The Nobel Peace Prize nominees for 2011 recognize a number of activists, among them Julian Assange, Bradley Manning, Wael Ghonim, Tunisian blogger Lina Ben Mhenni, and Egyptian Israa Abdel Fattah together with the April 6 Youth Movement.
Thus the Arab Spring, as it has been termed, is well-represented in the Nobel Peace Prize nominees this year, and with good reason: It was a remarkable grassroots revolution that is still changing the North African and Middle East dynamic and, indeed, the world.
Much of this, however, might not have been possible but for the actions of Bradley Manning and Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks.
Manning allegedly leaked diplomatic cables and video (of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack) to WikiLeaks. Manning had access to SIPRNet and the Joint Worldwide Intelligence Communications System from his workstation in Iraq. His reason for leaking the documents? Manning wrote to former hacker Adrian Lamo, “I want people to see the truth… regardless of who they are … because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public.”
Assange, as founder and public face of WikiLeaks, took these documents—in addition to other diplomatic cables and documents—and published them on WikiLeaks—an act the old New York Times would have done without hesitation in the Pentagon Papers-era, but seems quite reluctant to do in the 21st century.
And while a Nobel Peace Prize nomination might not help Manning avoid prison time or get Assange released from house arrest and his legal charade, it certainly is a form of vindication for both men; many people across the world admire their principled stand.
If it had not been for WikiLeaks publishing the leaked diplomatic cables, the Arab Spring might not have been possible. The leaks were the catalyst, as Amnesty International stated, supplying the momentum in Tunisia and Egypt, for example. Even Retired U.S. Army Reserve Colonel Ann Wright, in a recent Stars & Stripes editorial, has called Wikileaks “a critically important tool for those who seek to uphold basic human-rights standards and the professional conduct of U.S. military forces.”
As such, both Manning and Assange deserve serious consideration for the Nobel Peace Prize.
September 28, 2011 at 1:46 am, Lennart Walloff said:
BRAVO…TWO HEROES OF THE WORLDS FREE PEOPLE…LET’S HOPE THESE NOMINATIONS GO ALL THE WAY AND SERVE AS AN EXAMPLE TO ALL THAT TRUTH IS STILL THE GREATEST WEAPON AGAINST TYRANNY AND OPPRESSION…lennartlive.
September 28, 2011 at 2:49 am, Tom Baxter said:
A Soldiers Medal for Bradley and a Medal of Freedom for both, along with the Prize sounds appropriate to me.
September 28, 2011 at 4:57 pm, Vince Demayolin said:
If that’s your real photo Tom, what did it cost you for the sex change?
September 28, 2011 at 3:54 am, Rosamelia Martínez Torres said:
Wikileaks have revealed/exposed over the last year or so (hat tip to Glenn Greenwald):
- The killing of two Reuters journalists and other civilians by a U.S. helicopter gunship in Iraq.
- 15’000 previously unlisted civilian deaths in Iraq.
-
That the U.S. military in Iraq had a policy, known as Frago 242, of
essentially ignoring abuses, including torture, that were being carried
out by Iraqi security forces.
- That Hilary Clinton/the State
Department had ordered U.S. staff at the U.N. to spy on U.N. officials
and collect personal information about them, including passwords for
e-mail accounts, credit card details, etc.
- That the Obama administration worked with top Republicans to kill off a probe into Bush era torture.
-
That the Yemeni authorities colluded with the Obama administration to
cover up a U.S. cluster bomb attack in the country, which killed
civilians and was condemned by Amnesty International.
- That the
British security services are training a Bangladeshi Police battalion
that has been widely implicated in human rights abuses, and has been
accused as acting as a death squad.
- That the U.K. government
told the U.S. government that there were ‘measures in place’ to protect
U.S. interests at the inquiry into the Iraq war.
And some not mentioned by Greenwald:
- That the U.K. government conspired with the U.S. government to basically try and subvert the ban on cluster munitions, to which the U.K. is a party.
-
That the U.K. government knew full that establishing a marine reserve
in British Indian Ocean Territory would end any chance the displaced
Chagassion people had of returning home – something which is their
legally mandated right, according to court rulings – while telling the U.S. that their own military activities in the area would be in no way impaired by it.
- That for all the booga booga about Iranian interference in Iraq, senior Iraqi officials believe that it’s Saudi Arabia who are the main destabilizing force, and who have been financing the ‘al-Qaeda offensive’.
