November 2003 / No. 26

Hall of Fame

Ebadi, 56, was given the prize "for her efforts for democracy and human rights," particularly for women and children in her country the Nobel Committee said.

Ebadi Enters Laurent List

Shirin Ebadi becomes the first Iranian to receive a Nobel Prize

An Iranian human rights activist and feminist lawyer, Shirin Ebadi, was awarded the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize on 10 October 2003, becoming the 11th women, third Muslim and first Muslim woman to win the honor in the prize’s 102-year history. She is also the first Iranian to ever win any of the Nobel Prizes.

Ebadi, 56, was given the prize "for her efforts for democracy and human rights," particularly for women and children in her country the Nobel Committee said.

In a first reaction, Ebadi said she was "shocked" by the award. "I’m shocked. There won’t be many changes in my own life, but it will be important for my work for human rights and for citizens in Iran," she said from Paris were she was attending a conference when the announcement was made.

Ebadi became Iran’s first woman judge in 1974, but lost that post in the Islamic Revolution five years later when Islamic clerics took over and decreed that women could not preside over courts. Ebadi continued to lecture in law at Tehran University and emerged as a vocal activist and lawyer dedicated to women’s and children’s rights. She was a major driving force between the reforms of Iran’s family laws. She maintained a high profile for her feminist struggle also by writing many books and articles.

Her work has won her accolades from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and in 2001 she was awarded the Human Rights Rafto Prize.

The profile released by the Nobel Committee’s announcement said, "Both in her research and as an activist, she is known for promoting peaceful, democratic solutions to serious problems in society. She takes an active part in the public debate and is well-known and admired by the general public in her country … Ebadi represents reformed Islam, and argues for a new interpretation of Islamic law which is in harmony with vital human rights such as democracy, equality before the law, religious freedom and freedom of speech." "My problem is not with Islam, it’s with the culture of patriarchy," Ebadi told Britain’s Guardian newspaper in June.

Mother Teresa, 1979 Peace Prize Laurent Nelson Mandela, 1993 Peace Prize Laurent

The committee said Ebadi "As a lawyer, judge, lecturer, writer and activist, has spoken out clearly and strongly in her country, Iran, and far beyond its borders; has stood up as a sound professional, a courageous person, and has never heeded threats ... in an era of violence, she has consistently supported non-violence."

"It is a pleasure for the Norwegian Nobel Committee to award the Peace Prize to a woman who is part of the Muslim world, and of whom that world can be proud—along with all who fight for human rights wherever they live."

The committee said its decision to award the prize to Ebadi fitted with its aims to "speed up" the process of bringing democracy and human rights to various parts of the world; as "she favors enlightenment and dialogue as the best path to changing attitudes and resolving conflict".

"Ebadi is a conscious Muslim. She sees no conflict between Islam and fundamental human rights. It is important to her that the dialogue between the different cultures and religions of the world should take as its point of departure their shared values."

"We hope the prize will be an inspiration for all those who struggle for human rights and democracy in her country, in the Muslim world, and in all countries where the fight for human rights needs inspiration and support," it said.

The Nobel Peace Prize, which carries a purse of 10 million Swedish kroner (€1.1 million, $1.3 million dollars), is decided by an Oslo-based Nobel Committee which counts two men and three women. Ebadi was selected from a field of 165 candidates for the prize, among them Pope John Paul II and former Czech president Vaclav Havel.

Ebadi’s selection as this year’s winner of the Nobel Peace Prize came as a surprise to those bookmakers who had her down at 21/1 and the award drew immediate criticism from supporters of the pope, who saw his 25 years of promoting peace going unrewarded by the Nobel committee.

Just before the announcement the ailing pontiff, Pope John Paul II, at 2-1 had the edge over Czech President Vaclav Havel at 8-1, according to the web-based betting site Centrebet. Other candidates included Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva (14-1) and Afghan leader Hamid Karzai (25-1). The head of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, Geir Lundestad, said it was the first time he had seen a bookmaker taking odds on the prestigious prize.

Had the betters listened more carefully to recent remarks by members of the Norwegian selection committee—which has come under fire for its failure to recognize less prominent individuals, and particularly women—the announcement might not have been so unexpected.

Since the prize started in 1901, women have received just 11 of the 111 awards, through which Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel wanted to reward those who do the most for the "promotion of peace and fraternity".

The Nobel Committee made a "big mistake" in snubbing the pontiff, Lech Walesa, the former Polish president and 1983 Peace Prize laureate, said in Warsaw. "For me it is a big mistake, a bad mistake, an unfortunate mistake," Walesa told Polish television. But the pope was said to be gracious in defeat. A Vatican source said he would be sending a message of congratulations to Ebadi.

Recipients of the prize have tended to fall into two distinct categories.

In the first category are those individuals and organizations which have sought to resolve conflicts. Examples being the United Nations and Kofi Annan (2001), Mikhail Gorbachev (1990) and Lech Walesa (1983).

