closely with the president, who is carrying out a war against the Venezuelan people. The imperialists even showed their hand by announcing that Machado was in the running the day before the announcement was made.
Machado and her forces are quite open about their efforts to overthrow the duly elected government of Nicolas Maduro, announcing their intentions to work for a regime change plan with the Trump administration in a New York Times article. “Pedro Urruchurtu, an adviser to Ms. Machado, said in an interview that the opposition had developed a plan for the first 100 hours after Mr. Maduro’s ouster that would involve a transfer of power to Edmundo González, who ran for president against Mr. Maduro last year.”
The 2024 peace prize winner, the Japanese organization Nihon Hodankyo, is dedicated to nuclear disarmament and, as such, does align with Nobel’s criteria. But the organization’s director, Toshiyuki Mimaki, did himself no favors with the collective west when he compared Gaza’s experience under Israeli war crimes to that of his own country after World War II. He said, “It is like Japan 80 years ago.” He added that the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) should have won the peace prize. It appears that the committee resolved not to give any more actual peace makers an opportunity to present themselves before the world and expose western hypocrisy in the process.
The prize itself is now so problematic as to be worthless, and more often than not is used for NATO member Norway to honor those in support of the machinations of the collective west, such as sanctions and actual military attacks against Venezuela. It is high time to eschew the favor of organizations like the Nobel peace prize committee and point out how their awardees in fact initiate violence around the world.
This same organization gave the newly inaugurated president Barack Obama the once coveted prize in 2009 for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” That description does not fit anyone who becomes president of the United States and Obama proved as much in his peace prize lecture when he said, “So yes, the instruments of war do have a role to play in preserving the peace.” Perhaps the world should be grateful that after having declared “war is peace” he didn’t add “freedom is slavery.”
But Machado does just that when she speaks in support of Trump’s extrajudicial killings of Venezuelans who he says are drug traffickers. “I totally support his strategy. And I’ve said on behalf of the Venezuelan people that we are very grateful. I think it is the right thing to do. It’s courageous. It’s visionary.” There is nothing courageous about the U.S. using its firepower to bomb small boats on Venezuela’s Caribbean coast and kill unnamed people in an effort to make the case for a wider war.
Venezuela has been in the crosshairs of every U.S. president for the past 25 years. The late Hugo Chavez, and now Nicolas Maduro, were both targeted by the Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden and, now another Trump, administrations. Trump’s sanctions in his first term severely damaged Venezuela’s oil production capabilities and made it impossible for that country to access the world financial system, even in regard to purchasing food and medicines. The end result was a devastated economy and death for thousands of people. A 2019 report indicated that some 40,000 Venezuelans died as a direct result of Trump’s sanctions, sanctions supported by Machado. Trump indicted Maduro on drug trafficking charges and placed a $15 million bounty on his head. Biden added an additional $15 million and Trump recently upped the ante to $50 million. It doesn’t matter that drug trafficking from Latin American nations occurs much more often on the Pacific coast of South America, Central America, and Mexico, rather than on Venezuela’s Caribbean coast. Facts don’t count when there is regime change to be had.
The Nobel peace prize does not deserve the respect it still garners in some circles. It is a tool of the U.S. and Europe and anti-imperialists know who is and is not worthy of praise for making peace. Giving legitimacy to the Nobel peace prize is to give legitimacy to the U.S. and its interventionist and warmongering NATO allies.
Peace should not be treated like films nominated for Academy Awards. The vast majority of people in the world know quite well what peace looks like. It is of course the absence of military violence but it is also defined by respect for human rights and for the ability of nations to act on their own behalf without fear of intervention or attack from the U.S. and its allies. It is absurd that five people in Oslo, Norway should be considered the arbiters of what constitutes peace-making.
Maria Corina Machado is the very antithesis of what Alfred Nobel envisioned. Aside from scorning her undeserved honor, the people of the world should resolve to give no more attention to the Nobel peace prize and to its disgraced laureates who work on behalf of U.S. aggression.
Margaret Kimberley is the author of Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents. You can support her work on Patreon and also find it on the Twitter, Bluesky, and Telegram platforms. She can be reached via email at margaret.kimberley@blackagendareport.com.
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