Julian
Assange may or may not be everything his critics say he is. But it’s
undeniable that the organisation he represents, and the whistle blowers
who feed them, have exposed plenty of wrong doing and sometimes outright
criminality in high places. Things that the perpetrators have tried to
keep from the public, but which are clearly in the public interest. For
that, both the organisation and the whistle blowers deserve credit, and
focusing on the character of Assange himself basically amounts to
nothing more than a distraction from the really important stuff.
September 28, 2011 at 2:06 pm, Tangerinebolen said:
Well said!! Completely agree. We’ll be hosting a panel discussion on how WikiLeaks has transformed whistleblowing and journalism with multiple high profile panelists. Will be releasing the date shortly. We also have campaigns for both WL and Manning. Please see us at http://www.revolutiontruth.org
September 28, 2011 at 4:56 pm, Vince Demayolin said:
He Spic, why don’t you tell the other stories regarding the release of info where people’s lives were put in jeopardy or won’t Castro allow you to say that!
September 29, 2011 at 12:17 am, odnoc said:
Lives at risk? According to who? AP could not find one source who felt their life was at risk. Ah, you must be feeding I to that hyperbole that people who want to make themselves look better by comparison put out.
What about those innocent people slaughtered by our military, and others who were wrongly detained and tortured? Guess their story doesn’t matter huh? As long as crimes against humanity are covered up, everything willl be ok, right?
If you want to keep living in that little shell off yours, may want to avoid the internet, its a big place that has reports on more than just what your government wants you to believe…
@OP, good post
September 29, 2011 at 12:17 am, odnoc said:
Lives at risk? According to who? AP could not find one source who felt their life was at risk. Ah, you must be feeding I to that hyperbole that people who want to make themselves look better by comparison put out.
What about those innocent people slaughtered by our military, and others who were wrongly detained and tortured? Guess their story doesn’t matter huh? As long as crimes against humanity are covered up, everything willl be ok, right?
If you want to keep living in that little shell off yours, may want to avoid the internet, its a big place that has reports on more than just what your government wants you to believe…
@OP, good post
September 29, 2011 at 6:24 pm, Rosamelia Martínez Torres said:
lol, whatever Mrs. Palin.
September 30, 2011 at 1:22 am, Grey said:
Really Vince? Really?
October 02, 2011 at 8:31 pm, inagaddadavida_loca said:
Vince:
Not only is the way you address her absolutely disgusting, but I see you are more interested in maintaining the status quo rather than the individual human rights we so deserve. WikiLeaks’ leader certainly is a egoist charlatan of sorts, but it can’t be denied that the hypocrisy of our leaders is driving us down the wrong road.
September 28, 2011 at 6:23 am, Alibillah said:
Brilliant, we all know the charges against Assange are fraudulent and politically motivated.
September 28, 2011 at 6:30 am, Lonanditcher said:
What I don’t get about the women who claimed Assange raped them, they said they only wanted a HIV check and for him to be checked, well what use would have it been? Why did the women not get checked themselves and find out if there was a risk? it only adds to what we all know they are part of a dangerous game to trap Assange, one thing for sure A and W’s reputations in politics now will stink forever, who the hell would trust them?
September 28, 2011 at 9:10 am, Anonymous said:
What I don’t get is why isn’t there more pressure on Assange to get an AIDS test, let alone STD tests?
We all know that having sex without a condom increases one risk of contacting STD an HIV-positive person. Well let just forget the fact that Assange seems to prefer having sex without a condom. In the age of AIDS it would be expected that an adult would be more careful.
To be serious there is nothing wrong with a person having multiple partners, or several partners in short secession. However, they must wear a condom.
September 28, 2011 at 9:55 am, Paulas Dsouza said:
In this age of AIDS if one chooses to have sex, as an adult it would need to be with someone that you can trust. By that if the person knows he is not HIV-positive and believes the other to not be either, then there should not be any reason for using a condom as it definitely diminishes the sexual experience. If a person is confident about himself and about his partners then based on simple trust it should not matter whether a condom is used or not.
September 28, 2011 at 9:55 am, Paulas Dsouza said:
In this age of AIDS if one chooses to have sex, as an adult it would need to be with someone that you can trust. By that if the person knows he is not HIV-positive and believes the other to not be either, then there should not be any reason for using a condom as it definitely diminishes the sexual experience. If a person is confident about himself and about his partners then based on simple trust it should not matter whether a condom is used or not.
