The results are in, and it is the National Dialogue Quartet of Tunisia who wins the Nobel Peace Prize for 2015. Part of the official declaration reads:
“The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2015 is to be awarded to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011.”
In spite of being rocked by two major terror attacks this year alone -- on Tunis’ renowned Bardo Museum, in which 22 people were killed last March, and on the resort of Sousse in June in which 38 tourists were killed, Tunisia is one country that has gained some semblance of democracy in the contentious area of North Africa. The Arab Spring started there and Tunisia seems to be the only country to gain anything out of that momentous event that swept through much of the Arab world.
This was a difficult year to predict the winner. There was the popular Pope Francis in the list of likely winners and so was Edward Snowden, the former contractor for the US National Security Agency. The latter is a man who is a hero to some and a traitor to others.
The chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel, was on the list for her decisive moves in the migrant crisis. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Timoleón Jiménez, the leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, agreed to a path for peace this year, setting the ground-work for a final accord. They were deserving candidates too; the Latin American country has seen a lot of bloodshed, abductions, murders, extortions, and mindless violence over the last few decades.
Dmitry Muratov, who has been the driving force behind Russian opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta, was talked of as a likely winner: Speaking boldly in the land of “Tsar Putin.”
The name of Catholic Priest Mussie Zerai who founded Habeshia, an agency to help immigrants integrate in Italy, was discussed in certain circles. Mussie Zerai acts as a phone contact for migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea for Europe, passing on the coordinates of their boats to rescuers and coast guards. The priest who grew up in Eritrea, came to Italy as a 17-year-old political refugee.
Japanese writer Kenzaburō Ōe, part of the Article 9 Association, was vocal in a peace rally last year in Tokyo. The Article 9 Association is a pacifist group that has been fighting to preserve a Japanese constitutional clause that prohibits war as a means of settling international disputes. The clause was introduced after World War II and prohibited belligerency by the state. Article 9 Association was also under consideration for the award this year.
There were, of course, other persons and organisations whose names popped up in the media.
But the award went to the Tunisian quartet as mentioned above. The quartet, made up of four organisations, the Tunisian General Labour Union; the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade, and Handicrafts; the Tunisian Human Rights League; and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers, has succeeded somewhat in striking a balance between Islamist forces and traditional secular ones.
The success story is far from complete and there is a long road ahead, especially with cross-border threats from militants of Libya. Rana Jawad of BBC Tunisia sounds rather sceptical:
“It has been a tough year for Tunisia. It needed this win, if only to restore some faith in where things went right not long ago.
The National Dialogue quartet was created after the high-profile assassination of leftist politician Mohamed Al-Brahmi in 2013, which sparked protests across the country and came a few months after the first political assassination of Chokri Belaid.
It was a time when Tunisia was grappling with striking a balance between the rise of political Islam in the country and the traditional secular politics it had been accustomed to for decades. The quartet brought opposing sides together but was ultimately created to calm the streets. Their critics say its impact lost momentum long ago.
Many will be celebrating this win today. But others, taken by surprise, are asking what -- in reality -- has been achieved, given the rise of extremism and the long road ahead for social justice.”
But the general consensus is that the award is well deserved. Maybe the Western countries want to encourage liberal forces to rise in the troubled northern tip of Africa. Some are already speculating that the award was made to the quartet to rejuvenate the faltering spirit of the Arab Spring that had started in Tunisia in December 2010. CNN reports:
“In a broader sense, the prize appeared to be an effort by the Nobel Committee to bolster the Arab Spring -- which, indeed, began in Tunisia in December 2010.
The Arab Spring dawned with hope and idealism, and spread across parts of the Middle East and North Africa.
But it has seen those ideals mired in bitter reality in many countries -- most notably in Syria, where an uprising against the regime of Bashar al-Assad has morphed into a devastating civil war that has pushed waves of desperate people to attempt to migrate to Europe.”
Only time will tell whether Tunisia will establish itself as a firm democratic state or slip-slide into chaos like so many others or become a totalitarian state like Egypt is under General Abdel Fattah el-SIsI. Or in the worst case scenario, become a quagmire of Islamists and moderates fighting pitched battles to gain control of the country, a fate the country can ill-afford.