In the second are those who have sought to promote a different kind of peace, many of whom are campaigners for political freedom or those who have tried to bring humanitarian relief to others. Examples being figures like Nelson Mandela (1993), Martin Luther King (1964) and Mother Teresa (1979).

Ebadi falls into this category, as does another prominent female winner, Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was awarded the prize while under house arrest in 1991. The Red Cross has also been awarded the prize on several occasions in the course of the last century.

While the kudos of the award is beyond dispute, pundits frequently ponder whether it has any impact in promoting peace. It has not stopped wars, nor guaranteed the future success and the continued accomplishments of its recipients. Indeed many of those who have been rewarded are already past their best, they argue. Nonetheless, that the Nobel tag has retained its prestige down the decades despite its controversial choices is seen by some as a clear sign that the committee is doing something right.

Ebadi is a conscious Muslim. She sees no conflict between Islam and fundamental human rights.

Alfred Nobel: The Nobel prizes are the legacy of Alfred Nobel, who was born in Stockholm in 1833. His father was an engineer who, in the course of his building work, experimented with various techniques for blasting rocks. Alfred Nobel followed in his father’s footsteps. In 1866, he invented dynamite, drastically reducing the cost of blasting rock, drilling tunnels, building canals and other forms of construction work.

This was just one of his many ideas. By the end of his life, Nobel held more than 350 patents, and had built up companies and laboratories in more than 20 countries. But Nobel was more than just a scientist and inventor. He was also interested in social and peace-related issues. He wrote plays and poetry, and was a great fan of literature.

Nobel’s talents made him a rich man, and he decided to leave his fortune to those who shared his passions. The will he wrote in 1895 served as the blueprint for the Nobel Prize system. Nobel ordered that his money be used to reward outstanding contributions to peace, literature, physics, chemistry, economics and medicine.

When Alfred Nobel’s will was made known after his death in San Remo on 10 December 1896, and when it was disclosed that he had established a special peace prize, this immediately created a great international sensation. The name Nobel was connected with explosives and with inventions useful to the art of making war, but certainly not with questions related to peace.

Alfred Nobel’s will prescribed that the Peace Prize was to be awarded by the Norwegian Parliament (the Storting) and should go to the person who accomplished "the most or the best work for fraternity among nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the promotion of peace congresses."

In the literature on Alfred Nobel, there exist different interpretations of his ideas and involvement in the peace question. In some works it is claimed that the interest in peace accompanied Alfred Nobel since his youth, in others that he did not come to reflect over questions of mankind’s fate until quite late.

Alfred Nobel had a clear view of what was happening in international politics during the second half of the 19th century. His own activity as an industrialist was to the utmost degree, international and it was vitally necessary for him to follow this development carefully. Important portions of his inventions and business activity were connected with conditions which affected war and peace.

Although Nobel’s great invention, dynamite, had not been developed with the idea of using it in war. However, this did not prevent it from soon being put to use in such a context as well. During the last decade of his life, Alfred Nobel came to engage himself in the development and exploitation of different weapons technology inventions, for instance rockets, cannons and progressive powder. Bofors, in central Sweden, became a center for this work.

Alfred Nobel’s direct involvement in the war materiel sector did not come about until during the later stages of his life. It was also at this time that his interest in the question of peace came into practical expression. His thoughts on war and peace were set out in many years of correspondence with the Austrian peace partisan and authoress of the famous anti-war novel "Lay Down Your Arms", Bertha von Suttner.

According to the Austrian countess Bertha von Suttner, Alfred Nobel, as early as their first meeting in Paris in 1876, had expressed his wish to produce material or a machine which would have such a devastating effect that war from then on, would be impossible. The point about deterrence later appeared among Nobel’s ideas. In 1891, he commented on his dynamite factories by saying to the countess: "Perhaps my factories will put an end to war sooner than your congresses: on the day that two army corps can mutually annihilate each other in a second, all civilized nations will surely recoil with horror and disband their troops." Nobel did not live long enough to experience the First World War and to see how wrong his conception was.

Even if Alfred Nobel for a long time maintained a certain cool distance to the international peace association’s methods, his interest in a donation to the promotion of world peace was influenced by Bertha von Suttner. In his last will, signed on 27 November 1895, we find the well-known prize formulation "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses." Alfred Nobel promptly informed Bertha von Suttner of his decision, and she expressed her delight: "Whether I am around then or not does not matter; what we have given, you and I, is going to live on."

Evidently, Alfred Nobel did not consider his involvement in the war materials industry and in the work for world peace as incompatible elements. Rather he gave expression to the prevalent 19th century understanding which maintained, that the scientist was not responsible for how his findings were used. Each scholarly discovery is neutral in itself, but can be used both for good and bad objectives. And when it was applied to weapons, Nobel held firm to his old opinion that this had a deterrent effect above all.