September 28, 2011 at 3:56 pm, Americana said:
If someone were raped by a person who was HIV positive, you have to wait up to 3 months for test results which can be assumed to be accurate, because they’re testing for antibodies in your system, and it takes time to build up these antibodies. Therefore, it’s much more likely for an accurate result to come back from an HIV positive rapist than the person who has just been raped.
September 28, 2011 at 9:46 am, Kuldeep Singh said:
Hurrey! my hero assange gooing to get Nobel
September 28, 2011 at 4:58 pm, Vince Demayolin said:
Hey raghead, learn to spell before you post!
September 28, 2011 at 6:40 pm, Kuldeep Singh said:
English is not my native language
September 28, 2011 at 11:50 pm, Pat said:
Don’t worry. Most Americans can’t spell their own language. You at least know 2 languages, which most ignoramus Americans don’t. And the abusive ones are the most ignorant. They don’t even know what hit them- and it wasn’t Muslims.
September 28, 2011 at 11:50 pm, Pat said:
Don’t worry. Most Americans can’t spell their own language. You at least know 2 languages, which most ignoramus Americans don’t. And the abusive ones are the most ignorant. They don’t even know what hit them- and it wasn’t Muslims.
September 29, 2011 at 12:56 am, Amelia Ruby said:
You’re doing great Kuldeep!
September 28, 2011 at 7:02 pm, VInce is a fag said:
Hey, dickless, don’t be an asshole.
September 29, 2011 at 1:33 am, TV said:
Stop bullying on the internet and go be a better father to your children, Vincent.
September 30, 2011 at 1:33 am, Grey said:
Demayolin? hahahaha
September 28, 2011 at 10:05 am, Anonymous said:
They BOTH Deserve one…take back the one you gave that Wallstreet shill Obama and give to one of them….
September 28, 2011 at 10:10 am, Romeo Konashington said:
if Al Gore can get one, anyone can get one lol
September 28, 2011 at 10:22 am, Salman Latif said:
Excellent piece of news! Finally, this clearly depicts that the US govt’s policy of suppressing freedom of speech and right to information is at odds with the international community at large. And I sincerely wish that Assange bags the prize which will be an in-your-face for US government and would certainly weigh in favor of any future attempts at ensuring the right to information.
September 28, 2011 at 2:50 pm, Stinkywinkypinkyponky said:
my comments are being removed, so much for free speech, good night america guess what china won
September 28, 2011 at 2:50 pm, Stinkywinkypinkyponky said:
my comments are being removed, so much for free speech, good night america guess what china won
September 28, 2011 at 10:54 am, Anonymous said:
It should go to them as well.
September 28, 2011 at 10:55 am, Anonymous said:
The era of unfettered secrecy is over. I say what is secrete. I have the Highest Security Clearance [Cosmic].
September 28, 2011 at 11:43 am, Megaplier said:
Very well-written.
September 28, 2011 at 2:03 pm, Anonymous said:
This would be great. I’d love to see the US government try and imprison a Nobel Prize winner, and/or know that they have one locked up in prison. It would eat away at their hypocritical hearts.
I say give a joint Nobel prize to both Julian Assange and Bradley Manning – without either so much would not have happened, but much of what did depended on them both inseparably.
September 28, 2011 at 3:49 pm, Anonymous said:
It will be interesting seeing the reaction if neither of them get it. Some will suggest that it was expected, while other will suggest that it was part of a “diplomatic strong arming.”
September 28, 2011 at 2:31 pm, Stinkywinkypinkyponky said:
We now know that it is common practice for Americans to shoot civilians in the back of the head then call in an air strike to obliterate the evidence.
September 28, 2011 at 2:49 pm, Stinkywinkypinkyponky said:
we now know Americans murder children
September 28, 2011 at 2:49 pm, Stinkywinkypinkyponky said:
we now know Americans murder children
September 28, 2011 at 4:01 pm, Nimble_timmy said:
I don’t know if they would have done it without hesitation. I believe there was a lot of hesitation back when the Pentagon Papers were released.
September 28, 2011 at 4:40 pm, mark said:
i want to see wikileaks leak documents on free energy technologies such as zero point energy and cold fusion
September 28, 2011 at 4:54 pm, Vince Demayolin said:
Well that says it all about the Nobel Peace Prize!
