“An encouragement to the Tunisian people” is fine, but Nobel had a much greater perspective. Indisputable evidence shows that he intended his prize to support a visionary reorganization of international affairs. The language in his will is a clear confirmation of this, says Tomas Magnusson of Sweden, on behalf of Nobel Peace Prize Watch. The committee continues reading the expressions of the testament as they like, instead of studying what type of “champions of peace” and what peace ideas Nobel had in mind signing his will on November 27, 1895. In February 2015, the Nobel Peace Prize Watch lifted the secrecy around the selection process when it published a list of 25 qualified candidates with the full nomination letters. By its choice of the Tunisian quartet for 2015, the Nobel committee has rejected the list and, again, is clearly outside the circle of recipients Nobel had in mind.
In addition to not understanding the least bit of Nobel’s idea, the committee in Oslo has not understood the new situation in the committee’s relation to its principals in Stockholm, continues Tomas Magnusson. We must understand that the whole world today is under occupation, even our brains have become militarized to a degree where it is hard for people to imagine the alternative, demilitarized world that Nobel wished his prize to promote as a mandatory urgency. Nobel was a man of the world, able to transcend the national perspective and think of what would be best for the world as a whole. We have plenty for everyone´s needs on this green planet if the nations of the world could only learn to co-operate and stop wasting precious resources on the military.
The members of the Board of the Nobel Foundation risk personal liability if a prize amount is paid over to the winner in violation of the purpose. As late as three weeks ago seven members of the Foundation’s Board were hit by initial steps in a lawsuit demanding that they repay to the Foundation the prize paid to the EU in December 2012. Among the plaintiffs are Mairead Maguire of Northern Ireland, a Nobel laureate; David Swanson, USA; Jan Oberg, Sweden, and the Nobel Peace Prize Watch (nobelwill.org). The lawsuit follows after a Norwegian attempt to regain the ultimate control of the peace prize was finally turned down by the Swedish Chamber Court in May 2014.