Should Greta Thunberg receive a Nobel Prize?

News Mondays - Clément Guntern

A few days ago, Norwegian parliamentarians announced that they would be nominating the young Swedish climate activist for the Nobel Peace Prize. We can legitimately wonder why. Certainly because her media stunts have enabled her to be heard by a very wide audience. Her outbursts - striking in their liveliness and offensive nature - backed by the right words to be heard, have given her a supposedly global media legitimacy. But that's about it.

A map published by Courrier International shows that the «worldwide» strike is just an empty phrase, as the protests that have taken place have been concentrated in Western and Northern European countries. In contrast, the map published by Fridays for future, an association set up to support the Swedish activist in her call for a worldwide strike, reveals a planet studded with strikes from north to south.

The icon of youthism

Some people, more critical of the Thunberg phenomenon, have pointed the finger at the fact that the campaign was managed by a team of communications specialists, a far cry from the image of the young girl who goes into battle alone against the powerful of this world. But then again, why her and not someone else?

Proof of the validity of the question is that it has been asked far too little. But the effectiveness of the young Swede's communication is due not only to a team of specialists, but also to the fact that Greta Thunberg represents everything that is currently popular: a young girl with a baby face who speaks forcefully about the climate.

And above all, an aggressive critique of the inaction of the older generation, who miraculously admire her in return for being her target. She is the international icon of youthism, the cult that many people devote to the values defended by the young, as if to prove them right in every respect, in the hope of being absolved of their past sins. Because you're young, you've understood everything and can agree. But because you're old, you've done nothing or done everything wrong. That's more problematic.

A rather weak Nobel?

This is not to oppose a Nobel Prize dedicated to environmental protectors. On the contrary, it would be one more sign of the advance of consciousness. But let's beware of choosing such a candidate just because she's riding the media wave. Greta Thunberg isn't the only person fighting for the planet, is she? How many people around the world lose their lives because they defend their homes or regions from destruction? Doesn't a Nobel Peace Prize winner have to be some kind of hero? Someone who goes beyond his own limits to advance a cause, and above all to do good around him?

The 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winners don't really seem to be playing in the same league as Greta Thunberg: Denis Mukwege, a surgeon who has long fought against rape as a weapon of war, and Nadia Murad, who is struggling to gain recognition for her community's terrible plight in the face of the barbarism of the Islamic State.

But above all, the news of this nomination must be seen in context: it is just one of hundreds of proposals. At this stage, a lengthy procedure has yet to be completed, and a Nobel Peace Prize is not intended to objectively designate, in the name of all humanity, who is better than the others.

Write to the author: clement.guntern@leregardlibre.ch

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