September 28, 2011 at 4:59 pm, Vince Demayolin said:
A rapist and a traitor nominated for the prize? If Hitler had only survived he would be up for one also!
September 28, 2011 at 5:18 pm, Carl said:
Vince, you’ve just stated how naive you are. Do you not even find it a little bit too convenient Assange’s opposition, that he’s being charged for rape based on what seems to be a VERY weak case? And “a traitor”? .. may I ask, a traitor against what cause? A corrupt US government/military?
September 30, 2011 at 1:37 am, Grey said:
Well that says it all about… you, so naive
September 28, 2011 at 5:35 pm, Guest said:
it would be nice if assange and manning win. but, to be completeley honest, my only wish is the freedom and medical, psicological & economical compensation of bradley manning for all the brutality he has been thru (courtesy of the winner of the nobel peace prize last year, ironically).
and.. they should release ALL the leaks!!
go assange, God bless manning!!
FREEDOM!!
September 28, 2011 at 7:43 pm, JK said:
Manning’s massive disclosure was not whistleblowing. One could argue that releasing the helicopter video was, but the rest was not at all. Releasing everything you can find on SIPR without even skim-reading it first is not whistleblowing. He did it because he knew he was going down for the apache video anyway and said “fuck it”. Shameful.
September 28, 2011 at 9:18 pm, Tom Baxter said:
One has a legal and moral obligation under US and international law to expose war crimes, if you know about them. Bradley did. His military superiors didn’t.
September 28, 2011 at 10:46 pm, JK said:
That might have been one of the incidental effects of his actions, but it was not the totality of them. The vast vast majority of what he exposed was classified information that was NOT warcrimes, coverups, etc.. Once again, he didn’t even read it; he just released all of the information he could find that categorically “would cause serious damage to national security”.
His supporters might have a leg to stand on if he actually read what he smuggled out and handed to Wikileaks. Maybe if he actually found proof of illegal/immoral actions and then exposed them. But thats not what he did; he grabbed everything blindly and gave it to the press (Wikileaks).
September 28, 2011 at 7:55 pm, Adam White said:
This is not much of a development and will probably not really register much at all on the right. After all, GWB was nominated every year or something like that when he was Prez. Anyone can be nominated.
October 08, 2011 at 7:35 am, Adam White said:
“This is a great development and no doubt it will make the collective right-wing’s head explode.”
Given to *just* a bit of hyperbole, are we? No one cared at all. And now that the Prize has been awarded, no one ever will.
September 28, 2011 at 7:55 pm, Adam White said:
This is not much of a development and will probably not really register much at all on the right. After all, GWB was nominated every year or something like that when he was Prez. Anyone can be nominated.
September 28, 2011 at 9:34 pm, Jadestock17 said:
Yes… WE NEED ONLY 1000 More Principled, Freedom Loving People to stand up and take EXACTLY this kind of action to support Democracy and the Free flow of information through an Independent Principled Press. I believe Julian Assange, Bradley Manning, Wael Ghonim should all be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize if for anything, their courage and willingness to face personal inconvenience for the benefit of us ALL… including our members of military and the politically conservatives.
September 29, 2011 at 4:43 am, Simon Suh said:
good
September 29, 2011 at 6:50 am, Al Nava said:
Julian Assange should win because WikiLeaks not only helped Manning expose corruption, Assange helped Iceland get rid of the corrupt Banksters, and exposed many other countless bits of data.
September 29, 2011 at 7:36 am, Paja Shkëlqim Paja said:
ne thua te verteten do te jem gjithmon pran. ne me tradheton do te uroj vdekjen
September 29, 2011 at 9:13 am, Chris said:
This is great news.One the other side of the coin there needs to be some sort of nomination for the infamous individuals who have promoted war and misery.I would like to see Bush,Rumsfeld,Cheney,Rice,Wolferwitz and others named as individuals who have acted illegally and in detriment to human harmony and peace;as personifying all that is evil in this world.After all, their actions caused,and continue to cause more deaths than inflicted by any mass murderer.They are certainly competing with Hitler,Pol Pot Genghis Khan and other miscreants in history.Certainly,they deserve an award commensurate with their contribution to inhumanity.
