In 1939, a Swedish legislator mockingly nominated Adolf Hitler for the Nobel Peace Prize. The nomination sparked outrage and was quickly withdrawn. Furious, Hitler banned Germans from accepting Nobel Prizes and went on to create his own award. Joseph Stalin, on the other hand, was seriously nominated twice — yet made no fuss, proving himself a more patient and “mature” criminal.
How fair it was when Kailash Satyarthi, who had rescued over 80,000 children from child labour and trafficking, had to share the same honour with Malala Yousafzai — someone who, at that point, was celebrated mostly for speaking the language of the West, to please the West only.
Despite being nominated five times, Mahatma Gandhi never received the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1948, he was on the shortlist but was assassinated before the final decision. That year, the prize was not awarded, as the committee declared there was “no suitable living candidate.”
The irony of Barack Obama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 is equally striking. While honoured for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy,” his presidency witnessed expanded drone strikes, the surge in Afghanistan, military intervention in Libya, support for the Saudi-led war in Yemen, and ongoing operations in Iraq and Syria — turning the “Peace Prize” into a quiet witness to endless wars.
To glimpse the mindset of some Nobel laureates, look at Aung San Suu Kyi (1991), who defended Myanmar’s military during the brutal Rohingya crackdown that displaced over 700,000 people. Or Henry Kissinger (1973), awarded while escalating bombings in Cambodia and Vietnam — a reminder that peace, too, can be disturbingly selective.
Similarly, Menachem Begin (1978), crowned as a peacemaker, helpfully reminded the world that a few massacres don’t have to stand in the way of a Nobel Peace Prize.
From Kissinger to Abiy, the Nobel Peace Prize has often honoured those who made peace — or at least promised to, before reaching for more weapons. Perhaps it reminds us that peace is less a destination and more an ironic human aspiration.
So, if one fine day Biden, Trump, or Netanyahu bag a Peace Prize — don’t faint. Irony has long been the award’s favourite guest.
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| About the Author: Dr. Mujahid Mughal is an Assistant Professor of Geography at Govt Post Graduate College, Rajouri |