September 29, 2011 at 9:39 am, Dar said:
Very nice.
The committee obviously wants to wash away the stain of the last two awards.
Well, maybe they do.
September 29, 2011 at 3:02 pm, Tim Rue said:
Spy’s, wistleblowers, informants all know the risk they take in those games. If they don’t agree with the risks then they don’t have to play. Innocent civilians, on the other hand, did not sign up for the damage done them by the game players.
There is no concern for any game players that put innocent people in harms way.
And that is the end of any delusion anyone or government has regarding putting people at risk via disclosure to the public of the game players and their game moves.
October 01, 2011 at 2:48 pm, adny said:
Did anyone bother to check if this article is actually true?
I quote from the Nobel Peace Prize website:
“Every year, the Norwegian Nobel Committee sends out thousands of letters inviting qualified people to submit their nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize. The names of the nominees and other information about the nominations cannot be revealed until 50 years later.”
Presumably anyone revealing their selection in advance would have their nomination disqualified? Even if it is true, neither Assange or Manning seem likely to be high on the voting (unfortunately) and we’ll never be able to prove either way for another 50 years?
Love to see a leak done on the data files for all recent nominees!
October 03, 2011 at 1:07 am, Dick Meyers said:
I suppose if OblBla and the peanut farmer got one why not?
October 03, 2011 at 1:08 am, Dick Meyers said:
I suppose if OblBla and the peanut farmer got one why not?
October 03, 2011 at 6:43 pm, guest said:
I’m sorry but I really can’t take anything seriously that has a Drambuie ad on top , on the side and below it. Obviously not a serious site.
October 23, 2011 at 8:01 pm, j w said:
The Government IS THE ENEMY all 3 Branches and The MILITARY the Pentagon and CIA and SCOTUS and On and On and On http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GGGE_enUS370US372&gcx=c&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=Land+Fraud+Bank+Looting+DOD+DOJ+FBI+SEC+Covering+Up+For+Wall+Street
October 23, 2011 at 8:01 pm, j w said:
The Government IS THE ENEMY all 3 Branches and The MILITARY the Pentagon and CIA and SCOTUS and On and On and On http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GGGE_enUS370US372&gcx=c&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=Land+Fraud+Bank+Looting+DOD+DOJ+FBI+SEC+Covering+Up+For+Wall+Street
February 05, 2012 at 12:51 am, Torrent said:
If we are lucky these reports will result in the deaths of as many of the evil soldiers as possible
February 07, 2012 at 9:24 am, David At Qualia said:
If people such as Bradley Manning, Julian Assange or Wael Ghonim do NOT win the Noble peace prize it may as well be given out as a medal to combat Generals in the armed forces.
When people who do so much, with so little thought to their own welfare for the pursuit of peace, political freedom, and social justice are consistently ignored it undermines the whole credibility of the Noble Prize, and the foundation should consider reverting to their founders business…..of selling guns.
Lets hope eh! <3
February 08, 2012 at 4:25 am, Peter Frankenstein said:
this is truly an act of genius.what more rich act is there to peace than to bring truth to the table.
February 08, 2012 at 7:46 am, Helena Klominska said:
can the citizens of planet earth influence who it is the nobel committee in the end selects aka awards? what if a global petitions with ''..xyz..'' signatures, FB, YT, snail mail etc messages were to be sent to those Nobel gents & lads who pick the ''..best..) candidate in the end.. would it work?
Orwell will tell us…………
February 08, 2012 at 8:10 am, Helena Klominska said:
Bradley Manning
c/o Courage to Resist
484 Lake Park Ave #41
Oakland CA 94610
USA
http://www.bradleymanning.org/
February 08, 2012 at 8:11 am, Helena Klominska said:
If Obama was able to win his WAR prize, Bradley & Julian deserve theirs for anti-war = PEACE 100000%
February 11, 2012 at 2:11 pm, Mitchell Jon MacKay said:
Undoubtedly the best press one can get and it will make a difference – how could it not? As always the irony is glaring: that US forces are behind the imperialist rush to condemnation (while applying torture) against exposing what they themselves have wrought. This might, though unwillingly, cause some mediation much as tyranny in other countries has been ameliorated somewhat by similar acts.
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October 11, 2012 at 8:42 pm, Keyvan Rafiei said:
They should be! They really deserve this even more than this! Free Julian Assange Free Bradly Manning!
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